t’s time for my site tradition, a review of the best five books from 2022. Of course, these aren’t when they were published but that I read them this year.

Now, to be truthful, there wasn’t a lot that I remember that knocked my hat off this year. However, let me take a quick peek into my records and list the top five. And they are (in order from the beginning of the year)…

Steamboats Come True (Review) – A very interesting history of the development of the steam boat and its importance to the settling of America. With a 21st century mindset, we imagine that combining a steam engine with a boat is easily accomplished with CAD software and 3D printing. Turns out it was a lot more difficult than that.

The Dark Forest (Review) – The second book in the “Three Body” series, a Chinese scifi that will make you look at the idea of benevolent ETs seeking to raise us from our humanity with a whole new way. A very dark (and adult) view of the universe.

The Alchemist (Review) – This is one of those weird books that make you look at life (and your place in it) maybe a little differently. A shepherd seeks his fortune on a journey from Spain to the great pyramids.  Fulfilling!

The Classic Railway Signal Tower (Review) – Less a recommendation than an acknowledgement. I have a working interlocking tower on my model railroad. The information I used to construct it was rather spotty. This book explained exactly how interlocking towers worked and answered a lot of questions for me. In this, it was like The Alchemist above, but for model railroading, not life.

Nine Princes in Amber (Review) – A book from my long-ago youth, a epic fantasy with brothers in conflict over the true throne, a great work that reminded me why that one shelf of scifi and fantasy at Barnes and Noble is so utterly pathetic.

And that’s the year in review. Thank you for your support (and especially to those who took my recommendations and wrote back to thank me for my review). It was another tough year for me, what with cancer and surgery and all, but books helped pull me through. So best wishes for a well-read New Year to those who follow my blogs. See you in 2023!

>>>AND HEY, START OFF THE NEW YEAR WITH A GREAT BOOK WRITTEN BY ME, DOWN THIS LINK!<<<