10 Old Books You Need to Read if You Want to Understand the World in 2022

The past year and a half have been insane with everything that has happened both around the world and at home. Yet, as we go into 2022, there is a sense of renewed hope and optimism inside us. Naturally, there’s a want to do more and to do better. But, of course, most of the keys to our future lie in our past, and here are ten books that you can read and re-read to prepare yourself for 2022.

1. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

With all that 2020 and 2021 have put us through, it’s a safe bet that we all feel a little caged right now. However, this book teaches us that it is okay to find hope in struggle and suffering. Maya Angelou’s powerful writing, as well as her touching and sometimes shocking true story, should make you look at the world differently, and you might start singing a different song.

2. The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

We all want to be a little more effective in the year to come, and this book gives us seven actionable habits that we can use right now to improve ourselves. The seven habits are the bedrock that every successful person should build upon, matching great and actionable advice with funny stories and witty lines.

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Even without the pandemic, it can sometimes seem like the rich are getting richer while the poor are poorer. Delving into Gatsby and his ilk’s high society world and watching it all fall apart can carry lessons that you can use when it’s time to come out of lockdown.

4. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

This book outlines the author’s experience of living with two father figures who taught him lessons about money. He would later use those lessons to become rich himself, and the book condenses them down into easy concepts and actionable steps.

5. The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist deals with a protagonist who always wants to go somewhere, mirroring our want to get out of the pandemic and all it has brought us. However, the hero finds what he was looking for in the last place he expected, and that’s a lesson for all of us. No matter how badly we want to reenter the world once COVID ends, we still need to be mindful of what we can find at home.

6. The Glass Menagerie

A family trapped at home, dealing with circumstances beyond their control when an outside force walks in. It almost sounds like 2020, the book! Still, the Glass Menagerie has a powerful lesson inside of it, showing that sometimes we need to control our destinies.

7. The Odyssey

While it might seem odd to have a book about returning home on a list when we are all stuck at home, the book is also about Odysseus’s attempts to return to a life of normalcy and the problems that stand in his way.

8. Free To Focus by Michael Hyatt

Being at home more often has only increased the level of distraction and lack of focus for our work. That lack of focus can only cause more problems as we get back to our everyday lives, which is why this book is needed. Free To Focus teaches us ways to manage our time, energy, and focus in a world of distraction. If you can master your focus, you can master anything.

9. Meditations By Marcus Aurelius

You won’t get much older than a book written by a Roman Emperor himself! Marcus talks about the various coping mechanisms he used to run the Roman Empire and embraced philosophies like Stoicism to keep himself grounded and calm. All things that we could use right now!

10. How To Win Friends and Influence People

It’s safe to say that our post-lockdown social skills are not the best thing in the world. However, this book by Dale Carnegie can help you revitalize your winning personality and give you some tips to start making friends again in the post-Covid world.

With lockdown, you’ve got plenty of time to read, so give any one of these books a go!