Bill Gates' All-Time Favorite Books: Top Recommended Reading List
Discover the best Bill Gates favorite books of all time, featuring top recommendations, must-read lists, and Gates' personal book selections.
I have received many requests to recommend some of Bill Gates's favorite books list for everyone. In response, I'm pleased to offer my expert recommendations in this article, which is based on my in-depth study and testing in this field.
Some notable books are included here: Tap Dance to Work, Making the Modern World, The Sixth Extinction, Stress Test, Business Adventures, The Bully Pulpit, Seveneves, How Not to Be Wrong, Sapiens, and The Power to Compete.
These aren't the only books on this topic. Below, you'll find 15 books with detailed descriptions of each of these outstanding resources.
So, when I suggest these books, it's because I've read a lot and want to share the best ones with you. I'm all about making your reading experience awesome. Trust in a guide deeply immersed in the literary books and stories. I love books just like you do!
1. Tap Dance to Work: What Buffett Says
Buffett and Gates have a deep friendship, and it is not surprising that Gates recommends this book. This book is a collection of articles written by Buffett himself and articles about Buffett written by others. Compiled by Fortune magazine reporter Carol Loomis.
This book is too long. It took a long time to read. If you read it carefully, it will take a long time. This experience is not good at all. Because there may be no results if you don't think about it, I read it for nothing.
This book describes the details of some of Buffett's past stories in great detail and is still very interesting. What impressed me most was the handling of the Salomon incident in the first half and the investment by BYD in the second half. It would have been great if I read this book last year, maybe I bought BYD, hehe.
Gates said that people who finish reading this book will have three major gains:
- The first is the attitude towards work.
For men, work is indeed life, after all, the time spent in the family is much lower than that of women. And women may be more passive towards the development of the family and their children, not as great as men's choice. Then the mentality of work is the mentality of life. The first thing is to decide what to work as work, and the mentality mentions "tap dancing". It must be hard work and fun. Dancing is also very tiring, but you can keep dancing. It also shows that I am really happy. So starting from this mentality, what kind of work can you reflect on to keep you so persistent for a lifetime? Vital.
- The second is to cherish credibility.
Buffett used actions and results to prove to the world the value of credibility. Although there are also mistakes, for example, the latter part of the book mentions indulging in internal transactions among employees of the company, but there is no conclusion, and I have not done an in-depth search, but I honestly made my mistakes at the general meeting of shareholders. It is really amazing and extraordinary. People can do it.
- The third is about the number of actions.
Although it is mentioned in the book that "the biggest mistake is inaction, not wrong behavior.", I think this is not a contradiction. Looking at the number of transactions of Buffett Munger, this is the difference between precise action and high-frequency action.
2. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization
Gates said his favorite author is Vaclav Smil, a professor of environmental sciences. Gates commented on the book, "The material seems ordinary, but the material is an important factor in helping the world's most disadvantaged people improve their lives.
The quality of life in the United States and other developed countries has greatly improved in the past 100 years. We hope for the next 50 years. More miracles will happen."
The knowledge on the topic of materials is indeed very lacking, and I am too curious to understand the knowledge of this method. The starting point of this book is very high, the amount of information is really large, and the data is really large.
From ancient times to the present, those with data can be listed, and those without data can be inferred. This is the professional quality and strength.
In the past, I would only think of its advantages and disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses, application scope, and hazards for materials. However, this book has broadened my cognition. When looking at the material, it depends on the energy consumed when refining it.
For example, aluminum began to replace iron to become the mainstream of the world, but its production consumes 3000 times the energy of iron. Look at our technology to reduce the quantity of some items (the materials used in a single item are reduced, such as mobile phones becoming lighter and thinner),
but at the same time, it brings about an increase in the total amount (a single mobile phone uses fewer materials, but with the expansion of mobile phone sales The amount of materials used worldwide has increased several times).
Third, when looking at the material, we not only see that it reduces the number of goods for us but also consider its service life and recyclability.
For example, cement production consumes huge energy, but its service life is only a few decades, which is not as environmentally friendly as wood.
For example, although aluminum consumes a lot of production, it can be recycled and reused, and the energy savings brought by more than 90% of recyclables are also considerable. On the contrary, high-density plastic is not as good as it is.
