Best of 2022: 10 Books on the Human Condition
The non-fiction and fiction books on my list dive deep into the messiness of living a life.
I started my fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in January 2022. During these 12 months I have read more books and academic journal articles than ever in my life. This list is a mix of books I have read for my research on parks and libraries and books I have read for pleasure.
All these titles focus on how unpredictable, multi-faceted, vulnerable yet resilient we humans are. They all advocate for the right for self determination while acknowledging that we never build our lives in isolation from our physical conditions, cultural codes, legal rights or material resources.
I have intentionally included titles published earlier than 2022 as good literature does not expire. The books are not in a prioritized order.
Maggie Nelson’s collection of essays on freedom in art, sex, drugs and climate change builds a compelling argument from an extraordinary range of sources with such eloquence and ease that you want to underline every single sentence. Her essay on art and freedom should be read by everyone making decisions on cultural policy or running an arts institution.
The reparative turn, as applied to art, is in many ways a continuation of the orthopedic aesthetic, with the difference being that the twentieth-century model imagined the audience as numb, constricted, and in need of being awakened and freed (hence, an aesthetics of shock), whereas the twenty-first century model presumes the audience to be damaged, in need of healing, aid, and protection (hence, an aesthetics of care).”
2. Javier Zamora (2022): Solito
Javier Zamora left El Salvador at the age of nine to be reunited with his parents in the United States. For weeks he travelled accompanied by strangers through El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States with his family having no knowledge whether he was alive or not. In his heart-wrenching memoir he goes back to those horrific weeks of multiple attempts to cross the US border on foot accompanied by strangers. The attention to detail in his story and a child’s perspective make you tear up over injustice yet remind the reader of the the resilience of children and the care showed by strangers.
“the thin white man let us drink from a hose while pointing his shotgun. In pocho Spanish he told us si correr perros atacar.”
3. William Whyte (1980) The Social Life of Small Urban Places.
William Whyte describes in this urban planning classic in detail how people walk, behave and convene in public spaces based on real-life observation.
Why not experiment? Some features, like ledges and steps, will be fixed, but benches and chairs don’t have to be. With sturdy wooden benches and the like, some simple market research can be done to find out where and in what kind of groupings they work best. People will be very quick to let you know.
4. Rachel Aviv (2022): Strangers to Ourselves. Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us.
The book was listed by The New York Times as one of the best books of 2022. Through tragic stories of real people — including herself — assembled from in-person interviews, medical records, expert interviews and academic research, Aviv makes the argument that mental health challenges never exist in isolation but in relation to other people, societal norms and within the constraints of current scientific beliefs.
5. Michelle Zauner (2021): Crying in H Mart
I would claim that it is impossible to read Zauner’s account on losing her mother to pancreatic cancer without crying. Zauner writes extensively on food, cooking, appetite, groceries and eating. Food plays a significant role in her story of grief, love and her struggle to hold on to her Korean heritage.
“Tender short rib, soused in sesame oil, sweet syrup, and soda and caramelized in the pan, filled the kitchen with a rich, smoky scent. My mother rinsed fresh red-leaf lettuce and set it on the glass-top coffee table in front of me, then brought the banchan. Hard-boiled soy-sauce eggs sliced in half, crunchy bean sprouts flavored with scallions and sesame oil, doenjang jjigae with extra broth, and chonggak kimchi, perfectly soured.”
6. Anu Kantola ja työryhmä (2022).: Kahdeksan kuplan Suomi
Professor of Media and Communication Studies Anu Kantola from the University of Helsinki led a large-scale research project funded by the Academy of Finland on the bubbles and biases of participation. Her research team interviewed hundreds of Finns ranging from middle class parents and bartenders to immigrant entrepeneurs and people depending on social benefits. Their goals was to understand the stories that carry people in today’s Finland. The researchers tell a story of people still believing in a national narrative of solidarity and even patriotism, a commitment to responsibility and decency but also a growing worry over the unpredictability of modern life.
“For Meri work is not just forced smiling as customers treat her in general kindly and get her in a good mood. Employees, who in many ways are in the most vulnerable position, are primarily dedicated to their work and want to do it well. The discussion on worsening working life, insecure circumstances and the oppressed position of employees does not always reach this dedication, good mood and pride.” — Lotta Junnilainen & Lotta Haikkola on restaurant workers (translation from Finnish by me)
A qualitative research classic on the dominant values of middle-class white America. The book helps a non-American like myself understand the values driving political narratives and the current identity battles.
“ Even religion is for many Americans a relationship of you and your God. even membership of a church is a membership in the local community as an enhancement of self, not subjecting oneself to a normative system outside oneself.”
Based on interviews with expert facilitators and mediators, the (now retired) Cornell Professor of City and Regional Planning illustrates how we can build practical solutions not despite differences of values and opinions but based on them. Forester does not claim that this is easy and avoids giving a quick-fix list to systemic and complex challenges. He advocates for creating a space for learning before pushing for solutions.
9. Edward Enninful (2022): A Visible Man
When Edward Enninful was chosen as editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017, he was the first Black person to hold that position. In his memoir he opens up on his journey from Ghana to the top of the global fashion world as a black, queer man and his on-going mission of broadening our idea of beauty — and the personal price he has paid for that mission. A Visible Man is a powerful call for the right for self-determination.
“And impostor syndrome is something every Black person has been conditioned to feel. It’s the energy of, ‘What are you doing here?’ internalized into a kind of constant feedback loop.”
10. Steven Lipsky (2010): Street-Level Bureaucracy. Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services.
For a seasoned public sector leader like myself, Lipsky’s classic is a powerful reminder of how the intentions and incentives set by senior leadership play out on the level of individual government employees. Lipsky argues that the real policy of government is not in the policies but actually created by the actions of employees.
“One way in which the interests of street-level bureaucrats depart from those of managers is their need to process workloads expeditiously, free from real and psychological threats. The fact that street level bureaucrats must exercise discretion in processing large amounts of work with inadequate adequate resources means that they must develop shortcuts and simplification to cope with the press of responsibilities. The coping mechanisms street-level bureaucrats develop often are unsanctioned by managers of their agencies.”
