2022 Book Recap: The Best Books I Read this Year
Tags: books, beginners, management, productivity
Published: 2022-12-19 19:47:05

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](https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/11636-2022-reading-challenge).

## 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](https://blog.jellesmeets.nl/book-reviews/the-making-of-a-manager-review/) by Julie Zho

- Engineering management for the rest of us by [Sarah Drasner](https://twitter.com/sarah_edo)

- Remote engineering management by [Alexandra Sunderland](https://www.alexandras.dev/)

- The manager's path by Camille Fournier

- An Elegant Puzzle by [Will Larson](https://lethain.com/)

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


![Tim Ferriss](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3sy4u7xh7uwhxmgpzpfa.jpg)
I enjoyed reading Tim Ferriss his books and blog

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](https://tim.blog/2017/11/18/booklist/) from his books. If you (just like me) can't get enough, some older blog posts on [tim.blog](https://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](https://twitter.com/dennisvdalen)!)

- The motivation myth by Jeff Haden

- Find joy in chaos by [Kevon Cheong](https://kevoncheung.com/about)

- Building a second brain by [Thiago Forte](https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/)

- 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](https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/).

## Fiction books

One of my favorite creators [Ali Abdaal](https://aliabdaal.com/) 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](https://blog.jellesmeets.nl/lists/my-favorite-lessons-learned-from-my-2020-personal-reading-list/). If you enjoyed this list you can follow me on [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/145050217-jelle-smeets), 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!