Therefore, when we understand the world and look at things, environmental and economic issues, we should have one more angle and one more thinking so that we will not enter an endless loop or dead end. Encourage all the monarchs.
3. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
It is easy to forget that every day in the present is also part of the history of the world. This book by Elizabeth Kolbert, a reporter for The New Yorker Magazine, may be able to change this mistake.
"Human overhauls and constructions have caused species migration, overfishing, and pollution of rivers around the world," Gates wrote. "Natural scientists have confirmed that there have been five mass extinction events on the earth.
There are a lot of facts in Kolbert's book that show that humans may be the culprit for the sixth mass extinction."
In the book "The Age of the Great Extinction", the author Elizabeth takes us through those tragic events, and at the same time constitutes the argument for the sixth mass extinction. Some things have been personally experienced by the author, while others have come from historical sources.
She has always gently recounted sorrowful histories in the tone of a bystander. She doesn't make comments, and she rarely uses emotional words. In the face of such a heavy history and ongoing events, there is no need to say more, the taste is self-evident.
There are catastrophic photos of animals in the book. I hurried past those slightly horrifying photos. For me, photos can be swiped without looking at them; but for the animals in them, it is a lifetime of destruction, and there is no escape.
4. Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises
As the founder and former CEO of Microsoft, Gates faced a huge challenge of responsibility. Timothy Geithner was the Secretary of the Treasury when the financial crisis broke out. The complex situation he faced was no worse than Gates's.
"Geithner vividly described how he responded to the global financial crisis and critics from all walks of life." Gates wrote. "In response to the financial crisis, the politics involved will inevitably be very ugly. But it is good for the public to understand all this."
This book is very rich and detailed. It uses the personal experience and thoughts of the young U.S. Treasury secretary to fully describe the picture of the U.S. financial crisis-roughly like the financial market running out of two hundred Godzillas in the downtown area.
After the district rampage, government departments have only band-aids and tapes to repair the damage.
In the eyes of ordinary people, the U.S. government is undoubtedly very powerful, but when faced with the financial crisis, it is obviously so weak, powerless, and difficult internally and this is far more than just government departments and international capital giants who have more power.
A powerful problem, but because the two sides have a decisive difference in their own basic characteristics in the competition.
Geithner, the youngest Secretary of the Treasury in the history of the United States, takes readers back to the years when he participated in, faced, and coordinated to solve the Latin American economic crisis, the Asian economic crisis, and the US subprime mortgage crisis, especially in the second place.
The image of the firefighter playing in the loan crisis is vivid and vivid. The whole book is compact, stressful, and connected.
5. Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
In 1991, Gates asked Buffett which book was his favorite.
Afterward, Buffett gave "Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Legends of Wall Street" to the founder of Microsoft. Although the story in the book comes from half a century ago, this book has always been Gates' favorite.
Gates mentioned that this book explains the basic principles of building a successful business well. "First of all, people are the foundation of every successful company.
It's just a perfect product, manufacturing plan, and marketing strategy. You need the right people to implement these plans."
"Business Adventure" is a masterpiece of John Brooks. This book has written the adventure stories of 12 companies. In these stories, some companies have won, and some companies have ultimately failed.
For me, I prefer to tell the story of failure in the book, because just as Jack Ma said at the opening ceremony of Lakeside University, only companies that fail in learning can succeed.
I am interested in this book, mostly because of Bill Gates. This book is so popular all over the world, that it can be said to a large extent that it is also thanks to the recommendation of Bill Gates spared no effort.
Bill Gates did not get any benefit from the sale of this book (of course, the richest man in the world does not earn advertising fees). The reason why he frequently recommends this "Business Adventure" is that he really thinks it is a book
Excellent business books are worthy of careful study by entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, especially the story of Xerox, which allows him to see the crisis of Microsoft's prosperity.
6. The Bully Pulpit
Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most outstanding presidents of the United States. Gates was fascinated by how Roosevelt could achieve such a great achievement.
There are many answers to many questions in this book. Gates wrote: "How does social change happen? Can it be driven by an inspiring individual leader? Or do other factors need to lay the foundation first?"
