Books Read in 2022

I read 38 total books in from the end of 2021 through 2022¹. Overall I’d say it was a mixed bag this year – looking back I wish I’d spent some more time with some of the books that had a bit more substance and could have skipped some of the lighter fare / so many work books. In 2023 I expect to go a bit deeper (take notes on important work / faith books, aim for more older books that have stood the test of time).

I’ve put stars next to the books that I enjoyed the most. Overall my favorites were probably

• The Life We’re Looking For — I love everything Andy Crouch writes, so this wasn’t a surprised. This book tapped into a lot of my feelings of wanting more from life / trying to wrestle with how my faith should change my every day life
• The Messy Middle - a great book about how to handle the craziness of startup-style work (relevant to me these days, this includes startup style work in larger companies)
• The Staff Engineer’s Path — a thoroughly practical book about what the career track for software engineers looks like after “Senior Engineer”
• Project Hail Mary - Great science fiction; I enjoyed this even more than the Martian
• Dominion — a history of western society through the lens of how it has been shaped / impacted by the Christian church. It’s long and a bit scattered (not many books cover the Library of Alexandria, the Crusades, the Beatles and Black Lives Matter protests), but I was fascinated.

Faith / Family

1. ⭐The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch
2. ⭐ Habits of The Household by Justin Whitmel Earley
3. Live No Lies by John Mark Comer
4. The Family Firm by Emily Oster
5. Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin
6. Deeply Formed Life by Rich Villodas
7. ⭐ The Pursuit of Holiness By Jerry Bridges
8. A Christian Field Guide to Technology for Engineers and Designers by Ethan J. Brue, Derek C. Schuurman, and Steven H. VanderLeest

“Work Books”: Leadership / Tech

1. Building For Everyone by Annie Jean-Baptiste
2. ⭐ How To Decide by Annie Duke
3. Rituals For Virtual Meetings by Kursat Ozenc and Glenn Fajardo
4. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
5. ⭐ The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky
6. ⭐ The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey
7. Product Led Growth by Wes Bush
8. ⭐ Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
9. ⭐ Escaping the Build Trap By Melissa Perri
10. ⭐ The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef
11. ⭐ The Staff Engineer’s Path by Tanya Reilly
12. ⭐ Kill It With Fire by Marianne Bellotti
13. The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

*I did a deeper dive into these books on my professional blog

Big Ideas

1. Drive by Daniel Pink
2. ⭐Of Boys and Men by Richard V Reeves

Fiction

1. The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy
2. Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy
3. Executive Orders by Tom Clancy
4. ⭐Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

History / Biography / Memoir

1. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
2. ⭐ Dominion by Tom Holland (no not that Tom Holland)
3. An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang
4. ⭐ Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War by Robert Coram

Hobbies

1. ⭐ How To Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman
2. Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg
3. ⭐ How To Write Short by Roy Peter Clark
4. 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler
5. Beyond 5/3/1 By Jim Wendler
6. ⭐ Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe

Literature

7. ⭐ Haiku In English: The first 100 years