Gil's 2022 Book Recommendations

Here are the books I read in 2022 worth sharing with you. I’ve been writing my “year in books” post over the past few years and it is a great way for me to recap things I learned and share what has been on my mind. I also want to give you a gist of a review for each one, why I chose to read it, and suggest why you might enjoy it too. I recommend creating a ritual where you set aside some time to read (or listen to podcasts, etc.). It’s important to expand your knowledge and perspective. Every book gives you something; maybe it’s information, maybe an emotion, maybe just the time to contemplate your thoughts about the subject. Consider the topics you are familiar with as well as topics that you had never previously explored.

I’ve categorized this year’s list of 26 book into four groups. The first has six books about history, stories and myths. The second are six books about fun science and ideas. The third group contains seven books that may make you upset. The fourth group has seven other books on my list, many related to things I think about when I think about my work. I end the post with a theme that connects these books.

History, stories, and myths.

I’ll start with my favorite book of the year.?

Revolution Song by Russel Shorto. Shorto is an amazing writer. This book brilliantly composed of six interweaving characters, real people, tells the stories of the American Revolution from six very different perspectives. Each perspective adds a new dimension to the story, and together you get a much better sense of how complicated the birth of the United States really was. I’m not a history buff but over the past years I’ve started to appreciate the value of getting a better understanding of how things came to be. After reading this book, my wife and I visited the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. I read other books about American history over the past years, and this is the best one. I highly recommend reading this book and I hope someone adapts this to a movie.

The Island in the Center of the World by Russel Shorto. This book, about the Dutch influence on Manhattan, was excellent too. Shorto tells us the story of American colonies that you probably never heard about. Did you ever wonder why New York was the last state to ratify the Constitution? Why is it so culturally distinct from New England states as well as mid-Atlantic states? And why is it so richly multicultural? This book traces the history of Manhattan and explains a part of history that was removed from most public school history textbooks. It’s a deep dive. So many of the details may be lost forever. Shorto does an amazing job of creating a picture from the pieces of history that we still have. I think you’ll get a better appreciation for the role New York played in the emergence of our nation.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. No history of America is complete without including the experiences of the nations and peoples that lived here for centuries before European explorers ‘discovered’ the land. We should not forget the many decades of suffering that resulted. Not to foster guilt, per se, but to understand history. Following up on books I read last year , I felt I needed to read this classic. It’s not an easy book to read. The content is painful and the writing style is rough. The book recounts story after story of murder, deception, and treachery against the people who lived in the land we now call the United States. It is brutally one-sided, but it’s the side I didn’t get to see as much when I studied history in elementary and high school.?

Creation by Gore Vidal. I’m in a bookstore one day and realized that I had never read anything by Gore Vidal, despite knowing he was a celebrated writer. I selected this fictional account loosely based on historical figures. Vidal takes you on a tour of 4th century BCE Persia, India, and west China to meet wise men who explore the nature of religious thought contemporary to that era and region. We all wonder why we are here, how life began, and if there is meaning to suffering and death. These are universal questions that have existed, and will persist, as long as humans can contemplate their condition. The novel traces one man’s journey to compare his traditional Zoroastrian perspective, with other emerging ideas that underpin Hinduism and Buddhism. This is a rather heady book in some places, and an interesting historical fiction in others. You’ll meet Buddha, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Zoroaster, and Socrates. You’ll contemplate if there is a right way to contemplate the human condition.

Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes. Taking another bite out of the apple of history, this book attracted my attention. It’s a view of how women are portrayed in classical Greek mythology. She’s a sharp writer who has a command of the classics and a bit of wit. She explores different versions of classic myths through the lens of how women are portrayed in those myths. It’s eye-opening. Greek myths are stories of gods and men, but what about the women? In contrast, she notes, we see Midas' story (he is granted a gift to turn things to gold, including the food he tries to eat) from his (sympathetic) perspective, but the classic Medusa story (she is given a punishment to turn things to stone) is essentially about how to go about killing her? The author shares how contemporary movies (from Disney, Marvel, etc.) modernize these stories – for example transforming the Amazons of Greek myth into Wonder Woman’s backstory. It's a very fresh look at the classics. I just wish it had more images since you kinda have to read it with a browser to check the various artwork referenced.

