History – Page 12 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Life Out of Sequence: A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics

By Scott J. Pearson | March 29, 2020March 29, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Upon reading the title of this book, many non-specialists might rightly ask, “What is bioinformatics? And why does it deserve its own history?” For the first question, bioinformatics is the application of computer technology to biological studies, and I hope that reading this review will answer the second question. Many of us were taught hypothesis-driven biology in school – that is, we were taught to ask a well-formed question, perform an experiment, and confirm/deny the…

History Language Poetry

Old English Poetry: An Anthology

By Scott J. Pearson | March 28, 2020March 28, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Old English contains the oldest literature written in the English language. As such, it is key to understand not only historically but also linguistically. Many educated people are familiar with the epic poem Beowulf, but for most, that poem is the only source material studied before Chaucer (who writes in Middle English). This anthology fills in the gap with entertaining and enlightening poems. One cannot help but picture Anglo-Saxons sitting around the fire and sharing…

Biography-Memoir History Indie

Harriet Tubman by Adrian Ramos

By Scott J. Pearson | March 19, 2020April 4, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Americans, like me, prefer to think of their country as valuing where you end up rather than where you were born. They like to think that they judge people based on the content of their character rather than the peculiarities of their parentage. If these suppositions suggest how American someone is, then Harriet Tubman is about as American as they get. This biography helps us understand why. At 141 pages, Ramos’ work is not a…

History Language

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Pearl; Sir Orfeo

By Scott J. Pearson | March 7, 2020March 7, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

The Oxford don J.R.R. Tolkien is mostly known for composing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, before this trilogy, he built his academic career as an acclaimed expert on Anglo-Saxon culture, language, and literature. In his work, he translates three works from the Middle English into modern idiom. The quality of the translation demonstrates the vastness of Tolkien’s literary brilliance. Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are the two most-read works from the Old English…

History

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

By Scott J. Pearson | March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Author David McCullough stands securely as one of our nation’s great historians. His prior well-received works have focused upon American military and political history. This exposition tells how the American ideal settled into what was then known as the Northwest Territory. McCullough does so by sharing the work of five sizable figures in early Ohio history. The five played varied roles in life: A pastor/educator, a military man, the farmer-son of the pastor/educator, an architect,…

History Society Software-Technology

Technology: Critical History of a Concept

By Scott J. Pearson | February 22, 2020February 23, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

As commonly told, science rose in the public’s consciousness during the Renaissance. However, the word “technology” in the English language was not used then. Instead, “technology” was used more and more frequently after the 1950s. What does this word exactly mean and what does it tell about our society that we use it so much today? Schatzberg, a professor in one of the premier schools of technology in the world, asks these questions with us…

History Poetry

Beowulf

By Scott J. Pearson | February 9, 2020February 9, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Like many, I have not touched this work since my class on British Literature in high school. I have learned a lot since then, and my capacity for processing great literature has only increased. This book, perhaps the first great work in the English language (Old English, that is), has remained the same. Today, I read it in one afternoon and loved every minute of it. Raffel’s translation brings out the drama of the tale…

History Poetry

Murder in the Cathedral

By Scott J. Pearson | January 20, 2020January 20, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

The greatest work of verse by the great American/English poet T.S. Eliot was not in a poem (though some readers of The Waste Land might disagree). It is surely Murder in the Cathedral. In a short play, Eliot shows his mastery of the British form of Church and State. In so doing, he sends a message that those who do not practice justice shall some day receive vengeance. The story of the 12th-century Archbishop of…

Healthcare History Science

The Great Influenza: The Story for the Deadliest Pandemic in History

By Scott J. Pearson | December 28, 2019December 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

When it comes to pandemics – the worst version of an epidemic – the flu virus (influenza) still strikes the most fear in officials of public health. It is highly contagious and leaves us with few options to counteract. The year 1918 had the worst attack of the flu worldwide. In this book, Barry traces the history of what happened in that year and extracts lessons for us to follow in our age. The 1918…

Biography-Memoir History

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke

By Scott J. Pearson | November 25, 2019November 23, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Alain Locke is a name that even most educated African Americans don’t know. In the early twentieth century, he was the first African American Rhodes Scholar selected to study at Oxford. He pursued a career as a philosopher, received a PhD from Harvard, and taught at Howard University, the premier black institution in America. Most importantly, he helped spark the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and onward. He birthed the concept of the New Negro…