technology – Page 2 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Product Management In Practice: A Real-World Guide to the Key Connective Role of the 21st Century

By Scott J. Pearson | June 24, 2023June 24, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Product management is a new role in the world of business. Mainly centered around building and deploying technology, product managers began to spring up in early-21st-century corporations. They have been pioneered by organizations around computer technologies, like Intel, Google, or Microsoft. As common with most new roles, figuring out how to meet the challenge on day one can be daunting. To fill that need, Matt LeMay provides a book filled with sage advice from somewhere…

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

By Scott J. Pearson | March 19, 2023March 19, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Tony Fadell assumes that the reader knew of his career by virtue of picking up this book. That was not the case with me. I develop software and implement technology solutions for a living and found the title intriguing. Fadell led iPod and iPhone hardware teams at Apple and pioneered the Nest “connected home” technology company (now Google Nest). So as an author, he brings some “street cred” to the topic of building technology companies.…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Personal Life & Unlock Your Creative Potential

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

In the last few decades, computers and the Internet have provided humans with new access to untold masses of information. Humans are just now catching up on how to use this information for our own good. The technology needs to make our lives easier and more productive, not less so. Fortunately, first-time author Tiago Forte points the way to use these tools to aid creativity. In book form, he teaches a method that he’s shared…

Society Software-Technology

The Hidden History of Big Brother in America

By Scott J. Pearson | January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

As a professional software developer and researcher, I have mixed reactions towards this book. On the one hand, it points out very valid concerns and complaints about how Internet technologies intersect with contemporary society, particularly with the political classes. On the other, I found myself repeating over and over to myself, “But that’s just how technology works!” As such, this book is a good conversation starter for an issue that needs broad discussion in America.…

Management-Business Psychology Software-Technology

No More Teams! Mastering the Dynamics of Creative Collaboration

By Scott J. Pearson | November 21, 2021November 21, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

I wanted to read this book because I frequently saw it cited in contemporary business and management books. It talks at length about how to foster creative collaboration through the use of technology. It presaged a vision of a workplace with abundant computerized interactions. More impressively, it did so without foreseeing most of the impact of the Internet. Of course, the technologies described in this book are dated. Indeed, most of them are now in…

Religion-Philosophy Software-Technology

The Question Concerning Technology by Martin Heidegger

By Scott J. Pearson | September 26, 2021October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries can be as much of a problem as a help. As an instrument, it can make mass killing much easier. Indeed, nuclear bombs enable the world to potentially destroy itself in less than an hour. Yet technology can enable human flourishing as well. For instance, I develop software professionally that I hope will help my domain (medical research) advance. How are we to understand technology, a concept as…

Economics Environment Science

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have & the Breakthroughs We Need

By Scott J. Pearson | August 10, 2021August 10, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

It’s no secret that climate change has begun to affect human lifestyles. Unfortunately, world politics and economics are ill-positioned to deal with this crisis. If we can’t agree that vaccines are a good thing, how can we agree on the difficult sacrifices required to preserve our planet for future generations? Despite this (or perhaps because of this), Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the philanthropy Gates Foundation, is lending not only his name but also…

Artificial Intelligence Management-Business

Artificial Intelligence for Managers

By Scott J. Pearson | April 17, 2021November 8, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

For decades, followers of technology have touted the value of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in computing. Some present a utopian future; others present a dystopian future. In this work, Upadhyay presents a realistic assessment of what’s inevitably coming. He overviews the essential parts of the technology – like convoluted neural networks or K-nearest-neighbor mapping – and then speculates on their business value. At 178 pages, this work does not waste unnecessary words. It instead provides a…

History Software-Technology

Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the Present

By Scott J. Pearson | December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Many people hold one of two views of technology and culture. Some think that technology determines how society evolve. Others contend that human affairs express themselves in the technologies they produce. Misa contends that technology and culture evolve together in a mixed group; neither determine the other. He makes this case by examining this evolution, as his title promises, from the days of Leonardo until the present. Generally, Misa sees the history of technology moving…

Society Software-Technology

The Internet of Things: What Everyone Needs to Know

By Scott J. Pearson | March 8, 2020March 8, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

As a society, we have quickly moved into and out of the computer age and into the age of the world wide web. We are soon moving into the age of the Internet of Things (IoT). These comprise a myriad of devices which “talk” together via computer networks. They collect mountains of data on us and are poised to revolutionize virtually every sphere of human life. Although driven by technological advance, these changes are ultimately…