---
title: "My top books of 2022"
date: 2023-01-04
author: Ben Guerin
canonical: https://www.bjhguerin.com/post/my-top-books-of-2022
description: "Reading 100 books a year isn't (just) about numbers - it's a weird personal challenge that reveals more about curiosity than achievement. Here's what I learned."
---

Each year I try to read at least 100 books, for no other real reason than because reading is broadly a useful and interesting thing to do and 100 is a nice round number.

I figured that if I consistently reached 100 books per year, then over a decade I would be able to read 1,000 books. And since 1,000 is an even nicer round number than 100, that seems like a rather worthwhile goal.

In practice, my reading target normally means I start by taking on ambitious biographies and long-form histories in January, but by October I'm powering through novellas, poetry compilations and anything else under about 250 pages.

One good thing about trying to read lots of books each year is that I get to read widely on all sorts of interesting topics.

I tend to read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, but have tried to start to balance that out recently.

It won't surprise anyone who knows me that I keep a database of everything I read, so drumroll please..

**📊 Some key stats for the books I read in 2022:**

*   81 non-fiction

*   19 fiction

*   Average publish date was 2010

*   Oldest book read was published in 1855 (_Song of Myself_ by Walt Witman)

*   9 books were published in 2022

## Top 5 books of 2022

Some of my favourite books I've read this past year include the following:

<figure class="w-richtext-align-center w-richtext-figure-type-image"><div><img src="/img/inline-1-my-top-books-of-2022.png" alt="Book cover: Quantum Economics by David Orrell" loading="lazy"></div></figure>

### Quantum Economics: The New Science of Money (David Orrell)

David Orrell is a Canadian mathematician who has some strong opinions about the state of the Economics profession (reader, he's not a fan. See his other book _Economyths: 11 Ways Economics Gets It Wrong_). A decade after the financial crisis Orrell rightly argues that economics has lost its way and needs some fresh thinking.

Orrell's thesis is twofold, firstly, that Economics sees itself as the science of scarcity when it should be about the science of money, a concept which has been overlooked in much of mainstream economic theory. And secondly, when you take a closer look at money, it is a phenomenon that has a quantum nature of its own, and can be best understood by applying principles from quantum mechanics.

For example - the concept of _wave-particle duality_ in quantum mechanics posits that a quantum entity may behave like a wave until it is observed, at which point it behaves like a particle. It's a complicated idea to get your head around, until you consider that there are some real-life scenarios that are very similar. Take real estate: a property doesn't have a price until it is sold, and yet may change in value dramatically between sales. When the value of a property is not being observed it may behave like a wave function, responding to factors acting upon it, but when it is "observed" (i.e. a transaction is made to put an offer on the property to purchase it) it then behaves like a particle, with a defined value.

What I loved about this book was the way Orrell draws parallels between quantum theory and how we think about money, which is a fascinating way both to learn more about quantum theory and think critically about economic dogma. Would highly recommend this book or any of David Orrell's other works.

<figure class="w-richtext-align-center w-richtext-figure-type-image"><div><img src="/img/inline-2-my-top-books-of-2022.png" alt="Book cover: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake" loading="lazy"></div></figure>

### Entangled Life (Merlin Sheldrake)

Merlin Sheldrake (who sounds like he should be the substitute Herbology teacher at Hogwarts) has written this hugely entertaining exposé about everything you didn't realise you needed to know about fungi.

Sheldrake takes the reader on a deeply-researched and somewhat poetic tour of lichen, yeast, psychedelics, and much much more. He charmingly describes _mycelium_, the network of threads that make up a fungi, as _"ecological connective tissue, the living seam by which much of the world is stitched into relation."_

By the end of this book there is a profound appreciation of just how much we don't know about one of the fundamental types of life on our planet, and it contributes to a real sense of wide-eyed wonder.

If, like me, you thought fungi had something to do with how things rotted down but were ignorant of the vital importance they can play to therapy, medicine and emerging technology, then you will very much enjoy this book.

<figure class="w-richtext-align-center w-richtext-figure-type-image"><div><img src="/img/inline-3-my-top-books-of-2022.png" alt="Book cover: The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow" loading="lazy"></div></figure>

### The Dawn of Everything (David Graeber & David Wengrow)

David Graeber was an American anthropologist and anarchist who sadly passed away in 2020, widely known for his 2018 book _Bullshit Jobs_ that looked at the existence of meaningless jobs and the harms they inflict on society. David Wengrow is a British archaeologist and Professor of Comparative Archaeology at UCL, and together David and David have written one of the meatiest (stacking up at over 700 pages) and most provocative challenges to established historical paradigms.

