Books I read in 2022

I read 14 books this year, spanning 5878 pages. Not too bad with two kids of 0 and 2 years.

I’m trying something new this year, so instead of just listing out the books I’m also going to group them and say something about them. As always, those in bold were my favourites.

Biographies

My first and only big reads this year were book 3 and 4 of Robert Caro’s Years of Lyndon Johnson. I just can’t recommend this series enough! Caro has done an unbelievable amount of research, and his writing is very engaging.

Master of the Senate (spanning 1167 pages!) was somehow simultaneously a description of how the Senate works and a page turner. It’s an excellent drama on how Johnson ascended to the role of Senate majority leader, and uses that power to incredible gain, passing among others a landmark civil rights bill. Learned a lot about how legislation in the US works, too.

In The Passage of Power, Johnson joins JFK as his vice president, Kennedy is assassinated, and Johnson takes power as president (this is his life-long dream!). It ends a few months after he came to power, in which time he had accomplished a lot already. My favorite thing to come out of this was getting a more nuanced view of JFK. He was not as likable as I thought: Far more cynical. But also incredibly courageous.

I also read another biography about a politician: The Last Lion 1 about Churchill. What a remarkable man. Listened to this on 2x on audiobook while painting the house, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I’d sat down and read it. But wow, Churchill was impressive. For example, he spent multiple stints as a war correspondent. During the Boer War in South Africa he was captured as a prisoner of war and makes an escape that’s straight out of a movie. And he was hilarious. I laughed out loud many times. I’m hoping to read The Last Lion book 2 this year.

Silicon Valley history

As always, I read some Silicon Valley history. This is probably the biggest theme going through my reading in previous years (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).

Tech related

Michael Lewis books

I rewatched both The Big Short and Moneyball this year, and was inspired to read the books behind the movies. I’ve read other things by Lewis before, and his writing is interesting and easy to read.

Other non fiction

Fiction

I only finished one novel in 2022. I also started Kafka’s The Trial, but it was too frustrating!

Got any recommendations? Hit me up!

Posted an overview of the 14 books I read in 2022, and some words about my favourites! Take a look to find out how reading about the Senate can be interesting, and a previous time Musk joined a company and suggested a rewrite of the codebase https://t.co/enOFO2LRuU

— Vegard Stikbakke (@vegardstikbakke) January 12, 2023