Biography-Memoir – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Between the World & Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

By Scott J. Pearson | August 1, 2026August 1, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

This critically acclaimed book came out while Black Lives Matter protests were gripping the streets in 2015. Written as a memoir, it explains the effects of violence against black (particularly male) bodies on the black psyche. Although his observations are built around the artificial construct of the black and white races, he clearly sees that Dr. King’s Dream is as-yet unrealized in America. As a continual parade of unnecessary black deaths illustrated – deaths that…

The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation

By Scott J. Pearson | June 24, 2026June 24, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Most histories by politicians are automatically suspect. They tend to portray a political agenda instead of a search for historical truth. Jim Clyburn’s history of the first eight black congressmen from South Carolina is different. Why? As the ninth black congressman (nearly a century later), he has unique access to a rich cultural history surrounding these men, much of which has been erased in wider white SC society. His political agenda is simple: To unearth…

Biography-Memoir Software-Technology

Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates

By Scott J. Pearson | May 16, 2026May 16, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Among computer programmers, Bill Gates is still a controversial figure for his business practices. Many coders love writing code and despise how business folk interfere with our products. Of course, some of that view neglects how business folk pay our bills, too. Bill Gates, more than anyone else, deserves credit for turning writing code into a profession with a paycheck. This memoir unlocks his personality which guided the founding of Microsoft. Well-known to us programmers…

Biography-Memoir

Finding My Way: A Memoir by Malala Yousafzai

By Scott J. Pearson | March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Malala, as she is simply called, is widely known as the girl who stood up to the Taliban for girls’ education. She paid for it by being shot in the face, but amazingly survived. She spent the rest of her youth in Manchester in Britain, protected by a security detail against would-be assassins. She started an international fund called the Malala Fund to aid girls’ education in needy countries. This book does not tell that…

Biography-Memoir Healthcare Society

The Cure for Women: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi & the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women’s Lives Forever

By Scott J. Pearson | March 2, 2026March 2, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

By the end of the Victorian age, men had dominated medical practice for centuries, but women were beginning to make inroads into the profession. A few, Mary Putnam Jacobi being the first, made inroads in European training centers and returned to the US to integrate women into American medicine. In this book, Lydia Reeder narrates their struggle and eventual victory that depathologized being a woman. By pursuing their personal questions, these women physician-scientists brought obstetrics…

Biography-Memoir HIV/AIDS

Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia

By Scott J. Pearson | January 9, 2026January 9, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

There are many angles to motivate reading this book, and mine is from a deep interest in HIV. The supermodel known simply as “Gia” was one of the first prominent women to die of AIDS-related complications, and she remains one of the best-explored IV drug users who died from AIDS. Of course, most of the world knows her as a model who quickly rose to the front pages of the world’s leading fashion magazines in…

Biography-Memoir HIV/AIDS

Shooting Up: A Memoir of Love, Loss & Addiction

By Scott J. Pearson | December 25, 2025December 25, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

If you’re looking to cry in empathy with an author’s grief and hardships yet sense an undercurrent of hope, this memoir might be the book for you. Jonathan Tepper grew up as a missionary kid in Madrid, Spain. His parents tried to “save” people for heaven in a new church, but failed. Then they pivoted their ministry to help people overcome heroin addiction, and they slowly grew a church and social service. However, the HIV/AIDS…

Biography-Memoir History Society

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

By Scott J. Pearson | November 28, 2025November 28, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

The Spanish Civil War was a historical precursor to World War II. Franco’s fascism for a time united disparate opposing groups like anarchists and communists. The opposition attracted volunteers from across Europe. However, these groups began infighting among each other, and the opposition ultimately failed. As with most failures, the blame game ran deep among groups. The great English writer George Orwell’s first-hand account provides as much light as can be shown upon the whole…

Biography-Memoir Religion-Philosophy

A Summer with Pascal

By Scott J. Pearson | November 10, 2025November 10, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I’m a huge fan of French polymath Blaise Pascal simply because he provokes thought. Besides his scientific and mathematical contributions, he died before forming his greatest philosophical work into a coherent defense of the plausibleness of Christianity. Instead, they were left as a series of fragments for us to ponder in the following centuries. Simply titled Pensées (or “thoughts”), they give us insight into the spiritual life of one of history’s greatest scientific geniuses. This…

Biography-Memoir Management-Business

Principles: Life & Work by Ray Dalio

By Scott J. Pearson | October 18, 2025October 18, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Ray Dalio became famous through founding and building his company Bridgewater Associates into an economic powerhouse over decades. Of course, many became interested in how he did it. This book narrates his personal story, but it does more. He ran his company through a series of principles as if it were a machine he and his associates built. This book also chronicles those principles at length to communicate Dalio’s and Bridgewater’s vision of how a…