The Best Things I Read in 2022
A Round-Up of the Best Books, Blogs, Articles, Essays I read in 2022
I used to enjoy reading books as a child but over time, school killed my love for reading and I stopped. But in the past few years, I began to notice that just about every person that I admire is an avid reader. I began to understand that this was not just a mere coincidence. This year, I decided to pick up a book and give reading a shot.
I can now say, that my love for books has been rekindled. Reading has been the most important habit that I’ve cultivated in the past year and has become the most enjoyable, and highest-value activity I do. Reading has opened up entire worlds of knowledge and has allowed me to explore my curiosity by escaping into the written word. In addition, I began consuming all types of written content subscribing to numerous newsletters (ie - Pirate Wires, Noahpinion, The Free Press) and routinely reading blogs (ie - Wait but Why, More to That, Stratechery, and Morgan Housel). In this post, I would like to share some of my favorite things I read throughout this year.
Books
The Top 10 Books I Read This Year:
The Psychology of Money - by Morgan Housel
This was hands down my favorite book I read this year. The Psychology of Money offers timeless wisdom and insight on financial decision-making, risk, and psychological biases. Housel brilliantly connects psychology, behavior, and human nature to finance and investing in a way that I’ve never seen before. This book permanently changed the way I think about money and finance. It’s probably a book I will continue to re-read. Morgan Housel is a brilliant writer and his blogs have become a staple in my “content diet”.
Few topics offer a more powerful magnifying glass that helps explain why people behave the way they do than money. It’s one of the greatest shows on Earth
The Righteous Mind - by Jonathan Haidt
The Righteous Mind provides an in-depth look into our moral psychology and explains how our beliefs and values shape our political and religious views. By understanding the psychological origins of our beliefs, Haidt helps us understand why we are so often divided and why neither side of an argument is necessarily right or wrong. He also emphasizes the importance of empathy in order to create a more civil and tolerant society. This book was incredibly insightful and I think it’s an important book to read in our seemingly increasingly polarized and divided political climate.
Our minds were designed for groupish righteousness. We are deeply intuitive creatures whose gut feelings drive our strategic reasoning. This makes it difficult - but not impossible - to connect with those who live in other matrices, which are often built on different configurations of the available moral foundations
12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos - by Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson is an incredibly deep thinker and this is reflected in his writing. I consider 12 Rules for Life a philosophy book masquerading as a self-help book. It was dense and intense, and probably the most complex book I read this year, but it’s full of timeless wisdom and thought-provoking insights. While impossible to reduce this book into a single axiom, the premise of this book is that the decision to take on responsibility is adjacent to the decision to live a meaningful life. Jordan calls on us to operate on the line between order and chaos where we are confident and secure, but also inexperienced, uncomfortable, and open-minded enough to grow, learn, and develop.
One man’s decision to change his life, instead of cursing fate, shook the whole pathological system of communist tyranny to its core.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - by Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens was an extremely educational and enlightening book. This was one of those books that changed my perspective of the world and of humankind. Sapiens takes you on a journey throughout human history through the lens of 4 revolutions: the Cognitive Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution and explains how each revolution shaped our species and our relationship with the world.
The Scientific Revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has been above all a revolution of ignorance. The great discovery that launched the Scientific Revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - by Mark Manson
This was the best self-book I’ve read. Mark Manson is an exceptional writer, a great storyteller, and has an uncanny ability to land his points, and bring them home. I found myself wanting to highlight so many quotes throughout the book. The comments, the truth bombs, and the advice that Mark shared are timeless and universal. You have a limited amount of f*cks to give, choose wisely.
When a person has no problems, the mind automatically finds a way to invent some.
Uncertainty is the root of all progress and all growth. The man who believes he knows everything learns nothing.
Shoe Dog - by Phil Knight
Shoe Dog was a captivating story of how Nike was born, told through the eyes of its founder, Phil Knight. The story was intriguing and it was inspiring to read about the adversity Nike faced in its early days and how they were able to constantly persevere through adversity to become the company they are today. Phil Knight’s humility and determination pulsated through his words and stories, he truly curated a winning culture and a winning spirit at Nike.
We were trying to create a brand, but also a culture. We were fighting against conformity, against boringness, against drudgery. More than a product, we were trying to sell an idea - a spirit”
Skin in the Game - by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Skin in the Game was full of great principles and truisms. I appreciate Taleb’s ability to cut through the BS, think clearly and logically, and say bold things. He encourages the reader to take risks and put their own skin in the game and emphasizes the importance of accountability and responsibility. I found this book to be particularly inspiring and it encouraged me to challenge conventional thinking, think differently, and continue to put my own skin in the game and take more risks.