The book starts by arguing that the popular view on how Western civilization developed, as set out by authors like Jared Diamond, Steven Pinker, Francis Fukuyama and Yuval Noah Harari, is out of step with anthropological and archeological evidence. They then proceed to provide this evidence in spades, and show a host of various political models, including societies that switched between authoritarian and communal systems with the changing of the seasons.

The authors paint a picture of a much more diverse and nuanced picture of "development" than what is conventionally understood, and point to how our world has lost three social freedoms that were once common: the freedom to escape one's surroundings and move away, the freedom to disobey arbitrary authority, and the freedom to reimagine and reconstruct one's society in a different form. It's a well-argued and strongly-evidenced book, and suggests that much can be learned by looking into our history to find alternative models of organising society and managing political power.

<figure class="w-richtext-align-center w-richtext-figure-type-image"><div><img src="/img/inline-4-my-top-books-of-2022.png" alt="Book cover: Invention: A Life by James Dyson" loading="lazy"></div></figure>

### Invention: A Life (James Dyson)

Everybody's favourite vacuum cleaner inventor shares his story in this enlightening autobiography. Famously, James Dyson made **5,127 prototypes** of what would ultimately become his hugely popular cyclonic vacuum cleaner, and he shares how success was far from guaranteed in the early days of building his eponymous company.

Reading this book worked its magic on me: I'm now the proud owner of a _V15 Detect_ that makes me genuinely look forward to cleaning. More importantly though, Dyson's anecdotes about what it was like to build such a successful consumer technology brand in the UK reveals much about what it is to be an entrepreneur, the state of the tech industry in the UK, and how the UK's inability to navigate the EU's regulatory regime meant that British firms were regularly outmanoeuvred by French and German rivals.

I remember one point in the book, where once Dyson has made his fortunes he is asked by a similarly wealthy acquaintance when he will stop working - which points to a fundamental difference between British and US cultures. In Dyson's experience, many wealthy people in the UK often don't actively work once they have built successful and established business. According to Dyson, many of his peers choose to live off their passive income where possible, compared to somewhere like the US where titans of industry like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk are driven to continually reach new heights. Maybe there is something in that which can help us understand why the UK hasn't fostered as many hyper-successful tech giants as the US?

<figure class="w-richtext-align-center w-richtext-figure-type-image"><div><img src="/img/inline-5-my-top-books-of-2022.png" alt="Book cover: Everyone is Everyone Except You by Jordan Hamel" loading="lazy"></div></figure>

### Everyone is Everyone Except You (Jordan Hamel)

This last one is brilliantly weird and wonderful. Jordan Hamel was the 2018 New Zealand Poetry Slam champion and represented NZ at the World Poetry Slam Champs in the USA in 2019.

His debut poetry collection is eclectic, modern, and hugely entertaining. I laughed out loud at least a dozen times reading this short collection, and would recommend it to be read widely.

One highlight was **_You’re not a has-been, you’re a never was!_** which is a great example of Hamel's biting wit, and begins thus:

_I used to think I was meant for great things_  
_until I nearly died choking on ‘Very Thin’ Vogels_  
_watching The Mighty Ducks: D2 after_  
_chairing a Flash Fiction Zoom conference._

_Like God reaching into to my Scrabble-bag mouth_  
_dropping mixed-grain marmite letters onto my_  
_iPhone spelling out ‘stick to poetry’ immediately_  
_ending the game and the indoor rhino stampede._

...

You get the gist. Witty, weird and wonderful.

## Full list for 2022

Below is the full list of what I read in 2022, in the order I read them through the year:

