2022 Reading Roundup

I have a standing personal rule: Always Bring a Book!

Whenever I break it, I’m inevitably sorry.

Books are important to me: in them I find distilled wisdom, practical instruction, and engrossing entertainment. They customize my intellectual, psychological, and spiritual development; they build my technical and relational capabilities; they expand my leadership and service; they refresh my mind and spirit.

In 2022, my wife, son and I wrote a book about the challenges, lessons and adventures in raising our youngest son with Asperger’s Syndrome, which will be published this coming year.

I try to read widely. Not all my choices pertain directly to my job, or my personal interests. Invisible Women opened my eyes and mind to systemic male-based data bias. Even fiction, when it represents a divergent point of view, can add to my useful stores of knowledge. Case in point for this year: The Personal Librarian, based on the true story of a black woman passing as a white woman in the employ of J.P. Morgan in the early 1900s.

The complete list follows, but here are my personal citations for those I’ve found most captivating, memorable, or practical in the following categories:

Work-related: ?CEO Excellence; Critical Thinking; Extreme Ownership

Biography: ????????Frederick Douglass; An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth

History: ??????????????The First Conspiracy: The Plot to Kill George Washington

Iconic/Classic: ?Travels with Charley in Search of America

Fiction: ???????????????Where the Crawdads Sing; West With Giraffes; The Personal Librarian

Science: ?????????????Humble Pi; Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds

Societal: ?????????????Invisible Women; Untrustworthy

Thriller: ??????????????Boar Island

Humor: ???????????????The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach

Spiritual: ????????????The Hole in Our Gospel

by personal friends: Super Powers and Secrets; Crushed and Marred; Stand; People Connectors

1. Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Ed Catmull
2. Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, Matt Parker
3. Super Powers and Secrets: A Year of Holidays, H. Kaeppel
4. Crushed and Marred: A Year of Milestones, H. Kaepple
5. Stand: A Year of Firsts, H. Kaeppel
6. The Itty Bitty Book of Nonprofit Fundraising, Jayme Dingler
7. The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, Nik Ripken
8. Golden Girl, Elin Hilderbrand
9. Flashback, Nevada Barr
10. Trees & Forests of America, Tim Palmer
11. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, David W. Blight
12. Sold on a Monday, Kristina McMorris
13. The Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns
14. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character, Richard P. Feynman
15. The Gift of Asperger’s: One Family’s Persevering Adventure of Hope, Humor, Insight and Inspiration, Tim Herd, Carol Herd, and Philip Herd
16. A Time for Mercy, John Grisham
17. Historic Acadia National Park: The Stories Behind One of America’s Great Treasures, Catherine Schmidt
18. Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the World, Ian Wright
19. Girl Behind the Red Rope, Ted Dekker and Rachelle Dekker
20. Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, W. Bernard Carlson
21. The Escape Artist, Brad Melzner
22. People Connectors: Elevating Communication for Educators, Terry Sumerlin
23. The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, Brad Meltzner and Josh Mensch
24. We Seven, by the Astronauts Themselves, Carpenter, Cooper, Glenn, Grissom, Schirra, Shepard, Slayton
25. What Happened to the Bennetts, Lisa Scottoline
26. The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach, Professor Peter Schickele
27. Wait, What? And Life’s Other Essential Questions, James Ryan
28. High Country, Nevada Barr
29. Hard Truth, Nevada Barr
30. Eight Days in May: The Final Collapse of the Third Reich, Volker Ullrich
31. Endangered Species, Nevada Barr
32. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Everything, Col. Chris Hadfield
33. Blind Descent, Nevada Barr
34. Immanuel’s Veins, Ted Dekker
35. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction – and Get it Published, Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato
36. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez
37. The Lost Key, Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison
38. Burn, Ted Dekker and Erin Healy
39. The Whole Town’s Talking, Fannie Flagg
40. Acadia National Park, Bob Thayer
41. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
42. CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders From the Rest, Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
43. Burn, Nevada Barr
44. The Murder of King Tut, James Patterson and Martin Dugard
45. Thinking in Pictures: My Life With Autism, Temple Grandin
46. Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like and Inventor, Temple Grandin
47. The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People, John Ortberg
48. Boar Island, Nevada Barr
49. Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life, Richard Paul and Linda Elder
50. The Rope, Nevada Barr
51. A Man Called Ova, Fredrik Backman
52. The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
53. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
54. Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community, Bonnie Kristian
55. Send: Living a Life That Invites Others to Jesus, Heather Holleman and Ashley Holleman
56. West With Giraffes, Lynda Rutledge
57. Dr. Rick Will See You Now: A Guide to Unbecoming Your Parents, Dr. Rick
58. Travels With Charley in Search of America, John Steinbeck
59. The Business of Heaven, C.S. Lewis
60. My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

#biography, #books, #fiction, #history, #humor, #intellectualdevelopment, #library, #memoir, #nonfiction, #pointofview, #psychologicaldevelopment, #reading, #science, #spiritualdevelopment, #thriller