Mythology of East Africa by J. K. Jackson. While reading Greek Mythology, I realized that as a product of Northern Hemisphere / Western culture I’m far more exposed to some cultures than others. Books are a great way to peek into areas I would not have been exposed to as much. Also, this book was on the discount rack. I don’t know if I recommend this book per se, but I recommend occasionally picking up something different. I enjoyed most of the stories, and feel just a tiny bit more connected to the shared human experience of telling folktales about wise talking animals, angels, devils, and stories that convey some message about being brave or about suffering fate. I can’t say it moved me as much as the Greek classics do, but it did give me an appreciation for the fact that folktales are part of every culture. This book is one of a series that attempts to show just that.

Science and ideas, the fun kind.

The Fabric of Civilization by Virginia Postrel. This fantastic and well-crafted book traces the history and cultural aspects of fabrics and textiles. The author notes that from the moment we get swaddled in a baby blanket to the time we are wrapped in burial shrouds, our life is fully connected to fabrics of all sorts from start to finish. We are clothed, put fabric on the floors, over the windows, on the seats, over our beds, and nearly everywhere. But how did it come to be that we even have fabric? The book traces the origins, market forces, technology, and symbolism underlying weaves, dyes, knits, synthetic materials, and even a bit of futurism as we see what people are working on in the technology of wearables. It is a fantastic read, very well organized, and you’ll learn a ton about things we tend to take for granted.?

The Influential Mind by Tali Sharot. If you like reading about behavioral economics, psychology, and books about influence, you’ll like this one too. The author helps you understand how people get influenced to believe or act. You’d think that facts play a very large role in our belief system, and yet they really take a backseat to emotional conditions. To be influential, or to understand how people have been influenced, you need to explore the preconditions to forming a belief. This is really well worth reading. Believe me. Trust me.??Have I earned your trust? This book will help you examine the mechanics of influence that play into that question.

Right / Wrong by Juan Enriquez. This one was a bit peculiar and somewhat edgy. The author presents the case that technology creates the reality that moral considerations change. That is to say, you can make a moral conclusion about an issue, then face a technological change that forces us to reconsider that moral position. That’s the gist. The author uses visuals that might work for you, and might not. But his premise is solid. The future will see morality differently than we do. Our grandchildren will judge us, much like we judge our grandparents. Technology has a large role to play in shifting our views on certain moral issues. Medical breakthroughs enable us to do things that could not have been done in the past. But are those morally good things? The author argues that your view on the answer is going to be impacted by your understanding of the possible – and that changes every generation. This implies we should be humble and judge history with compassion.

Grunt by Mary Roach. I love reading her books. If I could share a coffee with anyone alive today, I might pick her. She is the most wonderful combination of curious and hilarious. At the core, she is a science writer. But she is just so funny that every page is a delight. This book is about the science of being a soldier and the many uncanny and strange things those of us who are not soldiers would never know. And she gets delightfully gross at times.

The book is about the military, but not about war. She explores science and technology challenges operating in the background. Think about the process of creating stain-resistant uniforms that might also protect against chemicals or heat. How the injuries sustained from an IED exploding beneath a Jeep are unlike the injuries one gets from a more typical car crash – they injure upwards, not laterally. Thus the entire process of reinforcing it has to be reconsidered. She has a great chapter about sound protection. Guns are loud; people shooting in gun ranges wear ear protection. You’d think soldiers need ear protection too. But then how would they hear if someone is sneaking up near them? Or how could they whisper a warning to a buddy? How much gear can or should a soldier carry? There’s no end to the questions once you start thinking about it. Roach gets answers. She has a way of providing it that is simply a joy to read.?

