My 2022 Book List

What I read in 2022, and what I liked the most.

After years of barely reading books, I started again in earnest in 2019, and have read a lot of them in the years since. Even with all the great blog content, tweets, and journalism, I still get a ton out of reading actual books. The biggest thing I did to read more was to switch to e-books (I use a physical Kindle, and the Kindle app on my phone). I find it much easier to read a lot if I can very quickly get through a few pages throughout my day. Being able to buy the next book instantly also helps me keep up the momentum.

In 2022, I read 49 books. I mostly choose these based off of recommendations (both online lists and from in-person conversations), and keep a running list of books that I may want to read next. Given that I rely so much on word of mouth, I thought it’d be helpful to share my own list and picks for the year.

I mostly read non-fiction. These are books that were new to me in 2022, so plenty of them are years (or even decades) old. I’ve highlighted five books were lesser known to me (e.g no cultural phenomenons or TV/Movie adaptations) that I particularly liked.

My Five Picks

1. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates

2. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

3. American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land

4. One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ',The Kid', Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player

5. Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History

The Rest

1. Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography

2. Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol: The Explosive Story of M19, America's First Female Terrorist Group

3. Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric

4. Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of the World

5. Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing

6. The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy

7. The Tender Bar: A Memoir

8. At the Sands: The Casino That Shaped Classic Las Vegas, Brought the Rat Pack Together, and Went Out with a Bang

9. Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk"

10. Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry

11. The Princess of 42nd Street: Surviving My Childhood as the Daughter of Times Square's King of Porn

12. Shantaram: A Novel

13. Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find-and Keep-Love: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find--and Keep-- Love

14. Boardwalk Playground: The Making, Unmaking, & Remaking of Atlantic City: How the people of a New Jersey resort built a seaside paradise, lost it, rebuilt ... town, mostly lost it, and kept on dre

15. You Thought It Was More: Adventures of the World's Greatest Counterfeiter Louis The Coin - As seen on The History Channel & The BBC

16. Notes of a Dirty Old Man

17. The Logic Of Sports Betting

18. Salem's Lot

19. Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

20. Then One Day ...: 40 Years of Bookmaking in Nevada

21. Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan

22. Blood and Fire: The Unbelievable Real-Life Story of Wrestling's Original Sheik

23. Ball Four

24. Billion Dollar Fantasy: The High-Stakes Game Between FanDuel and DraftKings That Upended Sports in America

25. The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks

26. Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

27. The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife

28. The Vig: Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie

29. Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar

30. Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela

31. And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out) Wall Street, the IMF, and the Bankrupting of Argentina

32. I'm Glad My Mom Died

33. The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob

34. Retail Gangster: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie

35. Born to Kill: The Rise and Fall of America's Bloodiest Asian Gang

36. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas

37. The Pyramid of Lies: Lex Greensill and the Billion-Dollar Scandal

38. Gaming the Game: The Story Behind the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen

39. DisneyWar

40. The Devil's Candy: The Anatomy Of A Hollywood Fiasco

41. Your Movie Sucks

42. Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution

43. Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D'

44. The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual-The Biggest Bank Failure in American History