"Although, Roosevelt tried to promote change early in his career," Gates mentioned. "But before the journalists and the media helped him gain public support, he was actually not very successful."
Theodore Roosevelt (hereinafter referred to as TR) and William Howard Taft (hereinafter referred to as Taft) can be regarded as two important figures in modern American history ( The former is more important, and the latter is also known because of its interaction with TR).
The context of this book basically revolves around two lines. One is the comparison between TR and Taft’s childhood experiences, studies, career, personal love, social communication, and the sorrows and joys of their friendship, and the other line is based on McClure.
The development process of progressive newspapers represented by Mr. Er puts the plot in the context of the Gilded Age connecting with the progressive era, the beginning of the progressive era, the climax, and then the end, showing the close connection and relationship between journalists and government work. Mutual influence is indeed worth reading.
I firmly believe that this is not just a biography: it is also an excellent novel. This novel has a rich plot, with the shocking scenes and plots of an American blockbuster, the sweetness and inspiration of love stories, and the joy of anti-corruption novels. Reflection; is like a faithful documentary.
Finally, what I want to express is that: as McClure said, the success of publications depends on "story is king." Working hard for such a classic work is a fan with a strong feeling of the most willing to stick to it!
7. Seveneves
Before reading this book, I did not come into contact with Neil Stephenson's other works, this is completely the first time.
Because I have tried to establish an overall understanding of this work before, the actual overall understanding of this book can only be understood after reading more content.
As a doomsday-themed work, the first quarter of the first month’s collapse described the situation in which the moon was bombed in an extremely relaxed style. It is difficult for me to establish the feeling that this is doomsday.
But the description of the technology indeed easy to establish the concept that this is an extremely hard-core science fiction work. The first impression was successfully labeled as hard science fiction.
After watching Neal Stephenson's Seven Eves day and night, I wanted to say a lot, but I never had time to sit down and write. Then last night, watching the results of the Brexit referendum, the stunned feeling was completely the opening description in the book. The moon was broken up into seven pieces for no reason. The people on earth were stunned.
The background of the story of Seven Eve is that the moon is broken up, so the frequency of meteorite collisions increases exponentially. As a result, the number of meteorites in two years is so large that it will completely destroy the earth.
Isn't it the same for Europe to change from the European Union back to a pan of sand? Dispersing a whole into small individuals increases the frequency of collisions with each other.
The two wars serve as a lesson for the past. The possibility of World War III will increase exponentially like the broken up moon, and the world will be lost. . .
8. How Not to Be Wrong
I heard that this is one of Bill Gates' ten favorite books, so I just got to read it. After reading the first two chapters, I still despise Gates a bit. With such a simple mathematical concept, what is worth recommending?
But after reading it, it's terrible, and it's getting more and more fascinating, and I feel a little bit overwhelmed.
The second, third, and fourth parts are recommended. The first part is a bit simpler; and the fifth part, especially the last chapter, feels too high in mathematics, but maybe my realm is too low.
The amount of knowledge the author is a bit surprising, not just knowledge of mathematics. To clarify the principles of mathematics, he did not list many formulas and logical derivations but used the method of storytelling to follow suit.
The story spans a wide range, with religion, politics, and all kinds of strange things, and if you take you to fly, you will be taken to fly. If you are not used to easily flashing to your waist. Halfway through the theorem, I suddenly pressed the button and started to tell an eight-pole intangible story.
You must be wondering: What does this have to do with what I said earlier? A few pages later, things turned around, and things turned out to be true. It feels like listening to storytelling.
The author's language is also very humorous, a bit similar to the cold humor of Sheldon in The Big Bang, and it is not boring at all.
For the sake of popular science writing, it can be said that both science and artistry are taken into account. No wonder Gates will respect it.
9. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
The impression that this book gave me, in a word, is "unconventional." The author combines many aspects of his research, trying to interpret human history from a new and broad perspective, but because of his extensive and imprecise research, I have to say that he can't do anything in almost any aspect. good.
As far as a few areas I know better, as a semi-outsider, I can still pick out a lot of thorns.
