It’s that time of year when I am excited to share the books I have read! It’s one of the self-created traditions that I look forward to every year.
This year in 2022, I’ve read some great books and watched a few amazing documentaries — some are new releases, some older, but each one of them truly made me a better person this year.
I’ve been posting my “My Year in Books” for last couple of years. I believe that sharing books is an easy way to connect with like minded folks. ❤️
In no particular order- let’s go!
1. The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here
This book is a “must read” for anyone concerned about climate change. It is collection of delightfully written and thoughtfully researched content, that explains the outcome of decade of all fossil-fueled economic growth of powerful nations and the sorry state of global wealth inequality we see today.
Overall this book is an educational read about the climate change and threat is poses to our existence. Its nicely written and does exactly what it claims: i.e. explains how we got here and what we can do moving forward.
2. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
Truth be told, this is 3rd time I’ve read this book. I’ve read this on paper back in 2020. Then in 2021, I purchased a kindle version so that I can easily access the content for my reference. And then in 2022 I brought the “audio book”, so I can just put on my head-phones 🎧 – and listen this anytime I’m jogging, walking or doing dishes.
“Atomic Habits” for me is a special book that has changed how I approach everyday in my life. This book is different from others in the way it covers an enormous amount of ground in the larger area of self-improvement while seamlessly tying all these ideas back into the central theme of habits.
The book is full of tactics that will help you make small adjustments to your daily routine that will add up to significant results over time. You’ll learn how to create new habits, break bad ones, and master art of self-control. Please give it a read, you won’t regret it.
3. The Burnout Fix
“The Burnout Fix” is filled with useful insights, backed by scientific evidences as well as illustrative anecdotes for identifying and eliminating stuff that can lead to burnout. The author, Dr. Jacinta, goes deep in explaining a lot of things that lead to burnout that I wouldn’t have considered before. I always thought burnout was related to the work you’re doing, but in fact, burnout can be a result of so many other things – like feeling underappreciated, not finding meaning in your work, not taking time to check in with yourself, etc.
Key Takeaways
- First, Success in the modern workplace takes more than grit – it requires resilience.
- Second, finding your personal mission will drive growth while also keeping you on track.
- Finally, to achieve success, you have to seek meaningful connections.
4. Why We Fought: Inspiring Stories of Resisting Hitler and Defending Freedom
Why We Fought by Jerry Borrowman is a well written story detailing the lives and actions of several people and groups that helped fight the Nazis in WWII. This book was a fascinating collection of true stories about people who helped fight the war in very different ways like spying and derailing trains. The bravery and selflessness displayed in this book inspired me 🫡
This book should be on the reading list for history fans, military buffs, and those who enjoy stories of adventure and patriotism. The fact that they are all true makes it even better.
5. Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems
This book is a series of essays written by members and alumni of Google’s Site Reliability Engineering organization. This book has a lot of great information, which I found invaluable over the years. Each chapter is intended to be read as a part of a coherent whole, but a good deal can be gained by reading on whatever subject particularly interests you.
One of the harder thing for growing organizations is to keep teams focused, and I’ve seen that DevOps and SRE practices help to zero in on what is essential. I think the book has a lot to teach and inspire. Some of the approaches described are very counterintuitive like the error budget, and the blameless postmortem culture.
6. The Site Reliability Workbook: Practical Ways to Implement SRE
This book is hands-on companion to Google SRE book, that uses concrete examples to show you how to put SRE principles and practices to work in your environment.
In my opinion – Both of the books in the series are a must read for anyone working in Infrastructure. This is the direction that infrastructure teams should be heading in terms of skill levels too.
7. Seeking SRE: Conversations About Running Production Systems at Scale
This is 3rd book in Google SRE book trilogy. This book, should be read after Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and SRE Workbook. Whereas the latter is the origin of and experience with SRE at Google, the former gives many perspectives from organizations outside of Google.
Overall these 3 books are a valuable contribution to the SRE literature. SRE is a large topic to discuss, a work-in-progress discipline to advance through initiatives like these book. Thanks Google!
8. The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Like many others, I followed the Elizabeth Holmes / Theranos story and in addition read multiple journals with explained what went wrong with the Blood testing start-up. The film is the story of a company and its founder who claimed they could make a small, portable sized machine to test minute bits of blood for over 200 different diseases. The problem was that such technology, never existed and the film tells how the charismatic CEO pushed forward her agenda, duped the investors and went becoming the poster girl for silicon valley.
Overall the movie does a very good job of laying out the facts, along with the timelines. However the central question remains unanswered; i.e. when exactly did things go from “optimism” to “fraud”? Was this whole things a scam since the beginning, or somewhere in between she realized that they can pull it off? Maybe that’s a tough questions and cannot be answered by anyone but Holmes.
PS. As on writing this post (12/27) – Elizabeth Holmes is sentenced to more than 11 years for defrauding investors.
9. The Playlist – docu-drama on Spotify
I just love any stories about the origin of a tech start-up. It always fascinating to learn all the struggles and challenges they had to face to become what they are the end. This is one such film. The 6 part mini-series, based on the story of the rising of streaming platform Spotify, deals with contradictory and complex matters as value of music and musicians’ labor, debates on the copyright, and people’s right of free access to the streamed music.
The film is originally in Swedish which to me is a big plus as it leave you phone down and close Instagram, Twitter or whatever you are doing on the side and actually pay attention to the screen. And with a little concentration, it will make you think about the music, singers, film industry and how quickly our ‘crazy’ world changes. So If you’re someone who likes Spotify or music in general or tech/entrepreneurship, you should check this out. I think you should check this out even otherwise, it’s a very well-made series.
If you made it this far, bravo! Thanks for reading through my reviews and I can’t wait to see you share what you’ve read. Leave a comment for your favorite books, podcasts, and reading goals for 2023.
Wishing everyone a reflective end to 2022 and some cozy reading time – cheers!
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