2022 Reading List & 2023 Queue

Despite a hectic year filled with change, both professionally and personally, I managed to finish 11 books, which featured more science, history and fiction compared to previous years. With many business books regurgitating many of the same lessons, I took a break from the genre in 2022 (with the exception of Amp it Up) and do not have any on my reading queue at the moment. I remain open to resuming in 2023 if I come across anything that is saying something new or interesting.

In 2022, I read the following titles:

1. A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution: A Crack in Creation is a first hand account of Doudna's research & collaborations that led to the discovery of CRISPR gene editing technique. Doudna discusses the genesis, applications and ethical considerations concerning CRISPR. While the topic is fascinating, I felt the book was written in a underwhelming manner that discredits how important this discovery is. A Crack in Creation was published in 2017, 4 years prior to Walter Isaacson's rendition The Code Breaker. Given Isaacson's strength as a biographer, I would suggest reading The Code Breaker over A Crack in Creation, which was my original intention.
2. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution: Walter Isaacson provides a comprehensive history of computing from Ada Lovelace up to the modern era. While Isaacson's books generally focus on individuals, The Innovators differs by highlighting many contributors across countless iterations and hundreds of years. The Innovators is good to read if you want to learn about history and technology.
3. The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley: Jimmy Soni covers the story of PayPal and the many employees that would later build or invest in some of the largest technology companies today. Given that I had previously read The PayPal Wars, I was a bit disappointed by The Founders because despite having an additional 15 years of hindsight, Soni did not focus on the aftermath of the sale to eBay as I would have hoped. Nonetheless, The Founders is certainly worth getting as I would expect most people did not read The PayPal wars, which is harder to find.
4. Amp It Up: Frank Slootman, despite never starting a company himself, has managed to join 3 others at varying stages of their journey and take them to staggering heights. Slootman discuses his career journey and management philosophy that permitted him to scale Data Domain, ServiceNow & Snowflake. Amp it up is not your typical dry and boring business book; after reading it, as the title suggests you will want to approach what you are working on with more intensity. Amp It Up is the counter-philosophy to quite quitting or "The Surplus Elites" (a term popularized by David Sacks).
5. Snow Crash: Considered one of the early books discussing the concept of the Metaverse, Neal Stephenson's dystopian universe has humanity goggling in between physical and virtual worlds while still being guaranteed fast pizza delivery. Snow crash is a great story that starts off very strong before getting interrupted by a 50-100 page sidebar discussing the tower of babel myth and invention of language. This contributes to a weaker 2nd act in the book but I would still recommend reading for those interested in the metaverse or looking for a good fiction read.
6. Make Something Up; Stories You Can't Unread: In Make Something Up, Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, extends beyond any polite limits of depravity and assaults readers with the darkest series of short stories that could ever be published. Palahniuk is certainly a genius, in his specific way, and the writing is excellent but these are not stories you enjoy or feel good about reading. I do not suggest getting this; it is the type of book that if somebody picked it up off your shelf, you would no longer find yourself invited to their dinner parties.
7. Wanting; The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life: Luke Burgis offers an accessible introduction to Mimetic theory, made popular by Peter Thiel. Stanford professor Rene Girard, a mentor of Thiel's, uses mimetic theory to explain human desires. Girard has published extensively on the topic but for those not prepared to dive into the deep end, Wanting gives enough of an overview and explanation of how Memes affect desire. This is the type of book that is good for those interested in reading about behavior, decision making or are curious about philosophy without wanting to commit to a difficult read.
8. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail: Ray Dalio continues to exhibit his range and put together a lengthy but intriguing analysis of the rise and fall of empires. Dalio demonstrates why the US is an empire in decline that is on a collision course with a rising China. This scenario has played out many times before, which Dalio uses to offer potential range of outcomes in the years and decades to follow. Similar to Principals, The Changing World Order is filled with interesting insights yet its length and redundancy make it more difficult to read than I would have liked. For most people not willing to commit to such a long read, I believe he released an hour long Youtube video which will cover 60-70% of what is covered in the book.
9. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: (see next)
10. The Order of Time: Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist and writer known for his work on the foundations of quantum mechanics and the theory of loop quantum gravity has mastered the art of taking complex scientific topics and distilling into a format anybody can grasp. Despite not having taken a science course since high school, between Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time, in only a few hundred pages, I have come away with a much better understanding of physics, quantum mechanics, the universe and other related matters. His ability to quickly and simply explain highly complex topics is truly impressive and worth checking out if you are interested in learning more about these subjects.
11. Glamorama: Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, effectively wrote Zoolander 2 years before the film came out. Despite the length (550 pages), Glamorama does an excellent job satirizing celebrity culture, the fashion industry and excessiveness of the late 1990s. While I enjoyed it, the writing style and choices by Easton Ellis would likely alienate most readers (although not to the same degree as Palahniuk), so you are likely better off re-watching Zoolander and saving yourself the time.

Next on Reading Queue for 2023:

1. Reality Is Not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli
2. Boys by Randall Stross
3. The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. Henry Kissinger and the American century by Jeremy Suri
5. The Metamorphosis & more Franz Kafka
6. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
7. Re-reading some old favorites such as Old School by Tobias Wolff, Antifragile by Naseem Taleb or one of Calvin Newport books.