2022 - A Year in Books

Jan 3, 2023

Introduction
Non-fiction
Fiction
Stats for Nerds

Introduction

2022, more books, you know the drill.

It was an exceptionally busy year for me. I juggled 3 jobs, moved house, and met my amazing girlfriend (hi Lydia!). This impacted the amount of time I was able to read, but sometimes life is just too busy for reading, and that's okay. I read 53 books (22,497 pages) in 2022, just over my 1 book-a-week target of 52.

This post covers my top 10 books that I read in 2022, 5 fiction and 5 non-fiction. As in previous years, my strategy was to have one of each going at any one time. This meant I could switch between them depending on how tired or motivated I was. I also finally upgraded my Kindle this year. My 2nd generation kindle was reaching the end of it's life, and the new one has been an excellent purchase.

Without further ado...

Non-fiction

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain examines the history of the Sackler family and their role in the opioid epidemic. The Sacklers founded Purdue Pharma, which created and marketed OxyContin, and before that Valium and Laudanum (the drug from The Queen's Gambit). The book is a whirlwind of greed, delusion, corruption and misinformation. The Sacklers painted themselves as philanthropists, whilst aggressively marketing drugs that millions became addicted to and subsequently died from.

"It is a peculiar hallmark of the American economy that you can produce a dangerous product and effectively off-load any legal liability for whatever destruction that product may cause by pointing to the individual responsibility of the consumer."

"The opioid crisis is, among other things, a parable about the awesome capability of private industry to subvert public institutions."

'“The Sacklers made their fortune promoting addiction,” she declared. “They have washed their blood money through the halls of museums and universities around the world.”'

"The marketing of OxyContin relied on an empirical circularity: the company convinced doctors of the drug’s safety with literature that had been produced by doctors who were paid, or funded, by the company."

I also read another of Keefe's books earlier in the year, Say Nothing, about the troubles in Northern Ireland. That was also excellent and only just missed out on this list.

Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman

Four Thousand Weeks revolves around the standard human lifespan, 4000 weeks (80 years), and the best way to spend that time. Burkeman pitches the book as "anti-self-help", an antidote to "optimised life" self-help books. I read a lot of those in my early 20s and have always struggled with the notion that I should be spending my time more productively.

Burkeman's book is a breath of fresh air. The central idea is that there's too much to do and that you'll never be able to do it all. But that's no cause for concern, there's a freedom that comes with accepting our limited time on earth, sharing it with others and doing the things we love.

"(People are) like donkeys running after carrots that are hanging in front of their faces from sticks attached to their own collars. They are never here. They never get there. They are never alive."

"We treat everything we’re doing—life itself, in other words—as valuable only insofar as it lays the groundwork for something else."

"It becomes difficult to enjoy a moment of rest for itself alone, without regard for any potential future benefits, because rest that has no instrumental value feels wasteful."

"The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short. But that isn’t a reason for unremitting despair, or for living in an anxiety-fueled panic about making the most of your limited time. It’s a cause for relief. You get to give up on something that was always impossible—the quest to become the optimized, infinitely capable, emotionally invincible, fully independent person you’re officially supposed to be. Then you get to roll up your sleeves and start work on what’s gloriously possible instead."

The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel

The Psychology of Money is the most practical guide to money that I've read. Housel explains how financial decisions are often made, not from data and formulas but by real people with all their unique experiences, ego, pride and susceptibility to marketing. He then gives guidance on how to catch yourself falling into these psychological traps.

The book is more than just a guide on money, it touches on many heuristics and biases that we humans are stuck with and how these impact our decision-making. It's excellently written and gives clear and actionable advice. I'd put it firmly in the must-read category if you want to save more and understand your own relationship with money.

"Financial success is not a hard science. It’s a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know."

"“The only way to win in a Las Vegas casino is to exit as soon as you enter.”"

"Napoleon’s definition of a military genius was, “The man who can do the average thing when all those around him are going crazy.”"

"Think of it like this, and one of the most powerful ways to increase your savings isn’t to raise your income. It’s to raise your humility."

"Sunk costs—anchoring decisions to past efforts that can’t be refunded—are a devil in a world where people change over time."

The Body: A Guide for Occupants - Bill Bryson

The Body is a deep dive into the incredible (and improbable) machine that is the human body. The book is divided into chapters that cover each area of the body. It contains science, history and even life advice, and really makes you appreciate just how amazing the human body is.

Bryson has a unique way of writing that is both funny and informative (I'd also recommend "A Short History of Nearly Everything"). The book provides a seemingly never-ending repertoire of body-based facts to fling at your friends, family, and anyone else who'll listen. I've provided a selection of my favourites below.

"Every day, it has been estimated, between one and five of your cells turn cancerous, and your immune system captures and kills them."

"Passionate kissing alone, according to one study, results in the transfer of up to one billion bacteria from one mouth to another."

"THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY thing in the universe is inside your head."

"One of the reasons the Mona Lisa looks enigmatic is that she has no eyebrows."

"The urinary bladder is rather like a balloon in that it is designed to swell as we fill it. (In an average-sized man it holds about a British pint, or about six-tenths of a quart; in a woman, rather less.)"

