2022 Reading List
Ranked Favorites (Top 15)
1. The Smartest Guys in the Room
Was halfway through when the bottom fell out of FTX. McLean gives you the information to identify the grift, but fails to actually point the finger at Skilling and Lay and call a spade a grifting fraudster.
2. The First 90 Days
A playbook for effective leadership. Identifies the common failure modes of new executives. Biggest takeaway: what made you successful in your last job will definitely not make you successful in your next one.
3. Liar's Poker
Lewis claims he wasn't trying to get college kids excited to go into finance but that's clearly bullshit. High-flying tales of chaotic bond trading in the 1980s.
4. The Big Short
Unbelievable that I didn't realize ML's genius until 2022. A timeless masterpiece. Also made me realize how unhinged Michael Burry is. I would have lost my mind if Scion Capital had my money.
5. When Genius Failed
Great follow-up to Liar's Poker because John Meriwether was first introduced there. A perfect model performing well and bad model performing well are indistinguishable until your firm is entirely underwater.
6. The Shift
Wasn't expecting to find a book about a single nurse's shift at a hospital to be so touching and beautiful, but I ripped through this book in only a few days. Nurses are heroes.
7. The Outsiders
Portraits of iconoclasts innovating business. Great long-term looks at excellent businessmen executing at incredibly high levels (without the support of their contemporaries).
8. 7 Powers
My second attempt at this book, but I was mired in enough business books this year that my brain could understand the content of the book.
9. Hardball
A series of discontinuous stories that illustrate how political power is fought for, won, and leveraged in the United States.
10. Flash Boys
Discover HFT with a kindly Canadian protagonist from RBC that just wants the financial markets to be fair (he's super shocked they aren't).
11. The Metaverse
Made me feel that vibrant, boyish enthusiasm for technology that I first felt buzzing around SF as a 19 year old. Exploration of what a metaverse could be and the analysis of the people working on different approaches.
12. Barbarians at the Gate
Ross Johnson of RJR Nabisco sure can spend money; as soon as I realized this book was telling the origin story of KKR, I knew it wouldn't end well for Johnson.
13. The Dealmaker
Lessons from a life in private equity. Hands doesn't pull any punches when he tells about his failures. Career went off with a bang, then seemed to falter.
14. Project Hail Mary
The Martian was an instant classic, 2nd book was boring, but this 3rd title from Weir is fantastic. Fresh and fascinating scifi. First contact stories are my favorite and this one contains two!
15. Cryptonomicon
Cryptography is a powerful tool for both harm and for good. Doesn't top Snowcrash or Seveneves, but is one of Stephenson's best.
Unfinished Books
Termination Shock
Did not finish.
Reframing Healthcare: A Roadmap for Creating Disruptive Change
Did not finish.
The Hydrogen Sonata
Did not finish (in 2022—completed in 2023).
Inhibitor Phase
Did not finish.
Full Chronological List
1. Cryptonomicon
Cryptography is a powerful tool for both harm and for good.
2. The Freeze Frame Revolution
3. The Gripping Hand
4. The Hydrogen Sonata
Did not finish (in 2022).
5. Project Hail Mary
Fresh and fascinating scifi. First contact stories are my favorite and this one contains two!
6. Inhibitor Phase
Did not finish.
7. The Dealmaker
Lessons from a life in private equity.
8. The First 90 Days
A playbook for effective leadership.
9. Trillion Dollar Coach
10. Termination Shock
Did not finish.
11. The Metaverse
Exploration of what a metaverse could be.
12. So You Want to Start a Hedge Fund
13. The Outsiders
Portraits of iconoclasts innovating business.
14. Anomaly
15. The Name of the Wind
16. 7 Powers
Business strategy framework.
17. Zero to One
18. Notes On Nursing
19. Reframing Healthcare
Did not finish.
20. The Shift
Beautiful book about a nurse's shift at a hospital.
21. Founders Pocket Guide: Convertible Debt
22. Hardball
How political power is fought for, won, and leveraged.
23. Liar's Poker
High-flying tales of chaotic bond trading in the 1980s.
24. The Big Short
A timeless masterpiece about the 2008 financial crisis.
25. Flash Boys
Discover HFT with a kindly Canadian protagonist.
26. Monetizing Innovation
27. The Smartest Guys in the Room
The Enron story.
28. High Output Management
29. When Genius Failed
The rise and fall of Long-Term Capital Management.
30. Barbarians at the Gate
The origin story of KKR.