My Top 3 Books In 2022

Each year I write a summary of my favorite books (previous years: 2021 and 2020 ). 2022 was a roller coaster year for me - the high was very high, the low was very low. I visited 28 cities, learned about history, culture, business, and art. I lost a dear friend of mine and experienced stages of grief.? And I experienced some of the most fulfilling and vulnerable moments with family and friends. My book choices last year reflected my personal journey. I read 60 books. 12 are biography/autobiography; 24 self-help books (15 in parenting); 29 in leadership; and 10 for leisure.? Here are my top 3:

When Breath Becomes Air

This memoir is about Dr. Kalanithi’s short life and his battle against stage IV lung cancer.? I can relate to his perfectionism at work, obsession towards learning, and ambition to make a difference. He reminded us, “You can't ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.”? After I experienced my friend’s death, I can empathize with his wife who wrote the final chapters of this book summarizing her devastated loss and complicated grief. Changing sadness and despair into hope and positivity takes time. Dr. Kalanithi’s book urges the reader to focus on what’s important and cherish every moment.?

The Art of War

This ancient Chinese military treatise shares a set of skills (or “art”) related to warfare. It applies to military strategy and tactics, and when I read it many years ago, I didn’t appreciate its depth and how these lessons can be translated into business and daily life. Re-reading it, I understand more how not to rely on the likelihood of others’ actions, but on my own readiness to face potential uncertainty. I learned to prioritize building the right skills to win the national ballroom championship title this year, instead of overthinking what my competitors were doing.?

The Innovator's Dilemma

This business classic explains why market leaders often fail to disrupt new markets and have a hard time securing their leadership position for the long term. I read this book more than ten years ago, but as with The Art of War, I gained a lot on re-reading it.? I have a newfound respect for industry giants navigating their sustaining and disruptive products in the market, timing technology progress against market awareness, and defining structures/processes that can make or break companies.

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Here’s a list of all 60 books I’ve read in 2022:?

Leadership?

General:?

1. The Art of War
2. The Innovator's Dilemma
3. Dare to Lead
4. Daring Greatly
5. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
6. Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
7. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
8. How AI can Democratize Healthcare
9. High Output Management
10. Extreme Ownership
11. How to Wash a Chicken: Mastering the Business Presentation
12. The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology

Notable People/ orgs

1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Being Nixon
3. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
4. The Founders
5. Heirs of the Founders?
6. Play Nice but Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader
7. Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty
8. Anna: The Biography
9. Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder
10. Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives, and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning from It
11. The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
12. Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street

World views:?

1. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
2. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
3. The Hate U Give
4. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
5. The 1619 Project

Self Help?

1. Broken
2. On Grief and Grieving
3. When Breath Becomes Air
4. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
5. Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
6. Give and Take
7. The Power of Fun
8. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

Parenting:?

1. You Got Anything Stronger?
2. NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
3. Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting
4. The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired
5. The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child
6. Untamed
7. Anxious Kids: How Children Can Turn Their Anxiety Into Resilience
8. Beyond Behaviours: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children's Behavioral Challenges
9. The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups
10. What Do You Say?: How to Talk with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Happy Home
11. What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
12. The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)
13. Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain

Leisure

1. Beloved
2. The House of Gucci: A True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed
3. When Breath Becomes Air
4. In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss
5. Less
6. The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again
7. Hamnet?
8. No Cure for Being Human
9. Physics of Radiation Therapy
10. A Tale of Two Cities