Shape by Jordan Ellenberg. This is the second book of his I've read, and it’s nearly as good as How Not to be Wrong. In this, the mathematician author explores how shape (geometry) plays a role in calculations and organizations. The book culminates in an excellent analysis of district shaping and how it influences voting outcomes. He basically shows you how to rig an election in a way that is hard to notice. More pointedly, how it happens in reality. Some of us loved geometry in high school, and some of us didn't. As an adult, you can re-read this book about geometry without worrying about homework, proofs, and complementary angles. You can read this and begin to appreciate how thinking about geometry, or thinking like a geometer, can help you see things that were otherwise harder to see.

The Power of Babel by John McWhoreter. Words are fun, and even more so when you explore where the words came from. This is a fun and opinionated book about words, languages, and how they evolve. It helps if you know more than one language, but you can appreciate his message even if you are American (see what I did there?). He also decomposes the history of pidgin languages in a way that challenges the assertion there is a right and wrong way to speak a language. You might wonder why certain minority ethnic groups speak the language differently (and you’d think, incorrectly). After reading this book, you’ll have an appreciation for how words got introduced into our language (e.g. how the expression “good bye” came from a longer expression “God be with you.”) and how layers of expressions and subtle cultural changes results in the phenomenon that you could often listen to a foreign language and understand some words, but not others. If you want to know more about how and why that is, read this book.

Books that might make you uncomfortable

There are many reasons to read a book. Some inform you and some transport you. Here are a few books that might make you upset, or uncomfortable, or have some emotion that causes concern. That’s also a good reason to read. You’ll see what I mean with these books I read this year.

Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman. I read these books many years ago. I reread them again this year too. In March of 2022, a school district removed certain controversial books from their library. These were on the list. On the surface, the books they removed met some policy criteria. Policies are dangerous weapons that are presented as good ideas. Be very suspicious of policies. I am. Maus was classified as being too graphic. It is a graphic novel (different meaning, though). It deals with a deeply unpleasant topic. It is about the mass murder of millions of people during the event in recent history known as the Holocaust. Of course it is going to make people uncomfortable. That is the point. Murder and dehumanization are uncomfortable topics. A good education teaches students how to navigate and address uncomfortable topics. A bad education teaches them to ignore uncomfortable things when it is convenient to do so. Read these books because it is uncomfortable to do so.?

You’ll find these to be an excellent pair of books, extremely well created, and easy enough to start reading. It’s a story about mice and pigs. The pigs round up and exterminate mice. Some mice survive but are haunted with the memories of their ordeal for the rest of their lives. The children of these mice have to deal with the post-traumatic issues too. The first book is the conversation between the author and his father, a survivor. The second takes place after the father passes away. The conversations are difficult. Schools that remove difficult books from their libraries will fail to prepare students for reality. They will hide behind policies. If you can’t get the school to change, be a teacher at home and buy controversial books so that your kids get exposed to difficult conversations.?

Note: I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and blog post theme to say something about hate speech in contemporary online discourse. There has been a recent uptick where people share hateful speech about others online. More concerning is that some people are okay with it, have become numb to it, or worse, have incorporated those hateful beliefs into their tacit or active belief systems. History teaches us what happens. Being aware of the many news events of pre-violent and violent crimes reinforces this lesson. No society is immune to the effects of hate, and no one group captures a monopoly of victims or perpetrators. We may tend to avoid the harder questions and lean on the easier conversation. At some point, and in the appropriate forums, we'll have to address the harder questions too. To prepare for these important conversations, read books about hate, toxic policies, and biases.

Unwanted Advances by Laura Kipnis. I decided to read more books that make me upset. His one was recommended to me by someone I admire; someone who totally understands the importance of having a thoughtful discussion about challenging topics. Unwanted Advances is a pun that plays between the unwanted sexual attention that someone might get in a workplace, and an overcorrection portrayed as an advancement in gender rights.?