Courage is the only virtue you cannot fake
12 Rules More Rules for Life: Beyond Order - by Jordan Peterson
This was an astonishingly well-written, thoughtful, and deep book. Jordan Peterson shares countless pieces of wisdom and insight into the human condition and the complex world we live in. This book has a dark sentiment, as it is a reflection of the struggles JP has gone through in his life, yet there is a strong undertone of hope and optimism that he consistently reiterates. I thought some Chapters or “Rules” were absolutely incredible (#4, #5, #12), but others not so much (#2, #8). At its core, this book is about strengthening the individual. Jordan Peterson has greatly influenced my thinking and I’m extremely grateful for all the wisdom he shares with the world.
You are grateful not because you are naive, but because you have decided to put a hand forward to encourage the best in yourself, and the state, and the world.
Greenlights - by Matthew McConaughey
This book was poetic. In this book, Matthew McConaughey gives us an authentic and honest look into his life while sharing the wisdom, knowledge, and truths that he’s learned along the way. This was a memoir about one of the most successful actors on the planet, yet the book was saturated with humility. Throughout the book, there was a consistent focus on identity. Matthew showed us what it took to stay true to yourself throughout the ups and downs of his life. It was fun reading about his journey: from the childhood stories he told about his Father, to him wrestling a man in Africa, to living on a trailer traveling the country with his dog and meeting the love of his life. I don’t think I’ve said this about any other book before, but I view this book as a work of art. Greenlight.
“What is success to me?” Continue to ask yourself these questions…but do yourself this favor: whatever your answer is, don’t choose anything that would jeopardize your soul. Prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and don’t spend time with anything that antagonizes your character.
The Evolution of Everything - by Matt Ridley
I learned a lot about history, society, and the world through this book. The argument that Matt Ridley makes is that most things evolve - they change in increments through trial and error and are not planned and designed by humans. Most things are bottom-up evolutions, not top-down processes - and he made his case beautifully with many great examples and rationales. Underlying all this, I think is the premise that free markets are the way to go and control and command economies/govt are not because they impede the natural and inevitable evolutionary process. I appreciate how Matt touched on a variety of subjects and aspects of our society from biology, to education, to bitcoin. It was very educational and informative.
One of the characteristics of evolution is that it produces patterns of change that makes sense in retrospect, but that came about without even a hint of conscious design.
Blogs/Articles/Essays
I read over 600 blogs, articles, and essays this year. Here were my favorites:
General
Solitude and Leadership - by William Deresiewicz
True leadership means being able to think for yourself and act on your convictions…Thinking for yourself means finding yourself, finding your own reality…thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information however much those maybe sometimes helpful.
The Paradox of Abundance - by David Perell
The modern media environment helps a small number of savvy consumers, just as it destroys the lives of millions of mindless consumers who are paralyzed by fear, anger, and misinformation. Every day, the variance between them increases. Careful consumers use the information at their fingertips to compound their wisdom while compulsive ones drown in a volcano of fire-burning rage.
Keep Your Identity Small - by Paul Graham
If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible.
Taming the Mammoth - by Tim Urban
When you don’t know who you are, the only decision-making mechanism you’re left with is the crude and outdated needs and emotions of your mammoth.
Lessons to Unlearn - by Paul Graham
Imagine what happens as more and more people start to ask themselves if they want to win by hacking bad tests, and decide that they don't. The kinds of work where you win by hacking bad tests will be starved of talent, and the kinds where you win by doing good work will see an influx of the most ambitious people. And as hacking bad tests shrinks in importance, education will evolve to stop training us to do it. Imagine what the world could look like if that happened.
The Cook and the Chef: Musk’s Secret Recipe - by Tim Urban
The difference between the way Elon thinks and the way most people think is kind of like the difference between a cook and a chef…The chef reasons from first principles, and for the chef, the first principles are raw edible ingredients. Those are her puzzle pieces, her building blocks, and she works her way upwards from there, using her experience, her instincts, and her taste buds. The cook works off of some version of what’s already out there—a recipe of some kind, a meal she tried and liked, a dish she watched someone else make…If we want to improve ourselves and move our way closer to the chef side of the spectrum, we have to remember to remember. We have to remember that we have software, not just hardware. We have to remember that reasoning is a skill and like any skill, you get better at it if you work on it. And we have to remember the cook/chef distinction, so we can notice when we’re being like one or the other.
