2022 Book Recap: The Best Books I Read this Year
Table of Contents
It is time for the 2022 book recap! 2022 was a year with a lot of changes for me. The most important thing was that I became a twin dad in May! With limited time and energy, some of my hobbies were abandoned. But one thing that I kept coming back to was reading. I read a total of 19 books in 2022.
Engineering management books
On March 1st, 2022 I started as an Engineering manager. I quickly found out that it can be scary to do things you have not done before. That is why I read a bunch of engineering management books.
- The making of a manager by Julie Zho
- Engineering management for the rest of us by Sarah Drasner
- Remote engineering management by Alexandra Sunderland
- The manager’s path by Camille Fournier
- An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson
A common thread among the engineering management books above was that (great) managers are made and not born. It takes hard work and experience to become a good manager. A lesson that hit me in the face in the first few months!
Do you have any recommendations you missed in the 2022 book recap? Let me know!
Tim Ferriss
This year I rediscovered my love for Tim Ferriss, or his books at least. I read the 4-hour workweek in the past and loved it. This year I (re-)enjoyed the following Tim Ferriss’s books:
- The 4-hour Workweek
- Tools of Titans
- Tribe of Mentors
I liked the last two books specifically, where I got a lot of tips, advice, and great books from other interesting people I would otherwise not have known. Tim provides valuable links to all the recommended books mentioned in the books. Check the recommended books from his books. If you (just like me) can’t get enough, some older blog posts on tim.blog are goldmines as well.
Personal development books
I’m a sucker for personal development books. I’d love to learn a thing or two and add it to my collection of knowledge and lifehacks. That is why a big part of the 2022 book recap consists of books that teach me something.
- The things you can only see when you slow down by Haemin Sunim
- Ikigai by Yukari Mitshuhashi(Thanks for the recommendation Dennis!)
- The motivation myth by Jeff Haden
- Find joy in chaos by Kevon Cheong
- Building a second brain by Thiago Forte
- The third door by Alex Banayan (but this could be a pleasure read as well)
My absolute favorite was building a second brain. It helps me to gather ideas and interests for my blog and my career as an engineering manager.
Kevon Cheong’s Find joy in chaos was a refreshing book on how to grow your Twitter. It is not a book about shady tactics. But rather focuses on building meaningful relationships, and did remind me a bit of finding your 1000 true fans.
Fiction books
One of my favorite creators Ali Abdaal recommended in one of his videos to only read fiction in bed. If you read non-fiction you get excited about all the things you can apply in real life, which is the opposite of getting ready for sleep. This is something I found as well. And that is why I picked up several fiction books to read in bed.
I enjoyed:
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- The midnight library by Matt Haig
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
It was fun to read the classic Count of Monte Cristo. With a whopping 1500 pages, it was quite a challenge to finish it. But I enjoyed the many plot twists along the way. Another classic I enjoyed reading was Dune. After I visited the Dune movie at the cinema, I wanted to read the books. I experienced what many believe to be the best/first science fiction book.
The alchemist was hyped to me for many years before I dared to touch it. It was a decent book. But not worth the hype it had built up in my mind. I enjoyed it, but it was not as life-changing as I expected it to be. It felt like the writer took some shortcuts, and some parts of the story could be more fleshed out.
Did you miss a literature or fiction book in the 2022 book recap? Let me know!
Before you go
If you liked the books in my 2022 book recap. You can go one step further and check my 2020 reading list. If you enjoyed this list you can follow me on Goodreads, where you can follow my reading journey in real-time, so you won’t have to wait for my yearly report. The goal is to read 24 books next year. A grand total of 2 per month. Let’s go!