My 2022 Book Report
How much I read, what I read, and more
Last winter I created a spreadsheet of my entire library (see the “2022 Data” sheet for just the data and charts presented below) and have been tracking my books in it ever since. As a trained researcher I find it fun to be able to analyze the basic stats of my reading over the years. My library tracks the title, author, publication year, genre (my labeling), length, publisher, and rating.
Here’s how it all broke down.
Books Read
In 2022 I reached a new record of 72 books read. You can notice from the chart that my rate of increase has slowed this year. Honestly, I’m not sure how much higher I can shoot. Next year, I’m aiming for 60 books, but I’d happy with 50 if I can manage.
As for DNFs? I started adding these to my sheet to track. I logged eight this year, but I’m certain a couple got forgotten. The stats below are only for the 72 books I actually finished, and reviews for each are available in the Bookmarked Reads archive.
My rate of reading per month is pretty steady, completing an average of six books per month. This rate of reading is also what I need to hit to be able to write you six reviews per month as I have been.
How I Read
I began listening to audio books only a couple years ago. I listen to mostly memoir and biography this way, which is partly why my reading in that category has also upticked in the last two years. This year, just over 26% of my books read were in audio format, up 4% from 2021.
What Topics I Read About
I really surprised myself with this chart: my most read topic was history (!) – a topic I used to hate until I found the style that I like. I strongly dislike traditional humanities style history books, but I love history of technology, companies, and more focused topics that present as more of a narrative than a broad strokes history with a million characters to track. This year I read 17 history books, up more than 10 from last year!
Memoir and biography made up 22% of my books this year, with 70% of my audio books in this category. The sciences (social and hard) made up a combined 33% of my reading, about 3% less than 2021. I read about half the education books that I read compared to last year, surprisingly.
My Top Publishers
This is a topic I became curious about a couple years ago, and was a large motivation behind making my spreadsheet library. What publishers published what I was reading? Did I have a preference? Since tracking this information I’ve become much more attentive to the style of different publishers, and have learned which are my favorite.
This year, I read books from 41 different publishers. Basic Books, Princeton University Press, and W. W. Norton were my top read publishers this year, and three of my top five overall across my entire library. Unsurprising given that I’ve become consciously preferential toward buying books from these publishers.
If you’re new to nonfiction, definitely check out Basic and Norton – they are good bets for accessible and engaging popular science especially. Princeton is also fantastic, and produces the most beautiful book products you can buy, but they also tend to be more data forward than Basic or Norton, though still accessible.
Other Book Details
I have a preference for reading the new books. Especially for science books, I want the latest information. Of the 72 books I read, 76% of them were published in 2021 or 2022.
And most books I read are in the 300-400 page rage. But remember, nonfiction books have 50-100 pages of notes, bibliographies, and indexes – pages you don’t “read”. So the actual average page length is likely closer to the 250 mark.
What most surprises you about my book stats? Let me know in the comments below!
Very neat! I've never thought of keeping track of publishers.
There needs to be a word, by the way, for "consuming" a book in either print or audio form. I feel strange writing that I "read" an audiobook, though perhaps I should get over it...
Are you considering the listening to a book to be the same thing as reading a book?..I believe it to be basically two different processes?..I’m not an audio fan myself, so I am biased here, although I can see how it would help in pronouncing new words and names and mitigate time management issues..also I see no fiction references although there is a small white area undefined in the top of one graft..the occasional fictional work has no place?..good article