Best Books I read in 2022
Living Days
By Ananda Devi
I found this book as an independently published book when I lived in Portland Oregon a few years ago. Took me a bit to get around to reading it. I was not disappointed by the read. The language is some of the most involving and intriguing I have read in a real long time. Not sure what to compare it to. Hard read, but the language was so flowing and evocative I could not stop reading.
I wish I was a good with words as Ananda Devi
Reinhardt’s Garden
By Mark Haber
Written as one long form essay or story. No chapter divisions so it can be a difficult or complicated read for some — like me. The meditations on religion — especially Buddhism — is worth the read. If you are into that kinda stuff which I am.
Look Homeward, Angel
By Thomas Wolfe
This is a long read. Many pages. Short chapters but a real good read. Thomas Wolfe was the subject of the movie Genius starring Jude Law and I had wanted to read one of his books ever since. You will recognize the voice of from many other books that have come after. He was a genius.
Crazy Brave
By Joy Harjo
Joy grew up in Texas in hardship and abuse from her step father. Not physical but mental and emotional abuse. She moved from abuse and near homelessness into one of America’s most celebrated poets. She was Poet Laureate from 2019–2022. Look for her books of poetry.
Song of Mind
By Master Sheng Yen
Excellent book. Clear, practical, grounded, consistent. I read a very large number of these types of books, and while it is always an idiosyncratic call in terms of which authors voices speak to each individual, this one is of the group of writers who are writing with a contemporary real life application in mind, and done in very effective way.
Fabulous Fibonacci
By Alfred S. Posamentier
Do you like math? Hate it? This book may not change your mind on that. It will introduce those who are curious about explaining the world through math this is a necessary read. A fibonacci sequence was defined in 1202 and before that was defined in India around 200 BCE.
What particularly impressed me about this book is the clarity with which the authors present the subject. Whether you are a mathematician or simply have an inquisitive mind, you will always know the exact meaning of the subject under discussion. In fact, you can skip the (sometimes) long mathematical formulae and still never lose track of the narrative.
Moonwalking with Einstein
By Joshua Foer
A book on memory. A book on memorizing and memorization. What makes the book so interesting is that it is narrative non-fiction and reads like a novel. The author locks his conflict with his own memory early on, gives a sense of rising tension as he accumulates the forces to overcome its limitations, and resolves this internal conflict at the end when he participates in the US Memory Championship.
Writing is Designing
By Michael Metts
This book provided me with an excellent understanding of how to approach my work as a content strategist in a different way and has helped me to broaden my skills to encompass full service, end-to-end content strategy (and content design), and it’s a reference I turn to on a regular basis when working through a sticky use case. Highly recommended and a quite enjoyable read — one you’ll want to keep handy when you need a refresher, or you need to get “unstuck.”
Alphabet
By Inger Christensen
Denmark’s best known poet unknown for the most part to American readers. The arrangement of poems follows the fibonacci sequence in form. Abstracted cold war fears and post-’70s ecological concern and alienation give way to litanies of real world outrages “chemical ghetto guns exist/ with their old-fashioned, peaceable precision// guns and wailing women, full as/ greedy owls exist; the scene of the crime exists” which culminate in a post-nuclear holocaust nightmare, with birds and children somehow having survived in caves. The scenario may seem dated, but the threats remain very real, and Christensen’s poetic appeal for sanity and humanity remains an abstracted call to action.
Mexico City Blues
By Jack Kerouac
Some are wonderful. Some make no sense at all. Kerouac wrote these poems in Mexico City and some sound like he was very drunk when he wrote them. This is Kerouac and at times these poems are brilliant, and so it is worth your time to read them.
Thanks for reading
