Reflecting on Books I Read in 2022

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2023-01-26 02:00:06

I've tracking books read since 2013 or so, and writing about it since 2020 (2020, 2021). This year, I read 30 books, graphic novels, and related publications.

It's hard to pick a "best of" list of nonfiction books because most of the books I finished were pretty good. If they weren't, I would have left them half-read!

That said, I found myself coming back to the ideas in these books repeatedly throughout the year. These are the books I've ended up recommending over and over to other people.

I read fiction mostly for entertainment, but every once in a while a book manages to leave an imprint the doesn't go away. I found myself regularly recommending:

I had left my employer to focus on my own businesses in 2022 and expected to have a lot more flexible time to devote to reading and learning this year. In some regards, this was true – I've started, flipped through, or referenced in passing at least 50 different books during the last 12 months. Many of those now sit half-read or dog-eared, waiting for me to get back to them. Many have been technical or business books, which explains why I never finished them... I got what I needed and moved on!

Other books sit half-read because they weren't that great. Maybe it was my head space at the time, or maybe the books themselves weren't quality. I'm never quite sure whether I should add a 1/2 or 3/4ths-completed book that I've stopped and won't complete to my "read" pile. Over the years I've been pretty diligent about finishing books and only adding finished books to my list. But that also means the list itself isn't an accurate reflection of my reading... just my completion rate.