The Perils of Audience Capture - by Gurwinder
This is the ultimate trapdoor in the hall of fame; to become a prisoner of one's own persona. The desire for recognition in an increasingly atomized world lures us to be who strangers wish us to be. And with personal development so arduous and lonely, there is ease and comfort in crowdsourcing your identity…when you become who your audience expects at the expense of who you are, the affection you receive is not intended for you but for the character you're playing…if you chase the approval of others, you may, in the end, lose the approval of yourself.
The Book You Need to Read - by David Perell
Many of the most trivial and seemingly self-evident ideas come from Christianity. Though just about everybody supports human rights, most people don’t realize that it’s downstream from Judeo-Christian ideas. Human rights are downstream of America’s Declaration of Independence, which is downstream of the ideas in the Bible.
Thought Stop Signs - Lawrence Yao
Taking inventory of your Thought Stop Signs is the best way to see which ideas you worship, as they indicate where you’ve halted your search for truth. But of course, the truth has no logical endpoint. It always forks into a separate road, which swerves into another, which branches off once again, and so on.
The Best Story Wins - by Morgan Housel
A truth that applies to many fields, which can frustrate some as much as it energizes others, is that the person who tells the most compelling story wins. Not who has the best idea, or the right answer. Just whoever tells a story that catches people’s attention and gets them to nod their heads.
How to Think For Yourself - by Paul Graham
Three components of independent-mindedness work in concert: fastidiousness about truth and resistance to being told what to think leave space in your brain, and curiosity finds new ideas to fill it”.
Workism is Making Americans Miserable - Derek Thompson
Americans have forgotten an old-fashioned goal of working: It’s about buying free time. The vast majority of workers are happier when they spend more hours with family, friends, and partners.
The Locus of Entertainment - by Nat Eliason
Technology is a multiplier of your natural tendencies. If you can retain your ability to bias towards self-generated entertainment, then a computer becomes an excellent tool. If you are prone to sloth, looking for something to entertain you so you needn't do the work, then computers and phones will suck you in and never let you go.
The Intellectual Obesity Crisis - Gurwinder
Eventually, the addiction to useless info leads to what I call "intellectual obesity." Just as gorging on junk food bloats your body, so gorging on junk info bloats your mind, filling it with a cacophony of half-remembered gibberish that sidetracks your attention and confuses your senses.
Your Career Is Just One-Eighth of Your Life - by Derek Thompson
Work is too big a thing to not take seriously. But it is too small a thing to take too seriously. Your work is one-sixth of your waking existence. Your career is not your life. Behave accordingly…Work is not a series of words on a LinkedIn profile. It’s a series of moments in the world. And if you don’t enjoy those moments, no sequence of honorifics will dispel your misery.
The Price of Discipline - by David Perrell
Conventional wisdom says both kids and adults will waste their time if you give them total freedom. I take the opposite perspective. We underestimate the number of people who will indulge in hedonism for a short while before realizing its emptiness and embracing a life of purpose and direction…Reckless freedom is an empty enterprise. People want to be productive members of society. In the end, the eternal meaning of self-directed purpose triumphs over the hollow ephemerality of pleasure.
Choose Good Quests - by Trae Stephens and Markie Wagner
History is defined by protagonists pursuing good quests.
Good Work, Lazy Work - by Morgan Housel
If you anchor to the old world where good work meant physical action, it’s hard to wrap your head around the idea that the most productive use of a knowledge-worker’s time could be sitting on a couch thinking.
Escape Your Bubble - Nick Maggiulli
There is more to life than what is in your bubble. You just have to escape it once in a while to find out.
Investing, Business, & Technology
Betting on Things That Never Change - by Morgan Housel
Every successful investment is some combination of change that drives competition and things staying the same that drives compounding. There are so few exceptions to this, regardless of size or industry.
How to Do Long Term - by Morgan Housel
A long time horizon with a firm end date can be as reliant on chance as a short time horizon. Far superior is just flexibility. Time is compounding’s magic whose importance can’t be minimized. But the odds of success fall deepest in your favor when you mix a long time horizon with a flexible end date - or an indefinite horizon.
Venture Lotto - by Ho Nam
There is too much money in the hands of deal pickers (and deal flippers). Driven by ambition, ego, or envy, we are marching down a dangerous path. Every VC should consider which is more important - building companies or picking deals? If the answer is not obvious, we'd recommend the hedge fund business which is much more lucrative (and scalable) for traders and deal pickers. Entrepreneurs need help and advice as much as capital from their investors. Money can be made in many ways but venture capitalists have a special role in the investment world - to help entrepreneurs build companies.
