2022 Year in Review

 

A small "2022" graphic for a small number of books read this year. The best excuses I can come up with are that I worked a lot and I also got more involved coaching basketball & organizing our program. Still, I should make time to read; not read when I have time.

Of the few books I did read in 2022, it felt like more were ones I either did not enjoy and/or they were slow slogs to get through.

The best I read in 2022...

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Ice Cream and Me by Steve Herrell

In most years, these books likely would not make the "top of the year" list. Nothing I read in 2022 received 5 stars.

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Some other clean-up...

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - This was a good book that I likely read in 2018 or 2019. It was a period when I was not blogging, and although I tried to capture a summary of what I read, this one slipped by. I must have given it away as a Christmas present because it is not on my bookshelf. What made me think of it was seeing an ad on TV for it (a show? movie?) and realizing that it was a book and that I read it.

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer - I am officially giving up on this book. I tried starting this a few times, and while interesting, I feel like this could be an article online and not an entire book. What is crazy, and why I like that I have blogged all these years, is I actually started this book back in 2012. See here.

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With a baby on the way, we are making room in the house. One of the ways is by clearing out some bookshelf space...meaning, I am giving away a lot of my books (and a few of my wife's). The final count is going to be:

41 books to Savers - I cannot in good faith give these to anyone.

35 books temporarily holding onto - These will go to friends, family, "little libraries" on people's yards, or some other good home. These are good books that I want to share. (9 of these 35 are Nicholas Sparks' books...breaking up the collection, but not getting rid of all the Nicholas Sparks books.)

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Lastly, I am giving away 6 books this Christmas. Hard to give away books when I don't read much during the year, but I do have those 35 other books that will find a new home in the near term. Here is to hopefully reading more in 2023!

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

 

One of my friends recommended The Boys in the Boat at the end of last year. This was essentially my summer read by the pool and down in Delaware. A nice, interesting, slow read.

The Boys in the Boat is about exactly what is on the cover: nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book focuses on Joe Rantz, who comes from a poor, rural area and develops into a college-educated Olympic rower. It is not just about Rantz though, as it focuses on a number of guys attempting to make the varsity team at the University of Washington and then the Olympics.

The story is cool and has some parallels to Unbroken. My only knock against the book is there is a lot of background. A lot. Like when describing a scene, talking about what is on the radio. I am sure a lot of effort and research went into these kind of details, but at the same time, they are not necessary. However, if/when this gets made into a movie, those little details will save someone else a ton of time and make the scenes much more accurate.

My rating for The Boys in the Boat: 3.5 stars out of 5. Get it here.

Hard Pivot by Apolo Ohno

 

Hard Pivot was the last work book club book I read before the book club disintegrated. I read this on vacation in Myrtle Beach. It was a light, easy read, but it still took too long. It was all fluff. I hate these kind of books, particularly when a celebrity is trying to cash in. I didn't know anything about Apolo Ohno's story besides he was an Olympian skater. That part I found interesting. But the rah-rah change/purpose stuff I found lame.

To make matters worse, I missed the book club discussion. So I didn't even need to read this. Ha! But from another perspective, I did not need to nicely criticize the book with coworkers.

My rating for Hard Pivot: 1 star out of 5. Get it here.

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

 

I saw this book somewhere a while ago, eventually purchased it, and then it sat on my bookshelf for a while. I suggested this for my work book club at the end of last year and it was chosen. However, it took folks quite a while to read. Don't infer this is a hard read - it's not - people were just busy and slow to read.

Never Split the Difference is about negotiation tactics and strategies. The author, Chris Voss, was a former FBI hostage negotiator who started his own consulting firm on negotiating. In the book, he discusses what he learned over the years. It is interesting to see how he, and the FBI, refined and improved their strategies over the years from real world experiences.

The book provides good tips such as mirroring (repeating a statement as a question), paraphrasing, and labeling. Using phrases like "it seems like", "it sounds like", and starting questions with how and what ("how am I supposed to do that"). Another example stuck with me regarding how sometimes no deal is better than a bad deal or compromising - if debating to where black shoes or brown shoes, you compromise and wear one of each.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The stories were very interesting and there are good lessons learned. There are summaries at the end of each chapter, which I always like. I will wrap up by saying I am sharing this book with my dad next.

My rating for Never Split the Difference: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Ice Cream and Me by Steve Herrell

 

This is a local and quirky book. Ice Cream and Me, written by Steve Herrell, tells the story of ice cream, mixing candy & ice cream, and Herrell's. The book feels like a cheap textbook. It is not laid out well - the spacing is off in places, there are mis-mash of drawings and graphics, he goes off on random tangents, and there are references to other pages (almost like a Goosebumps book). With all that said, I really liked this book.

The history of ice cream, and how it is made, was very interesting to read. Steve has a deep appreciation to the skill required to make good ice cream. He was the first - literally - to mix candy in with ice cream. What we take for granted today - cookies & cream, etc. - he invented. His shop started in Boston and pretty quickly had lines out the door. He quickly sold as it seemed like he burnt out, but it didn't seem like he made a fortune.

Soon thereafter, he started Herrell's Ice Cream, based out of Northampton, MA. This became a very successful endeavor. He dedication to quality - special freezers, refusing to ship to stores, and more - is impressive. We also have him to thank for brands like Ben & Jerry's (who were spying on him for a while) and Coldstone (who replicated exactly what he was doing in his first store in Boston).

There is also the entrepreneur angle to his story. A guy at the end of the road. He is retired and this was a big project for him. It is a really cool reflection.

My rating for Ice Cream and Me: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. I gave this book to my dad right after I finished it - an ice cream lover and business owner.

2021 Year in Review

Another one that I started drafting in January of 2022, but never got around to actually posting (this post is back-dated). Anyway, here is what I recall...

Top books of 2021:

Red Notice by Bill Browder

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

The Power of Moments by Dan & Chip Heath

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

I also gave away 7 books during the 2021 Christmas season!