My Top 5 Books of 2022 (So Far)
Hi there, and welcome back to the blog.
As always, I’d like to begin by thanking you for taking the time to come by and read this week’s post. It always means so much to me whenever someone decides to take some time out and read whatever I’ve chosen as the topic for my blog this week.
This post will include the top 5 books I’ve read so far in 2022, and I will give a short synopsis of the book and my key takeaways from each of the top five.
Without further ado, let’s get into it.
1. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
This is the often heart-breaking story of former Olympian, WWII veteran and American Prisoner of War at various Japanese internment camps, Louis Zamperini. The story tells of his exploits as a miler runner and how he fares as he qualifies for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. The subsequent World War, as he is posted in the Pacific as a bombardier. His eventual capture and internment in various Japanese Prisoner of War camps and his treatment by notorious camp guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe a.k.a. ‘The Bird’.
This is by far one of the best books I’ve ever read. The forgiveness Zamperini shows at the end of the book towards his tormentors is inspiring and makes you think about the grudges people hold in daily life. Very little can compare to the treatment Zamperini and all the other Prisoners of War received, yet he could still forgive those who treated him in such an inhuman way. It is the definition of an inspirational book.
2. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
This is by far one of the most well-known books on this list. Of course, we all know the story of Nelson Mandela and the trials and tribulations he faced as he tried to establish a society within his homeland of South Africa where white people and black people would be treated equally.
The book talks about his initial experience with trying to achieve his aims through peaceful protests and civil disobedience and how this was often met with force and violence from the authorities in South Africa. He talks about the various bans he and his political party faced as punishment for retaliatory attacks against the South African officers and details his 27-year stint in prison, most of which was served on the notorious Robben Island as a result.
A great book to get if you want to know more about one of the great men of the last 100 years. Highly recommend it.
3. Pulling the Strings by Peter Stringer
From the outside, this book looks like it would only appeal to sports enthusiasts; however, while this book talks about the life of one of Ireland’s greatest Rugby players of his generation, it goes much deeper than what it looks like from the outside.
Of course, the book talks about the ups and downs of being a professional sportsperson and all that come with it. It shows how Stringer faced adversity and never let the issues that would affect anyone else get him down, instead using those issues as motivation to keep moving forward.
As one of the shortest and often the shortest player on the pitch, some people told him he wouldn’t make it in the professional game. This story is, of course, one of rugby, but it is also about perseverance in the face of adversity and using others’ words as motivation to never give up on doing exactly what you want to do with your life.
4. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Okay, so I’ve been on a bit of a personal finance reading kick for the past couple of months, but I think it is important to educate yourself on your personal finances rather than just hope it will all work out in the end; that’s a pretty lousy strategy.
I learned a few important extra lessons from this personal finance book that I hadn’t picked up in the ones I’d read beforehand. The first is that greed is not the way forward in personal finance. So many people reach a certain level of financial wealth that would easily see them live financially independent for the rest of their lives. Still, they are always looking at the neighbours and comparing what they don’t have to what the neighbours have. In short, trying to keep up with the Joneses is a losing battle that is best avoided.
I also learned that while our early childhood shapes the early experiences and view we have of money, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way for the rest of our lives. Educating yourself on money whenever possible is an excellent way to break any bad habits you may have unconsciously picked up along the way and rewire the programming about money that was implanted in your brain subconsciously. Your financial future is always in your own hands.
Finally, the book talks about freedom. The highest dividend money pays is the ability to do what you want, when you want, and with who you want. Everyone strives for financial freedom and the ability to do what they want. The principles set out in this wonderful book are a huge guideline to just how that might be achieved.
5. Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett
Making up the final item on this list is a book by Dragons Den dragon, Steven Bartlett. This one is less about money, as the title may suggest and has more to do with handling your own business.
Happiness is everywhere, all the time. It isn’t some kind of race where you get to the finish line. The reality is you won’t be here anymore when you do get to your ‘finish line’, so enjoy the moments of happiness you have now. If you stopped to take it in, you would realise these moments happen far more frequently than you think. You must call off the search for happiness in order to find it.
Comparison is the shortcut to feeling unworthy in life. We judge everything in comparison to other people, whether they have 500 Facebook friends and we only have 200. They have a life of financial independence while we struggle to make ends meet. They have the latest gadgets, and we have an old iPod. Take the Nokia, for example, the cutting-edge phone of the 90’s and early 00’s. How many of you now would take a Nokia today over any iPhone of the last ten years? Not many, I’m guessing. Everything we compare has an inherent value against something else, and that’s how it will be. Except you. That brings me to the final point.
Finally, you are you, and your worth is inherently the same throughout your entire life. You are worthy, always. It doesn’t fluctuate based on how you look, how much financial abundance you have or anything else this world likes to measure. You are always worthy of whatever it is you want. Don’t let anyone, not even yourself, say any different.
Those were my top 5 books of 2022 so far. I hope you enjoyed the list, and hopefully, it has given you the incentive to pick up one of these great books to add to your own collection; I know it will be well worth it.
If you have a top 5 list of your own, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section, I’m always on the lookout for new books to read, and a recommendation from one of you would be very welcomed!
In closing, I’d like to thank you once again for coming by, I hope you enjoyed the post this week, and if you did, hopefully, we will see much more of you here for future posts.
Until next time,
Warmest regards,
James.