“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Harper Lee
Another year down and another book list to reflect on. I ended up reading 62 books in 2022, twelve more than last year and weighted much more heavily towards fiction. As usual, the final tally is the result of a few weeks of binge-reading on vacation, alongside a more sustainable habit of reading one book per week.
This is the sixth consecutive year in which I’ve set a goal of reading at least 52 books, and the main secret to success is simply time. It takes the average reader 8 hours to read a 300-page book, which means the average reader could read one book per week by committing a little over an hour each day to the task.
Like I wrote earlier this year, there is nothing inherently impressive about so much reading. I spent a few weeks tearing through six volumes of Preacher, a graphic novel series that was highly entertaining but about as intellectually stimulating as a Jon Wick movie. Not all reading is good reading.
For those who would like to read more in 2023, here are a few tips I’ve picked up since I started reading again with gusto back in 2017:
- Make it a habit: At the very least, commit to reading for at least ten minutes before bed each night
- Hide your phone: Leave your phone outside your bedroom so you don’t have the option to pick it up while reading
- Entertainment First: Buy a few popular, easy-to-read books while you’re still building the muscle – start with Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, not Infinite Jest
- Add resistance: Put a book on top of your remote to remind you to read instead of watching TV
You’ll accomplish a lot more by successfully reading ten minutes each night than you will forcing yourself to choke down a book once or twice a year on an airplane.
My own goal for next year is to be more thoughtful about what I read. Too often in 2022, my book choices were based on what was available at the moment versus what I wanted to read. I also need to learn how to put a book down when I’m no longer enjoying it!
And now, for the awards…
A Compelling Framework for Life
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Like most people, I often worry about how I spend my time on Earth and how quickly life seems to pass me by. Burkeman’s book on time management throws out the common goal of doing more with less and instead argues that we all should do less with less. This is one book I am guaranteed to re-read in 2023.
“Our lives, thanks to their finitude, are inevitably full of activities that we’re doing for the very last time. Just as there will be a final occasion on which I pick up my son—a thought that appalls me, but one that’s hard to deny, since I surely won’t be doing it when he’s thirty—there will be a last time that you visit your childhood home, or swim in the ocean, or make love, or have a deep conversation with a certain close friend.”
Along for the Ride
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Anyone who enjoyed The Queen’s Gambit or Ted Lasso will enjoy this book for its wonderful ability to consistently surprise you with positivity. Each turn of the page brought me smiles, laughs and kind-heartedness that is rare to find in a book written so well.
“Wouldn’t it have been wonderful, thought Woolly, if everybody’s life was like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Then no one person’s life would ever be an inconvenience to anyone else’s. It would just fit snugly in its very own, specially designed spot, and in so doing, would enable the whole intricate picture to become complete.”
Why Didn’t I Read This Before?!?
Dune by Frank Herbert
I had a copy of Dune growing up and never read it, despite loving other sci-fi classics. Don’t judge a book by its cover is right! Baron Harkonnen is an awesome villain, and Paul Atreides the perfect hero. Another book I look forward to re-reading in the future.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
Must-Read on Management
What Got You Here Won’t Get Your There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith
How do you figure out your blind spots as a leader, and what are the most common pitfalls leaders face? These are the main question Goldsmith answers in his famous management book, which argues that everyone has something they must fix if they want to be successful at the next level of their career.
“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”