2022 Book Recomnendations

Do you enjoy reading?

I do... a lot... I read on paper as well as listen to audiobooks. I try to read/listen to at least one business book a quarter, but a lot more in other genres. In fact, I try to switch to a different genre every book I red/listen. And since I enjoy many of them, I thought of "sharing the wealth". With that, here is the books I enjoyed the most in 2022 (feedback and additional recommendations are most welcome!).

1. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis – One of the most enjoyable books of the year, this very short volume is full of a delightful mixture of sarcasm, irony, humor and morality. I listened to it and when it ended, started immediately to listen to it once more. If you get the audio version, you should a) enjoy the explanation about how this book came about and b) make sure you have the version that includes the added chapter: “Screwtape raises a toast” which is a brilliant ending!?

2. Pavillion of Women by Pearl S. Buck – this amazingly delightful book by Pearl S. Buck (the writer of the must-read: The Good Earth) is a real gem! If you look for one book for lifting your spirits during the holidays: that's the one!?I would probably describe this as the most gentle book I have read in a very long while (maybe ever...)??

3. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes – I love books that take a familiar story and try to tell it from a different angle. In this case, the story of the ancient Greek epic story of Homer’s Odyssey is told from the perspective of the female characters. There are many female characters in the Greek mythology, but they are all secondary ones. Telling the stories from their viewpoint is fantastic. Extra special, ironic and thought-provoking are the letters Penelope (Odysseus’s wife) writes her husbands along his 20 year journey.?

4. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab – Do you want to live forever? This tale provides a perspective on the pros and cons of such a venture. Lovely.??

5. 10% Happier by Dan Harris – Santana Shorty pointed me to this book that provides a very practical advise on how to improve one’s life slightly (10% or so...) via meditation. The only problem is that I was not able to maintain the daily meditation sessions I started while reading this book...?I will try again in 2023...

6. The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt - This book is a must-read for every person who has or plans to have a child. The concepts discussed make total sense to me from describing the problem to assessing its root causes and even some of the practical suggestions to overcome/battle it.?Thank you Daniela Kaufer for an excellent recommendation!

7. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles – Such a delightful reading. The entire plot takes place over 40 years in a single hotel building and follows the lives of people who are confined to that hotel during the Russian revolution starting in the early 20th century. It is a brilliant set of perspectives on morality, humanity and kindness in a changing world.??The most memorable quote from the book came right at the opening page when the main characters says: "I was not aware a gentleman needs to have a profession"....

8. The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanly Robinson – Probably the most impactful book I read this year, this is a book about what might happen if climate change continues to deteriorate. It’s quite a saga and an epic review of commercial, social, scientific and engineering implications and what might be done in each of their areas, through a fictional novel style.??

9. When God was Young by Yochi Brandes – Yochi Brandes is the granddaughter of one of Israel’s most religious figures, hence her deep knowledge of the bible. But, her writing explore the biblical stories (and morality) from very creative (and very non-religious) manners that challenge conventional thinking. This book explores changes in the bible’s views of God and its behavior towards people. Thought provoking!???

10. The Redemption of Time by Baoshu – I don’t have much experience with fan-fiction and so when I was introduce to this book as a fan-fiction continuation of the Three Body Problem trilogy, I was skeptical of its ability to match the brilliance of that (must read!) saga. And here we are: a top 10 book for sure!?Thank you Steven Alexander and Robert Wu for the recommendation!

11. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine – This book “had me at hello” with its opening sentence: “This book is dedicated to all those who fell in love with a culture that was set to devour their own”. It got me thinking hard of cultural conflicts among nations and people, but also in the workplace and between startups and the companies that acquire them?

12. The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman – This short, concise and very practical book provides a very interesting and intuitive framework to help improve relationships among people. While it focuses on love relationships between couples (the author is a marriage counselor), I found myself spending as much time thinking of the implications of this framework (and how I can use it) with my wife and my kids, as much as with my coworkers and team. Besides, I love business books that ae short and practical (filled with lots of examples), especially those where i find that I am already doing some of the suggested actions intuitively and the book helps put them into a framework. Josephine Ahn pointed me to a business version of this book called: “The 5 Languages of Appreciation”.?

13. Pearl Buck in China by Hilary Spurling – Pearly S. Buck is an amazing writer (and the first and only one of two Female American writers to ever win a Noble prize for Literature). Her masterpiece The Good Earth is a must read. This book provides her biography, which I found adding an interesting facet to my understanding, and enjoying, her writing.??