There is a time and place for single people to explore if someone they find attractive is interested in developing a relationship. There are many times and places where that is not appropriate. In some cases we need to create mechanisms that address transgressions related to these social expectations and norms. We all get that. But what happens when we seek to correct this problem in a way that creates a different problem? This is sometimes called the Cobra effect, or disimprovement. Undoing a flawed correction may be viewed as denying the need for the correction. Not undoing the flaw allows people to take advantage of the flaw.

This is the story, and it will make you upset to read it.?The author, a university professor, tells how she was accused of sexual harassment by student she had not met, who did not take her classes, but read an article she wrote in a peer reviewed journal that made the student upset. One might think that the post-accusation process would identify this as a misuse of the Title IX harassment process. The student was upset, but obviously not sexually harassed. But what about cases that are less clear? What about an asymmetric but consensual relationship? E.g. a professor and a graduate student (where the student is an adult, but the professor may have a disproportionate impact on the student’s career). Presumably consent may be enough to say this relationship is okay, although it might be unwise or at least risky. But what if there was a way for the student to weaponize the policy so that rescinding consent post-facto could lead to a harassment case? This book reveals how poor policy and misaligned incentives creates the opportunity to misuse the sexual harassment claim, resulting in all sorts of collateral damage, especially to real victims of real abuse. I think it will make you upset to read, and yet I’m really happy I read this book. It is provocative.

You Have the Right to Remain Innocent by James Duane. We’re on a roll now. Here’s another book that will make you upset. Please read it. Buy it as a gift for your kids too. The author makes a compelling and researched argument about speaking with police officers; specifically why you should avoid it when you can. This book is not anti-police. It is not about defunding police, nor about real or alleged police abuse or particular biases. It does not suggest that police officers are bad people. Rather it is a book about current US laws and common police policies, specifically how they compel or encourage police officers to use anything you say to them against you. Moreover, how they cannot use anything you say to them to help you.

The author highlights how the legal system designed traps that should you step into, you will regret forever. This should be fixed. But until it gets fixed, he argues that citizens are almost always better off not trying to be helpful to the police. He emphasizes that this is not because police are bad, but because the legal system and common policies do not distinguish between helpful citizens and potential criminals. Since anyone could be a criminal, the policy is biased against everyone. Moreover, due to the complexity and opacity of our legal system, it is likely that everyone inadvertently violated at least some laws, and changes of that increase when speaking with law enforcement. It’s a quick book to read, based on a popular YouTube video. Your libertarian and anarchist friends already read this book. That doesn't mean you should not.

The Economics of Bureaucracy: An Academic View On Why Government Sucks by Daniel Rothschild. My nephew, an anarchist, wrote this book. It is his first book and he’s a sharp witted person. Given that we're close, I’m challenged to give an unbiased review or to be too critical. But I’ll rise to this challenge. I think this book contains many very important ideas, especially about the perverse incentives and misaligned policies that create ineffective and in some cases malevolent policing in the United States. The author covers issues related to civil asset forfeiture in particular. You might be upset to learn how that works. However, the book’s structure does not make it easy to consume. It’s less a book and more a collection of essays placed in chapters. Each essay stands on its own. Some written better than others. Together they could make a coherent story-arc and excellent second edition. Getting that will require more editing. Buying this book is a nice way to say you want to see the author write more. I’d love to see him do so too.?

I’ve learned a lot about anarchism by reading books that Daniel has lent me (some featured in lists I’ve posted in previous years). I understand why people misunderstand anarchism (they’ve been conditioned to), and I understand the ideas that underlies this strain of non-aggressive, liberty-focused, Austrian-school of Economics oriented Anarcho-capitalism. But as much as I’m sympathetic to many of the concerns, I’m not convinced of the solutions provided by the thought system. If you aren’t too, that’s okay. You should not limit your reading to books that you agree with. Part of the goal here is to understand what people you disagree with think. This helps you challenge your own assumptions. Doing that helps you understand the book’s message (and perhaps find value in the conversation). There’s a good message here about bureaucracy: Bureaucracy is more about process than intent. To fix bureaucratic issues, you have to address the motivations, not the emotions.

