The Best Books I Read in 2022

Well, I only read seven books this year due to the volume of events I had in my life. From moving across the country for a few months, then getting married, and moving again, reading was not a top priority. However, I wasn't thrilled with the books I read this year unfortunately. Usually, I share my top three reads and give a short review of each, but this year I'll only be sharing two. The reason is because I really did not read a book that deserved the third spot. The top two books I read were far superior than the others I read. With that being said, here are my top two books of the year:

Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon

by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr

As a lover of business biographies and reading about business transformations, Bryar and Carr delivered a great tale about the growth of one of the world's most prominent businesses today. While I do not agree with everything in the book, I sure found it fascinating to know what worked for -- and still works for -- Amazon. Learning about their "Bar Raiser" hiring process, customer-first driven mindsets, and memo culture were extremely interesting. Speaking of the memo culture, I appreciated how Amazon's leaders took time to digest written material in complete silence before asking questions that could easily be answered by reading written memo. Perhaps more important than all of their processes, was Amazon's commitment to adhering to their leadership principles. Amazonians, as their employees are called, are driven by their leadership principles. Each decision that is made, is made with those principles in mind. Some companies adhere to mission statements and others to a certain culture, but Amazon adheres to their leadership tenets. In all the companies I've worked for, I've never seen such a huge commitment to their tenets. From what Bryar and Carr describe, it seems Amazonians live for their leadership principles. I highly recommend all business book lovers read Working Backwards.



Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires

by Shomari Wills

As I've grown older, I've come to appreciate history more and more. Since I was little I've always had a minor obsession with the U.S. Presidents, but my arousal for general history started around five years ago. Black Fortunes only heightened that arousal. The book made me realize there is so much history that's forgotten. Shomari Wills did an amazing job in making sure the names and the lives of the USA's first six millionaires were not forgotten. Wills dives into lucid tales about Mary Ellen Pleasant, Robert Reed Church, Hannah Elias, Annie Turnbo Malone, O.W. Gurley and Madam C.J. Walker. Black Fortunes transports the reader back to the time when the subjects lived. Not only does Wills illustrate their successes, she precedes those with their struggles. Wills paints complete life portraits that leaves the reader wanting to understand the more intricate details of those portraits. I highly recommend Black Fortunes to history buffs, casual readers, and anyone who wants to be transported to a life lived over 100 years ago.