My ten most influential books of 2022
Not everything I read — the books from 2022 that left the deepest mark, counted down from the honorable mentions to number one.
Honorable mentions
Click a cover to turn it over. After the first one, hovering another turns it too.
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Ha-Joon Chang
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like
Paul Bloom
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars
Jim Paul & Brendan Moynihan
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
Michael E. Gerber
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Projections: A Story of Human Emotions
Karl Deisseroth
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
Peter F. Drucker
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Why Meditate?
Matthieu Ricard
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The Cancer Code: A Revolutionary New Understanding of a Medical Mystery
Jason Fung
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are
Sebastian Seung
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution
David Sloan Wilson
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder
Allan V. Horwitz & Jerome C. Wakefield
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Psychology’s Ghosts: The Crisis in the Profession and the Ideology of Cure
Jerome Kagan
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
Robert M. Sapolsky
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Nos. 15–11
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
Niall Ferguson
The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die
Niall Ferguson
Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events
Robert J. Shiller
The Fourfold Remedy: Epicurus and the Art of Happiness
John Sellars
Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious
Antonio Damasio
The ten
No.10
The Science of Science
Dashun Wang & Albert-László Barabási
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.9
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.8
In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind
Eric R. Kandel
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.7
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
Daniel C. Dennett
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.6
From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965–2000
Lee Kuan Yew
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.5
Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health
Thomas Insel
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.4
Safe Haven: Investing for Financial Storms
Mark Spitznagel
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.3
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
David Graeber
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.2
Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry
Jeffrey A. Lieberman
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.1
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
Luke Burgis
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.