Bad Science by Ben Goldachre. Do you have a friend who believes that the best way to treat a medical condition involves crystals, herbs, and detoxification rituals? Is there anything really harmful about it? This book suggests there is, at least at scale. It’s a humorous and vigorous attack against hacks and quacks who pedal snake oil solutions. The author goes after the beauty industry, big pharma, and all sorts of misuses of science. The book is funny, informative, and eye opening. So, why do nice and smart people believe in nonsense? This book addresses that too. What if an organization operationalizes bad science in service of healthcare? Well, sadly, people die. This book shares shocking examples of that too. I was not sure if this book makes you upset or just more educated. Either way, it's a fun book to read. Some people will be upset about the content. That's okay.

Revolt. The Worldwide Uprising Against Globalism by Nadav Eyal. This was a fascinating book. I really didn’t know what to expect at first, and I’m really glad I read this one. The author is self-aware, an articulate journalist, andan excellent storyteller. He has a fascinating personal story which informs his interpretation of global events. He takes the concept of globalization and shows many forces are operating in opposition to the trend. Yes, the “world is flat” and the internet has brought us all together in deeply interconnected ways. But we’re also being pulled apart, and for many reasons, some might be good ones too. For every revolution there is a counterrevolution. I’m not going to summarize the book, it’s simply too long and complex to do that justice. I’ll say that it is very well written, very thoughtful, and takes a lot of information into account. He’s a fascinating storyteller and he’s been to many places to experience these tensions first hand. I’m not sure it will make you upset, but it will make you think.

Books that I think about when I think about work

Open Source for Business 3rd edition by Heather Meeker. This book aligns with the work I do for a living. Each page is alive and relevant to me. I read the first edition (and her previous book on this subject), so I wanted to catch the latest edition too. This is primarily about the legal underpinnings and concerns related to the use and publication of open source code in a business context. It’s not everything you need to know, but it’s a huge chunk of the fundamentals. If you ever thought of running an open source program office at a company (like what I do) this is a fantastic resource.

Conversational Intelligence by Judith Glaser. I had to read this twice in order to like it. The first reading fell flat for me, but I’m not sure why. The re-read fixed it for me. Sometimes you need to give a book a second chance or be in the right mindset to appreciate it. This book is about the fundamental skill that can make or break your career: orchestrating the right conversation. Executives spend a considerable amount of time conversing with others. The art of conversation is at the heart of successful leadership. The author presents mental models of conversation types and how they often play out. Here lies the challenge: How do you balance expressing your most authentic feelings in a way that inspires change? Most simplistically this is about the difference between declaring “this is bad,” commenting “I think we can do better,” or inquiring “how do you think we could improve?” A more careful reading of the book takes you further into a more sophisticated exploration of word-based leadership.

Project to Product by Mik Kersten. There’s good news and bad news. The good news: this is a great book brought to you by the wonderful folks at IT Revolution, those wonderful lovers of DevOps, DORA metrics, and promoters of intelligent ways to manage technology. The bad news is that I now want to buy an expensive BMW! Much of the book centers around the new practices they are putting in place to make amazing cars. The other bad news is that “we’re moving to the Product Model” is the new buzz phrase. Many people have told me they are moving to “the product model” and in each case I ask them to tell me more about what they mean by that – and they each tell me something completely different! I'm reminded how the Cluetrain Manifesto book got everyone to say they are moving to Agile 20 years ago. But the good news is that this book is presumably where people get their inspiration for “the product model” that we’re moving to. IT software projects have lots to learn about product development.?

“Projects” and “Products” differ in remarkable ways. As someone focused on open source, this distinction is important. An open source project invites a community to collaboratively create a solution. An open source product invites customers to purchase something that was created as a result of an open source project. This book, however, is not really about open source, it’s about how companies view, fund, and manage technology projects so that they become technology products. With that goal in mind, you need to set up an operational model that treats the output as a product. This book takes you on the journey to the BMW factory to do just that.

