At the end of every year, I do a quick look back on the books I read over the preceding 12 months. This year is no different and my favorite books of 2022 are listed below. However one thing has changed over time: the older I get, the less time (or less energy) I dedicate to reading, Therefore I’ve become much more likely to give up on a book that isn’t holding my attention or interest. Author Ryan Holiday has a simple rule of thumb; if a book hasn’t drawn you in by the page number of 100 minus your age (in my case, page 74), then you should stop. Great readers, he adds, learn to quit books that aren’t very good. Taking this rule to heart, this year, I read 44 books. This is less than in other years, but a couple were month-long reads that took up a lot of time.

On a personal level, 2021 was a big year for me, as I became a father. Anyone who has had a baby will know there isn’t much time (or energy) for doing much else aside from working, looking after them, and recovering. For me, this was a double-edged sword; it meant I didn’t have the time or energy to read quite as much as before, but, from a positive side, I became much, much better at giving up on a book, or skipping sections that weren’t interesting to me. Whereas before I might have preserved, now I discard.