My Top Five Books in 2022

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In 2022, most of the books I read were to research health and adjacent topics and it was time very well spent, but I read some other interesting books too. No business focused books to recommend this year (business reading was podcasts and digital publications) but sharing my list of top five books for the year along with some comments if interesting.

1. 'Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World' by Jason Hickel - This book is very well researched and does a great job of laying out the creation of capitalism and adjacent systems, foundational practices and models, and how we got to where we are. It highlights the challenges that we face today and shows a path forward where we can move away from 'growthism' to a model of sustainable growth, driving growth in areas where we need to expand while stemming acceleration in areas detrimental to the environment that have put the planet and the species that inhabit it at risk. This book is highly informative, thought provoking and lays out specific clear ideas for action making it a valuable read on the subject of what to do now that we are where we are.
2. 'The End of Average' by Todd Rose - This is another highly educating book and one I think should be a must-read in corporate environments and educational institutions. It lays bare the foundational ideas and history behind workplace and education system design, a concept of an 'average' and everything designed for and measured off of this average. Todd Rose makes the very correct argument, that there is no such thing as an average, the average human doesn't exist; snapping everything to this average and using it to measure everything from performance to potential has done a huge disservice to the society and its people. At the end, he proposes three very clear principles to break out of this prison of average: the jaggedness principle, the context principle, and the pathways principle, which could be applied to reform education and work.
3. 'Essentialism' by Greg McKeown -?This book prompted a big decision for me last year and it's a book that I imagine one could go back to anytime to find focus. It covers something essential to living well, which is to decide what is actually essential, eliminate the non-essential and focus on executing flawlessly. The answer is different for each individual and different at different times for the same individual. The book makes a solid argument in favor of always remembering to focus on what's essential to be our best and deliver our best at any given time, and provides a clear and concise framework to approach this pursuit of essentialism.
4. 'Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging' by Sébastien Junger - The core message of this book is that we humans have an instinct to belong to groups defined by purpose and understanding. It is essential to our survival but overtime that connection has been lost. This loss shows up prominently in some societies more than others and this book examines soldiers returning from war and their experience of integration in different cultures to highlight that any isolation is a symptom of the disconnectedness of modern society and the nature of the tribe defines the experience of integration and the wellbeing of the individual. This examination of the nature of the tribe can easily apply to experiences other than war where the presence or the absence of connection and belonging impact an individual's survival.
5. 'Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment' by Maxine Bedat - In this book, Maxine Bedat follows the journey of a pair of jeans from a cotton farm in Texas, to a textile mill in China, a garment factory in Bangladesh, and after purchase and use for sometime reaching its final destination in a landfill or a second hand market in Ghana. At each step, she highlights the truth of the situation, the impact on environment and people, and the decisions that need to be made for a better future. Maxine correctly makes the argument that we are citizens first and consumers second and should work to be informed on important topics and the impact of our choices. In this book, you will learn the impact of fashion industry on the planet, certain regions and its people, the inefficacy of donation and recycling at the end of the product lifecycle, and the need to redesign our manufacturing & consumption.

In addition to above, 'The Great Mental Models (Vol 1)' by Shane Parrish and 'Flow' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi were two other really good reads. I now subscribe to the Farnam Street newsletter and here is the link to the fs blog if you wish to explore - https://fs.blog/start/. 'Flow' seemed repetitive and quite tedious reading at times but it covers a very important topic in great detail, optimal experience as a condition for quality of life. 'Effortless' by Greg McKeown is a simple, quick read on 'effortless state' as the way towards the best output, and ties well to the concepts highlighted in 'Flow'.

For the discard pile, there is 'Courage to be Disliked' by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi. It's a highly rated and recommended book, a dialogue between a student and a supposedly enlightened figure who hold opposing views. My challenge with the book was the somewhat condescending display of enlightenment and the idea 'there is no trauma' as a central argument, which is incorrect but I was curious to learn more and open to be challenged.?This book has merits, focus on the redeeming part of Adlerian psychology giving agency to the individual to choose their course of action, and a good exercise in listening with an open mind even when in disagreement.?

?And finally, in case helpful for anyone needing to learn more about trauma and autoimmunity, 'The Body Keeps the Score' by Bessel van der Kolk is great comprehensive reading on trauma, and 'The Invisible Kingdom' by Meghan O'Rourke is an informative read on autoimmunity, half personal account and half research on modern healthcare system as it treats the subject.

For this year, at the moment I have picked up 'Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered' by E.F. Schumacher, 'Reclaiming the Commons' by Vandana Shiva, and 'An Immense World' by Ed Yong. My best wishes to everyone for the year ahead and would love any book recommendations!??