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10 Best Books of 2022 (So Far…)
A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
~ Rumi
I’ve made this list for two important people: you dear reader and also myself. Reading a great book without sharing it is similar to not reading it at all. We expand our knowledge so we can share it with others, and the books below are some great reads I cannot keep in secret from you.
As the Persian poet Rumi said: ‘A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.’
I made this list also because I like making lists. Not only reading lists, but also lists of quotes, photographs, paintings, poems, passages and places. Lists give me an illusion of control over the information I encounter in my daily life and don’t want to forget.
You will find many familiar names below. Plato will appear in ‘Sweat’, Nietzsche in ‘A Philosophy of Walking’. The topics of those books are diverse as our lives should be, so apologies if I am going to switch from one important idea to another rather quickly.
I. Sweat: A History of Exercise
This book is not a chronological history of exercise. Bill Hayes explores the relationship between our mind and our body. Ancient Greek thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle used to hold philosophical discussions at their gymnasiums.
Mens sana in corpore sano (In healthy body, healthy mind)
They saw a very strong relationship between the state of our bodies and the state of our minds. In contrast to them, however, Christian thinkers focused solely on our souls and paid no attention to our bodies.
Bill Hayes’ book is difficult to put down. He makes such smooth transition between history and personal memoir which makes Sweat a very engaging read.
