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Books from 2022

Last January, I aimed to read 50 books in 2022. I got through 32, which is at least more than I read in 2021.

There’s been a bit of discourse around whether setting numerical reading goals for oneself is worthwhile or counterproductive. I don’t have a strong opinion in the abstract, but I noticed that consciously tracking how many books I read served as a little nudge to read more than I would otherwise, without really compromising the quality of books I was reading.

In order, then:

I read this in high school, and wanted to read it again in light of recent Metaverse-related discourse. It didn’t disappoint, although it’s a little more “action movie” than Stephenson’s later works.

Beyond the surface-level plot (which is fun), Wheel of Time is a fascinating exploration of a number of societies structured around complementarianism at a deep level.

I’ve discussed this book previously.

This is a good account of the early days of SpaceX, and works well as a book-length answer to the question “What decisions or mindsets allowed Elon Musk to succeed in starting a rocket company when so many other billionaires failed?” or equivalently “What—besides money—explains SpaceX’s success?”

My summary, based on the book, would be (in no particular order): (1) a focus on recruiting top talent, (2) a “can-do” spirit / commitment to moving quickly and recklessly, (3) decisive decision-making at top levels of the organization, (4) a willingness to internalize lots of tasks to increase efficiency, and (5) luck.

I’ve also discussed this book previously.

This book presents five different theological “takes” on the relationship between Old Testament law and the New Testament—there was much less consensus than I expected! It is interesting but scholarly, and not an easy read.

There are a whole bunch of books in this series; each author writes an essay explaining their position, and then writes brief responses to the other authors’ positions. This format should be more common!

I discussed pieces of this book here; the rest is also good.

As discussed on Conversations with Tyler.

This book is about 100 pages longer than it needs to be.

As recommended by Tim Keller!

This book is a nice account of the Wars of the Roses in the style of a novel; I didn’t know anything beyond the broad strokes, so I found it quite gripping. My biggest complaint is that the book only goes through 1471, and so doesn’t cover any of the Bosworth Field-adjacent events.

My reading this year was about 50% fiction (18 books), with the remainder mostly divided between business (5 books) and Christianity (5 books). My main goal for next year is to read more history; I didn’t end up reading very much history this year, and I miss it.