"Despite the vast differences in heart rates, nearly all animals have about 800 million heartbeats in them if they live an average life. The exception is humans. We pass 800 million heartbeats after twenty-five years, and just keep on going for another fifty years and 1.6 billion heartbeats or so."

"Over a lifetime, we eat about sixty tons of food, which is equivalent, notes Carl Zimmer in Microcosm, to eating sixty small cars."

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road - Nick Bilton

American Kingpin is the true story of Ross Ulbricht, the 26-year-old creator of the Silk Road who became an improbable drug and arms kingpin of an empire worth billions. Launched in 2011, The Silk Road allowed users to buy and sell anything online away from the prying eyes of the government, and I mean anything, from black tar heroin to AK-47s to stolen identities. The site grew to become a $1.2 billion enterprise with Dread Pirate Roberts (as Ulbricht became known) pulling the strings.

Bilton does an excellent job of piecing together the rise and fall of the Silk Road from Ulbricht's online history and information from colleagues, friends and family. I flew through the book in a couple of days and was enthralled by the story.

"By himself he had essentially done the work of a twelve-person start-up, acting as the front-end programmer, back-end developer, database guy, Tor consultant, Bitcoin analyst, project manager, guerrilla marketing strategist, CEO, and lead investor. Not to mention the in-house fungiculturist. It would have cost more than a million dollars of people’s time to replicate the site. Plus thousands of lines of PHP and MySQL code needed to connect to the Bitcoin blockchain—list of transactions—and a dozen widgets and whatnots in between."

"It’s about how the people on this site are using our Internet—built by the United States government—to run an anonymous Web browser—also built by the United States government—and the United States postal system—to circumvent the laws of our country."

"Bone marrow, for example, sold for as much as $23,000 a gram (compared with $60 a gram for cocaine)."

Honourable mentions:

Fiction

The Winners - Fredrik Backman

The Winners is the 3rd book in the Beartown series (the first two made my top 10 in 2020). I couldn't put this down, it's captivating and emotional, and had me in pieces by the end. Backman foreshadows like nobody else, and the short chapters keep the story moving. As with the first two, The Winners revolves around a small-town ice hockey club, but this is just a conduit a story of heartache, elation and everything in between. The series is 2nd on my all-time list, behind Harry Potter.

"It’s the same everywhere: almost everyone loves too much, hates too easily, forgives too little."

"True ruthlessness always demands a belief in some sort of higher purpose."

American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt tells the story of a mother and son who attempt to flee cartel violence in Mexico by reaching 'El Norte' (the USA). The book starts with the brutal and vivid murder of their family by the cartel, which sets the tone for a harsh tale of survival in the hope of a better life. Cummins' storytelling is artful and kept me gripped throughout. It's one of those stories that brings into focus the lengths people will go to have the freedom and security that we take for granted.

"She sticks her hand through the fence and wiggles her fingers on the other side. Her fingers are in el norte. She spits through the fence. Only to leave a piece of herself there on American dirt."

"Every day a fresh horror, and when it’s over, this feeling of surreal detachment. A disbelief, almost, in what they just endured. The mind is magical. Human beings are magical."

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

I've read all three of the Gentleman Bastard series this year, and it's become one of my favourite fantasy series. If you ever watched the TV series Hustle, then these books are essentially that but in a fantasy world. The first book is my favourite, but the sequels are both excellent and build brilliantly upon the story.

The Gentleman Bastards are a gang of highly-trained con artists who steal from the rich and powerful. The book is set in the city of Camorr, which is based on late medieval Venice. The world that Lynch creates is vivid and interesting, and at similar level to A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). Electricity exists in the form of alchemy, there's magic (but limited to a select few people) and the indestructible buildings of an ancient alien race.

"Locke Lamora became a shadow in his own mind—he was a Midnighter, an officer in the duke’s silent constabulary. Locke’s complicated lies were this new man’s simple truth."

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind is the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicles series of fantasy novels. It tells the story of Kvothe, a magically gifted child who grows to be a notorious wizard. Interestingly, the story is told by Kvothe as he chronicles his life (despite only being in his mid-20s), and flits between the story-telling and Kvothe's story itself. The first book covers the first day (of three) that he tells the story.

The narrative and storytelling is incredible, and I got swept up in the lore of the world. The second book (covering the second day), Wise Man's Fear, is also very good (although it was the longest book I read this year at 994 pages) and I'm eagerly awaiting the third.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

"Bleak" is the best way to describe The Road. It's set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, of which little detail is given as to how the destruction was caused. You never find out the names of the main characters, yet it tells a brilliant story of survival and fortitude. The writing is excellent, and the descriptions of the world paint a vivid picture of grey destitution.

"He got the binoculars out of the cart and stood in the road and glassed the plain down there where the shape of a city stood in the grayness like a charcoal drawing sketched across the waste."

"Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp."

Honourable mentions:

Thanks for reading. In 2023, my aim will once again be a book a week, and I should hit 500 books since I started my reading journey in 2016. Expect a blog post with some general lessons and maybe a top 10...

I've included my updated stats below if you're interested.

Stats for Nerds

Here are the stats from seven years on Goodreads:

Book counts year-on-year

Page counts year-on-year

Book counts month-on-month

Page counts month-on-month