Date de naissance: 1957-12-14
Sexe: female
Nationalité: USA
Lieu de naissance: Akron, Ohio, USA
Lieux de résidence: Kingston, New York, USA
Shokan, New York, USA
Études: Vassar College
Columbia University
Professions: essayist
non-fiction writer
Relations: Sante, Luc (former husband)
Agent: Betsy Lerner
Courte biographie: Melissa Holbrook Pierson should have known she was destined to become a writer ever since she was a kid hiding in the branches of the maple tree, writing action-filled stories of escape and ignoring her mother's cries to come down out of there. She largely resisted the knowledge until after college, when she realized she was unlikely to become a professor of literature, an avant-garde film director, or an art critic. Her first "book" was a ghost-writing assignment about fashion and packing light for travel, although she had never done such a thing in her life.

Melissa Holbrook Pierson should have known she was destined to become a writer ever since she was a kid hiding in the branches of the maple tree, writing action-filled stories of escape and ignoring her mother's cries to come down out of there. She largely resisted the knowledge until after college, when she realized she was unlikely to become a professor of literature, an avant-garde film director, or an art critic. Her first "book" was a ghost-writing assignment about fashion and packing light for travel, although she had never done such a thing in her life. [adapted from Amazon.com Author Page, retrieved 7/31/2019]

Membres

Critiques

The secret history of kindness : learning from how… par Melissa Holbrook Pierson

Since no-one else has reviewed this, I'll give my opinion, although I only read about 20%.

This is a matter of taste, but I thought that there was far too much autobiography. I didn't read this to learn about Pierson, I read it to learn about The Secret History of Kindness; there was nothing about it in the part I read having to do with that subject.

I am also not a big fan of B. F. Skinner, who was still a big deal when I was in high-school and college. Pierson argues passionately for Skinner. Know-it-all boys at that time were constantly citing him to argue that all actions are selfish, which I thought was nonsense. The morality comes in what we find pleasing -- if we find it rewarding to help others, we're better than people who would rather swindle them.

I always thought that there is much more to behavior that operant conditioning. I don't think that too many people would argue that it isn't helpful in some situation, but in her passionate arguments for Skinner, Pierson defends Skinner's belief that language (and just about anything else) is based on operant training. I find the contrary arguments more convincing. One researcher suggested that building a theory to cover cognition in all species based on the behavior of white rats and pigeons in Skinner boxes is a stretch.

Just before reading this, I read Frans de Waal's Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? and Mama's Last Hug. While Pierson claims that Skinner was persecuted, de Waal and his colleague felt that the domination of Skinner was stiffling their studies. I find his argument that much more is involved that Skinner ever imagined very convincing. The books I have read on language acquisition, such as Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, convince me that Skinner was wrong about that, too.

I will, however, definitely look into clicker training if I get another pet.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

PuddinTame | Jul 31, 2019 |

Dark horses and black beauties : animals, women, a… par Melissa Holbrook Pierson

This is a rather disjointed book in which the author talks mainly about girls/women and horses. She relates her own experiences with horses, mentions horses in literature, and describes some appalling conditions under which some horses live and/or die. There is a photograph at the beginning of each chapter, and most of the horses are black and the girls/women have dark hair.

Primarily for women/girls who have loved horses from a very early age.

Short bibliographical note, which does not cover all the books the author mentions, and no index.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

sallylou61 | Jan 11, 2018 |

The perfect vehicle : what it is about motorcycles par Melissa Holbrook Pierson

the book was interesting but i'm not very interested in motorcycling. i would have enjoyed it as a magazine article. it never really seemed to be about travelling to a destination but about the bike you're riding, the problems or beauty of it, the people you meet, the classes you take.

Signalé

mahallett | Mar 21, 2016 |

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