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers by Michele Gelfand. I loved this book. It is about two different worlds catering to two different types of people. Kind of like that old “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” book from the 1990s, but this books is not about relationships. It’s about rules. Some people follow rules, some love to break them. This divide is at the essence of culture. Some cultures thrive on rules. Violating them may result in all sorts of harm that feels wildly disproportionate. Some cultures thrive because the people have successfully freed themselves from oppressive rules and encourage autonomy. Who is right??Which are you? This book does not say. But it does give you a ton of insight into these two parallel worlds and why both need to co-exist. This is one of the better books I read this year. The fact that I’m adding this low on this book list is to make sure that those of you who are still reading this long post get a reward for your perseverance. By the way, thank you for reading this blog post. It means a lot to me.

How to Hack Your Bureaucracy by Marina Nitze and Nick Sinai. I’m about halfway through this book. So it’s not fair to give this a full review. But it’s reading well and giving me lots of good tips. I don’t like bureaucracies. Last year I shared a three part blog about corporate culture which included a section on rule-oriented, bureaucratic cultures. I find them to be flawed. I’ll write a different post elaborating on how bureaucracies have the organizational equivalent of an autoimmune disease. Back to this book. It’s about the government and it focuses on hacking the system to make things work at a place where things are not designed to work. The authors share their experiences, and these are helpful to me. I look forward to finishing the book and I know I’ll be putting what I learn to use.

Blockchain Revolution by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott. The book does a good job of articulating important differences between blockchain, cryptocurrency, and other related technologies. Unfortunately, books about cutting edge technology age like milk. I’m not sure it's going to be the best book I read on this topic, despite the excellent writing. I’m hoping to find something that does more for me in terms of really laying out where these technologies are going and why perhaps one level deeper than this book has it. But at least I have some foundational context. I’m open to suggestions.

The Trial by Franz Kafka. This is a classic that I had not yet read. This year I addressed that omission. The story is iconically “Kafkaesque” as it takes you through the nightmare of toxic bureaucracy in a way only Kafka could convey. It’s a story about a man accused of a crime, arrested, and facing a bizarre legal system. But what crime was he accused of? Well, the people arresting him are not authorized to tell him. That’s the policy. And in this nightmare, policy is the only thing that matters. Follow the nightmare to the strange sequence of events, where bureaucracy destroys with no accountability. If only one person would have stepped up to say something, so much drama could have been avoided.

The book has a strange flow in some places and an abrupt conclusion. But that does not diminish its impact. We wish Kafka would have finished this work. Kafka instructed this book to be destroyed upon his death. His friend did not honor that wish, and we benefit from that violation. One might imagine that Kafka wanted someone to break the rules. Perhaps one lesson from the story is that rules don’t always have to be followed, certainly not if they are bad rules.

I want to bring this long post to a close by reinforcing that last point. It carries through many of the books above. Policy-based systems are designed to enforce compliance to rules and remove critical thinking during execution. People are ordered to comply with policies or face consequences. So they comply. They are discouraged from considering the implications of compliance. But what if compliance made things worse? I encourage you to read some of these books on this list so that you see what happens when policy encourages wrongdoing (e.g. Maus, Bury my Heart, Unwanted Advances, Right to Remain Innocent, The Trial). Other books on this year’s list may help you understand, navigate, and repair policy-based systems (Hack Your Bureaucracy, Rule Makers, Influential Mind, Conversational Intelligence, Project to Product). Some books here just help expand your thinking in new ways (Shape, Right/Wrong, Fabric). And some are just fun to read, since that’s important too (Creation, Pandora's Jar, Grunt, Revolt). I hope you enjoy this year's list.?

Endnote. I started to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Prisig. I remember seeing it at home when I was a kid, but didn’t understand the title or why I’d want to read it. But I get it now. It's a fun ride. I also ordered some Mary Roach books for next year. I'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions. Please comment below.