Why Pessimism Sounds Smart - by Jason Crawford
Focusing only on established sectors and proven fields thus naturally leads to pessimism. To be an optimist, you have to believe that at least some current wild-eyed speculation will come true.
All of Our Patents Belong to You - by Elon Musk
Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers.
Indistinguishable from Magic - by Packy McCormick
It’s the Magical Startup Circle of Life. A startup, if it’s lucky, creates magic, turns that magic into dollars, and transitions to life as a successful Big Muggle Company, capable of enormous profits and power but no longer able to conjure magic. Then a new Magician comes along, using sufficiently advanced technology to build something indistinguishable from magic, and uses that magic as a wedge to challenge the Big Muggle Company.
Power in the Valley - by Mario Gabirele
Venture capital is half-way through a transformation. Power dynamics are changing in the Valley. As capital is commoditized, institutions lose appeal, expertise is more common, and informational edges are copied, real power will lie with masters of referent power…The future belongs not only to those that understand markets, but those that understand people.
Politics & Culture
The Self-Silencing Majority - by Bari Weiss
This old consensus — every single aspect of it — has been run over by the new illiberal orthodoxy. Because this ideology cloaks itself in the language of progress, many understandably fall for its self-branding. Don’t. It promises revolutionary justice, but it threatens to drag us back into the mean of history, in which we are pitted against one another according to tribe. The primary mode of this ideological movement is not building or renewing or reforming, but tearing down. Persuasion is replaced with public shaming. Forgiveness is replaced with punishment. Mercy is replaced with vengeance. Pluralism with conformity; debate with de-platforming; facts with feelings; ideas with identity.
Why I am no longer a tenured professor at the University of Toronto - by Jordan Peterson
The DIE ideology is not friend to peace and tolerance. It is absolutely and completely the enemy of competence and justice…We are now at the point where race, ethnicity, “gender,” or sexual preference is first, accepted as the fundamental characteristic defining each person (just as the radical leftists were hoping) and second, is now treated as the most important qualification for study, research and employment. Need I point out that this is insane?
How America Lost Its Religion - by Derek Thompson
A gap has opened up between America’s two political parties. In a twist of fate, the Christian right entered politics to save religion, only to make the Christian-Republican nexus unacceptable to millions of young people—thus accelerating the country’s turn against religion.
The Education of a Libertarian - by Peter Thiel
I believe that politics is way too intense. That’s why I’m a libertarian. Politics gets people angry, destroys relationships, and polarizes peoples’ vision: the world is us versus them; good people versus the other. Politics is about interfering with other people’s lives without their consent. That’s probably why, in the past, libertarians have made little progress in the political sphere. Thus, I advocate focusing energy elsewhere, onto peaceful projects that some consider utopian.
What We Believe In - by Mike Solana
Behind every work of genius is a free mind, a single man or woman who laid their hands to the world and shaped it into something new….I am a capitalist because capitalism is essential to freedom. I am a free man, I intend to remain a free man, and for his freedom there must never be equivocation — the free man fights.
How Free Speech Leads to Moral Progress - by Erik Torenberg
The best way to eliminate bad ideas is to bring them to light so they can be fought. Suppression doesn’t change minds. It may work short-term, but you won’t change minds long-term by suppressing people—you might cause them to double down on their beliefs—and once they have power, they may try to suppress you.
One Party State - by Mike Solana
Change is impossible without the ability to communicate. What happens when the tech oligopoly actively censors political opposition?
We’re More Christian Than We Know - by Erik Torenberg
The idea that human rights were waiting to be discovered is just as theological as Jesus Christ rising from the dead — both ideas require leaps of faith.
Communism was a secular religion oriented around building heaven on earth through fundamental social & economic reengineering to achieve equality on every dimension. Marx adopted the Christian flipping of the powerless and the powerful, threw out the God part, and promised egalitarianism across an economic axis…The broader culture war we face today is ostensibly about people who hold Christian values and those who hold progressive values.
The Upheaval - by N.S. Lyons
The world is being forcibly reconfigured by at least three concurrent revolutions: a geopolitical revolution driven by the rise of China; an ideological revolution consuming the Western world; and a technological revolution exacerbating both of the former.
That’s a wrap! I hope you enjoy these books, essays, articles, and blogs as much as I did. Here’s to a great 2023 and beyond!