1\. **Diamonds, Gold, and War** - _Martin Meredith_ (Non-Fiction, 2007)  
2\. **The Lords of Strategy** - _Walter Kiechel III_ (Non-Fiction, 2010)  
3\. **The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West** - _David Kilcullen_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
4\. **Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs** - _Deron Triff, June Cohen, and Reid Hoffman_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
5\. **Just Deserts: Debating Free Will** - _Daniel Dennett and Gregg D. Caruso_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
6\. **Quantum Economics: The New Science of Money** - _David Orrell_ (Non-Fiction, 2018)  
7\. **Einstein's Unfinished Revolution** - _Lee Smolin_ (Non-Fiction, 2019)  
8\. **The Mythical Man-Month** - _Frederick P. Brooks, Jr._ (Non-Fiction, 1995)  
9\. **Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It** - _Azeem Azhar_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
10\. **Entangled Life** - _Merlin Sheldrake_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
11\. **The Platform Society: Public Values In a Connected World** - _José van Dijck, Thomas Poell, and Martijn de Waal_ (Non-Fiction, 2018)  
12\. **The Antisocial Network** - _Ben Mezrich_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
13\. **Hivemind: The New Science of Tribalism in Our Divided World** - _Sarah Rose Cavanagh_ (Non-Fiction, 2019)  
14\. **The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread--And Why They Stop** - _Adam Kucharski_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
15\. **The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health--and How We Must Adapt** - _Sinan Aral_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
16\. **The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data** - _David Spiegelhalter_ (Non-Fiction, 2019)  
17\. **How To Live Like Your Cat** - _Stéphane Garnier_ (Non-Fiction, 2017)  
18\. **Invention: A Life** - _James Dyson_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
19\. **The Future of British Politics** - _Frankie Boyle_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
20\. **The Power of Geography: Ten Maps that Reveal the Future of Our World** - _Tim Marshall_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
21\. **Seven Brief Lessons on Physics** - _Carlo Rochelle_ (Non-Fiction, 2014)  
22\. **Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams** - _Matthew Walker_ (Non-Fiction, 2017)  
23\. **Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead?** - _Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton_ (Non-Fiction, 2016)  
24\. **Moneyland: Why Thieves And Crooks Now Rule The World And How To Take It Back** - _Oliver Bullough_ (Non-Fiction, 2018)  
25\. **Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Oligarchs, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals** - _Oliver Bullough_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
26\. **Uncommon Wealth** - _Kojo Koram_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
27\. **Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms** - _David S. Evans & Richard Schmalensee_ (Non-Fiction, 2016)  
28\. **This Is Your Mind on Plants** - _Michael Pollan_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
29\. **Ten Cities that Led the World: From Ancient Metropolis to Modern Megacity** - _Paul Strathern_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
30\. **The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It** - _Will Storr_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
31\. **Platform Scale** - _Sangeet Paul Choudary_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
32\. **The Strategy of Conflict** - _Thomas C. Schelling_ (Non-Fiction, 1960)  
33\. **Why Do Smart People Make Such Stupid Mistakes** - _Chris Merrington_ (Non-Fiction, 2011)  
34\. **Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It** - _Gabriel Wyner_ (Non-Fiction, 2014)  
35\. **The Circle** - _Dave Eggers_ (Fiction, 2013)  
36\. **And Finally: Matters of life and death** - _Henry Marsh_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
37\. **Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals** - _Oliver Burkeman_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
38\. **The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict** - _Mark Leonard_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
39\. **Do Deal: Negotiate better. Find hidden value. Enrich relationships** - _Richard Hoare & Andrew Gummer_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
40\. **Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands** - _Ben Coates_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
41\. **Drown** - _Junot Díaz_ (Fiction, 1996)  
42\. **Our Souls At Night** - _Kent Haruf_ (Fiction, 2015)  
43\. **Real Estate** - _Deborah Levy_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
44\. **Notes on Grief** - _Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
45\. **Books v. cigarettes** - _George Orwell_ (Non-Fiction, 1946)  
