Calling All Booknerds: A 2022 Rewind

Earlier this year, I had the good pleasure of meeting Rohan Raj and his wife Neha, founders of the book discussion community Booknerds on LinkedIn. They were later featured here on “Great Books, Great Minds” in an article entitled “Building a Paradise for Book Nerds” which has become one of our 10 most popular feature stories of all time. 

Located in the town of Dehradun, India in the foothills of the Himalayas, the duo has become a major inspiration for me in my own quest to build a global tribe of “Great Books, Great Minds” subscribers worldwide. 

Rohan described 2022 as being “an absolutely amazing and productive year” personally as well as for Booknerds. As we come to a close to this year, here are some of the milestones he noted:  

📚  𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴  

Rohan: “I read more than 50 books this year. Reading books is what keeps me leveling up and this year was absolutely fantastic. Here are among my absolute favorites: 

📚𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬 of Naval Ravikant 

📚𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 by Adam Grant

📚𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯: 𝘈 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 by Tiago Forte

Rohan says that he is hoping for more bookish cheer in 2023! (Check his 2022 book recommendations that are coming up in his year end Booknerds Newsletter) 

📚 Book Podcasts Hosted

Some of his favorite podcast show guests were

🎙️ TataStories by Harish Bhat 

🎙️ 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 by Vivek Mashrani, CFA

🎙️ 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝟣𝟢𝟢 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 by Mainak Dhar

🎙️ 𝘌𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘵 by Dr. Neeta Bhushan

🏆 Feature Articles

🗞️ Featured by the amazing Priya Hajela, author of 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴' 𝘛𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘳 in her article about book clubs named 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 in The Daily Guardian

🔊 Featured on 𝗔𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶 𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗴 podcast by RJ Aakriti sharing our story at Booknerds

Rohan says that when he wasn’t reading, he threw in some fitness goals, a combination of:

🚴 Cycling

🏸 Badminton

🎾 Tennis

🥗 🍗 Balanced Nutrition

⏰ Not eating after 7 pm

🛌 Getting a minimum of 7 hours of sleep everyday

Says Rohan: I’m hoping for the same and better in 2023! 

👨‍👩‍👦 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 

Rohan: “Balancing all of the above with family time is something which requires a superpower and was able to pull it off!!!”

Some Other Highlights of Rohan’s Year in 2022

🥗 Healthy breakfasts in the mountains every Monday with partner in crime Neha Raj📚 

🏊Spending quality time with my daughters

🚴 Cycling with  the wifey on weekends

📚  And then there was the bookstore hopping. Rohan listed these as among his favorites this year

📚 Champaca Bookstore, Library and Cafe,Bangalore

📚 Blossom Book House Old Rare New, Bangalore

📚 Shelfebook,Dehradun 

📚 Crossword Bookstores, Dehradun

Rohan closes with:

So how did 2022 go for you? Hope you had a great year!  We would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below