memoir - Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character

By Scott J. Pearson | May 7, 2024May 7, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Dick Feynman was a Nobel laureate and professor of theoretical physics at Cornell and Cal Tech. Like many accomplished people, he had a unique reputation and a magnanimous spirit. In the classroom, his students revered him for his interesting stories. This memoir, written towards the end of his life, records his reflections on his life with the same zeal that won his students’ hearts. To be frank, some of his stories tend towards the anti-feminist…

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr

By Scott J. Pearson | November 25, 2023November 25, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Memoir has become a popular field in recent decades. The novitiate often thinks that anyone can write about their own life. The experienced one knows that this task is actually incredibly hard, both in penning the work and in emotionally admitting truth to yourself. Bestselling memoir author and writing professor Mary Karr writes about values and practices she finds helpful. Importantly, she cites other authors alongside her own experience to ground her work not just…

Biography-Memoir Family Psychology

Words with My Father: A Bipolar Journey Through Turbulent Times

By Scott J. Pearson | October 26, 2023October 26, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Those of us with bipolar disorder understand firsthand the upheavals this mental illness can exert on a life. Before diagnosis, moodiness can lead to a lack of linearity in life. Diagnosis typically only comes after a crisis. Self-awareness can grow after diagnosis, but medications and therapy cannot fully “cure” this disease. Many stories in this genre focus on hardships and a general lack of life control – not exactly fodder for inspiration. Into this millieu,…

Writing-Communication

To Show & To Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction

By Scott J. Pearson | October 20, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Writing about yourself seems like an incredibly easy task at first. Doing so in a way that captures the attention of an audience, however, is in truth quite difficult. Augustine of Hippo wrote his psychologically probing Confessions at the end of the fourth century CE and opened up the world of conveying a message with one’s life story. Ambitious authors have been doing so ever since, and the rate of personal nonfiction writing is only…

Writing-Communication

Old Friend From Far Away: How to Write Memoir

By Scott J. Pearson | September 4, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Natalie Goldberg has become a famous name among modern teachers of writing. In this short audiobook, she focuses on her process of writing memoirs. She talks about the delicate process of writing from memories and bringing out essential details that eventually form a narrative structure. The audiobook, narrated by the author, is incredibly short but power-packed at around 150 minutes. Goldberg’s main mode is to start writing first and then piece it together later. Along…

Biography-Memoir Indie Writing-Communication

We are the Words: The Master Memoir Class

By Scott J. Pearson | February 16, 2023February 16, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Writing a memoir seems deceivingly easy at first. Anyone can write about their own life, right? Yet crafting a good memoir – one that vividly communicates and mesmerizes with its words – is a difficult task. As this book’s title infers, a memoir consists of the writer’s life becoming the words, which in turn take on a life of their own. Its author Beth Kephart teaches writing at workshops and an Ivy League university (the…

Biography-Memoir

No One Crosses the Wolf: A Memoir

By Scott J. Pearson | August 8, 2022August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Fathers can sometimes present themselves to their children as a tyrannical lot, especially in abusive situations. Young ones can feel trapped in circumstances because they cannot escape their family, yet their circumstances are oppressive to their own personal growth. Coming to peace with their situation and themselves can consume years of early adulthood. Nikolidakis’ story embodies this storyline, yet as a thirty-something, a trip to Greece, her ancestral home, brought her a sense of peace…

Biography-Memoir

War & Me: A Memoir by Faleeha Hassan

By Scott J. Pearson | July 9, 2022July 9, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Iraq has encountered consistent upheaval for the past half-century. Most Americans know parts of that story from the news. What most Americans, like myself, don’t know is what that story looks like on the ground, in individual lives. They don’t appreciate how US policy has affected common life, mainly because they haven’t come into contact with an Iraqi. Instead, prejudice, bigotry, and/or cultural bias tends to fill that void. To address that problem, Hassan has…

Biography-Memoir Psychology

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s

By Scott J. Pearson | March 24, 2022March 24, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In the last twenty years, autism has risen to the forefront in the American consciousness. High-functioning autism (otherwise known as Asperger’s) is of particular interest because these people can and do function positively (even excellently) in society. Still, they face unique challenges in socially interacting with colleagues, family, and friends. Robison’s memoir shows how such an adaptation can happen and how happiness can ultimately be found. Robison was raised without a formal understanding of his…

Biography-Memoir History Politics

My Life by Bill Clinton

By Scott J. Pearson | January 9, 2022January 9, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The name Bill Clinton evokes several reactions among people, each with its own emotional subtext: economic prosperity, partisan conflict, sexual misconduct, and international peacemaking. In a long history of American presidential memoirs, Clinton adds his to the list in this book. It is lengthy, thoughtful, and carefully crafted. He attempts to provide insight into himself and his leadership while advocating for the policies his administration enacted during his presidency. I was a Republican teenager from…