46\. **Luminous Moments** - _Paul Callaghan_ (Non-Fiction, 2014)  
47\. **Money Made Simple** - _Sam Stubbs_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
48\. **Committed Writings** - _Albert Camus_ (Non-Fiction, 1960)  
49\. **Thorndon: Wellington and Home: My Katherine Mansfield Project** - _Kirsty Gunn_ (Non-Fiction, 2014)  
50\. **I know this to be true: Nelson Mandela** - _Sello Hatang & Verne Harris_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
51\. **Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time** - _Dava Sobel_ (Non-Fiction, 1995)  
52\. **All Tito’s Children** - _Tim Grgec_ (Fiction, 2021)  
53\. **Funkhaus** - _Hinemoa Baker_ (Fiction, 2020)  
54\. **Everyone is Everyone Except You** - _Jordan Hamel_ (Fiction, 2022)  
55\. **100% Pure Future: New Zealand Tourism Renewed** - _Sarah Bennet (ed.)_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
56\. **A Child's War: The German Occupation of Guernsey** - _Molly Bihet_ (Non-Fiction, 1999)  
57\. **The Story of Peking Man** - _Penny Van Oosterzee_ (Non-Fiction, 2001)  
58\. **William Massey** - _W. J. Gardner_ (Non-Fiction, 1969)  
59\. **False Divides** - _Lana Lopesi_ (Non-Fiction, 2018)  
60\. **Automation and the Future of Work** - _Aaron Benanav_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
61\. **Ruth, Roger and Me: Debts and Legacies** - _Andrew Dean_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
62\. **The Struggle for Sovereignty: New Zealand and Twenty-First Century Statehood** - _Margaret Wilson_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
63\. **The First Migration: Māori Origins 3000BC - AD1450** - _Atholl Anderson_ (Non-Fiction, 2016)  
64\. **The Edge of Life: Controversies and Challenges in Human Health** - _Mike Berridge_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
65\. **Amnesty** - _Aravind Adiga_ (Fiction, 2020)  
66\. **On Coming Home** - _Paula Morris_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
67\. **Liberty** - _Virginia Woolf_ (Non-Fiction, 2017)  
68\. **Seven Pillars of Science: The Incredible Lightness of Ice, and Other Scientific Surprises** - _John Gribbin_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
69\. **Haerenga: Early Māori Journeys Across the Globe** - _Vincent O’Malley_ (Non-Fiction, 2015)  
70\. **Fragments from a Contested Past: Remembrance, Denial and New Zealand History** - _Joanna Kidman, Vincent O'Malley, Liana MacDonald, Tom Roa and Keziah Wallis_(Non-Fiction, 2022)  
71\. **The Fox** - _Frederick Forsyth_ (Fiction, 2018)  
72\. **Heatwave** - _Victor Jestin_ (Fiction, 2021)  
73\. **Alexa, what is there to know about love?** - _Brian Bilston_ (Fiction, 2021)  
74\. **In the Garden: Essays on Nature and Growing** - _Various_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
75\. **The Fell** - _Sarah Moss_ (Fiction, 2021)  
76\. **The Dawn of Everything** - _David Graeber & David Wengrow_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
77\. **Assembly** - _Natasha Brown_ (Fiction, 2021)  
78\. **Wilfred Owen (Poets of the Great War)** - _Wilfred Owen_ (Fiction, 2014)  
79\. **Conspicuous Consumption** - _Thorstein Veblen_ (Non-Fiction, 2011)  
80\. **The Eye** - _Vladimir Nabokov_ (Fiction, 1930)  
81\. **Small Things Like These** - _Claire Keegan_ (Fiction, 2020)  
82\. **Invitation to a Beheading** - _Vladimir Nabokov_ (Fiction, 1935)  
83\. **A Month in the Country** - _J. L. Carr_ (Fiction, 1980)  
84\. **Be The Worst You Can Be** - _Charles Saatchi_ (Non-Fiction, 2012)  
85\. **The End of Bias** - _Jessica Nordell_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
86\. **The Order of Time** - _Carlo Rovelli_ (Non-Fiction, 2017)  
87\. **21 Letters on Life and Its Challenges** - _Charles Handy_ (Non-Fiction, 2019)  
88\. **On Human Nature** - _Roger Scruton_ (Non-Fiction, 2017)  
89\. **The Invisible Universe: Why There's More to Reality Than Meets the Eye** - _Matthew Bothwell_ (Non-Fiction, 2021)  
90\. **Letters to a Young Poet** - _Rainer Maria Rilke & Charlie Louth_ (Non-Fiction, 2016)  
91\. **Tongues of Fire** - _Seán Hewitt_ (Fiction, 2020)  
92\. **The Psychedelic Experience** - _Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner & Richard Alpert_ (Non-Fiction, 1992)  
93\. **Emotional Branding** - _Marc Globe_ (Non-Fiction, 2010)  
94\. **Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection** - _Marissa King_ (Non-Fiction, 2020)  
95\. **Sold Out: How Broken Supply Chains, Surging Inflation, and Political Instability Will Sink the Global Economy** - _James Rickards_ (Non-Fiction, 2022)  
96\. **Histories of Nations: How their identities were forged** - _Peter Furtado (ed.)_ (Non-Fiction, 2012)  
97\. **Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History** - _Patrick Hunt_ (Non-Fiction, 2007)  
98\. **Song of Myself** - _Walt Whitman_ (Fiction, 1855)  
99\. **Platform Strategy** - _Laure Claire Reillier & Benoit Reillier_ (Non-Fiction, 2017)  
100\. **The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power** - _Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer, David B. Yoffie_ (Non-Fiction, 2019)