HT Editors pick their favourite books of 2022

HT Editors have been reading everything from books on climate change and technophilosophy to political memoirs and photobooks, contemporary classics of Hindi literature and portraits of queerness. Click on the link under each picture to learn about that editor’s favourite read of the year

R SUKUMAR

Fables that confront colonialism and greed, memoirs, books on the trajectory of contemporary Indian art, and graphic novels all feature in the HT Editors’ collective list of favourite reads of 2022. (Monica Gupta)

From technophilosophy to sensory bubbles: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong and Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by David Chalmers (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

End-of-the-world scenarios, a nature book that explores the idea of Umwelten, and graphic novels that synthesise fable, myth and the artist’s own universe

ANUP GUPTA

Baked to perfection: The Theobroma Story; Baking a Dream by Kainaz Messman Harchandrai with Tina Messman Wykes (HT Photo)

The fascinating story of how a small initiative in south Mumbai grew to more than 50 outlets around the country today

A portrait of queerness: My Father’s Garden by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (HT Pic)

An intimate portrait of the awkwardness of desire and the struggles of marginalisation creates a patchwork of queerness that is both comforting and startingly unfamiliar

JAMAL SHAIKH

An unconventional life: Stories I Must Tell by Kabir Bedi (Courtesy the subject)

An account of a life lived in the constant quest of success

LALITA PANICKER

The ground beneath our feet: The Living Mountain; A Fable of Our Times by Amitav Ghosh (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

On man’s destructive exploitation of resources and the issues of colonialism and greed

MANJULA NARAYAN

A clearer view of India: 20th Century Indian Art by Partha Mitter, Parul Dave Mukherji and Rakhee Balaram (Courtesy the subject)

An encyclopaedic volume on the many artistic impulses that have coursed through the subcontinent since the beginning of the last century

PAROMA MUKHERJEE

A free-flowing exchange of ideas: Guftgu by Offsett Projects (Courtesy the subject)

10 lens-based artists and photographers from South Asia begin a conversation through their works

RHYTHMA KAUL

On thriving despite mental illness: Chemical Khichdi; How I Hacked My Mental Health by Aparna Piramal Raje (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

While the book is about the author’s struggles with mental health, it is not a sob story but one that focuses on the possibility of leading a fruitful life despite such hardships

ROSHAN KISHORE

Explaining the contradictions in our society: Rambhakt Rangbaaz by Rakesh Kayasth (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Capturing the social fissures that the Hindi belt has suffered in the tumultuous period post the 1990s and the era of Mandal, Mandir and Market

SUNETRA CHOUDHURY

Information is control: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

A classic on dealing with debilitating sorrow, a book on living in the present, and a surprisingly honest political autobiography

VINOD SHARMA

A celebration of Hindustani: Ye Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai; Urdu Memoirs of Cinema Legends by Yasir Abbasi. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

A book that celebrates Urdu periodicals and Hindustani, which was the lingua franca of our Talkies

ZARA MURAO

Slaying the siren of infinite growth: Survival of the Richest; Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires by Douglas Rushkoff (HT Photo)

Looking into the future to see where we and our machines are headed and offering a small and beautiful solution to mankind’s impossible problems

ZIA HAQ

Stopping climate change: Fixing the Climate; Strategies for an Uncertain World by Charles F Sabel and David G Victor (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

Stopping climate change requires an environmentalist approach, not a diplomatic one