Let me talk about his first argument that aroused my strong disgust: "The Agricultural Revolution is a deception. It deceived all human beings and led them to a less happy path."
At this point, the author seems to start with a noble attitude for the well-being of all mankind, taking "human happiness" as a yardstick for judging right and wrong. Only in this way can it be called a scam victim who wants result A, the scammer (scam) promises to give result A, but the final result is non-A.
But the fact is that in the past two hundred years, before the awakening of humanism, even now the vast majority of humans pursued reproductive fanaticism, and no matter how hard or tired they are, they must spread their genes because they don't.
There is no such thing as a scam. What is even more boring is that historical research has always emphasized not judging ancient people based on modern human standards, but based on the moral values of the society at that time.
Otherwise, historical research will lose its meaning. You claim that successive emperors and monarchs are tyrants who disrespect the freedom of trade and that the actions of human beings in the Middle Ages who value reputation and so on are very stupid.
This is meaningless. Historical research is not designed to give modern humans a sense of superiority.
10. The Power to Compete
The Power to Compete: An Economist and an Entrepreneur on Revitalizing Japan in the Global Economy by Hiroshi Mikitani & Ryoichi Mikitani
As the title says, Bill Gates recommended the book in his blog. This book is a collection of conversations between Rakuten's founder Hiroshi Mikitani and his economist father Ryoichi Mikitani.
Topics include Japan’s stubborn illness, the rise of China, and the everlasting prosperity of the United States. Through these topics, we try to find ways to maintain and enhance our country’s competitiveness.
At present, our country’s argument on Japan’s economy is a bit split. One view is that Japan has completely fallen behind in the Internet era, consumer products have been replaced by South Korea and China, and repeated efforts to reform have failed.
The other is that Japan is still in full leadership in many areas and is still a very efficient giant. A typical example of this kind of division is Sony, which will go bankrupt and sell the building and will have all kinds of black technologies.
The main point of the book is how Japan can remain competitive in the process of globalization: strengthen English education, eliminate bureaucracy, abolish lifelong tenure, open up the market, upgrade IT infrastructure, introduce talents and companies, etc.
I stayed in Tokyo for a while and visited several schools. I think Japan is still a wealthy country, with a perfect combination of tradition and modernity, a high quality of life, and a complete education system.
However, people's English is very poor, and women in the workplace are indeed rare. So I think the author’s idea is very good. More women go to work and more people learn English. After all, Japan’s future is quite bright.
11. The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
First of all, this is not an easy-to-read book. There are many chemistry and biology terms involved in the book, but fortunately, Lane will give a rigorous explanation when introducing any terms.
In the introduction, Lane said: "I hope that all interested readers can read the book after occasionally referencing the relevant vocabulary."
Some people will say that this is "persuading", but I think this is because Lane is like everyone interested. The reader throws a challenge: accept this challenge, and the grand epic of life opens.
When reading a book, I always open my palms involuntarily and stare at my hands, marveling at how many unexplainable and unintelligible miracles of nature are working under this plain surface, and how they have gone through hundreds of millions of years. How lucky it is to change and evolve!
We are all too accustomed to life, but where it comes from, how it develops, and even what death is, these questions-vital questions-have been ignored.
Although there is a lot of biological vocabulary in the book that I need to look up in the dictionary, and many illustrations I can't understand, the impact of this book is not discounted at all.
The terms protons, elements, chemical reactions (oxidation, redox), symbiosis, mitochondria, chromosomes, and sex have since gained new meanings. The understanding of life has also been unlocked in a new dimension.
How lucky! If you are curious about life, curious about yourself, and curious about human beings, try to read this book and let yourself go back to the distant past of the earth, starting from an ancient cell, understanding the beginning of life is also the beginning of understanding yourself!
12. The Great Gatsby
Last summer, I read "The Great Gatsby" for the last time in a room. When I read the epic chant at the end, I thought that I might find Murakami like this book. Reason.
After all, it has nothing to do with the American dream, with love, and with the experience of Westerners in the eastern United States. It is only about youth, dreams failure, and the courage to pursue dreams. But there is no compromise. We continue to strive forward, sailing against the current...
The story is surprisingly efficient, full of drama, coincidence, and compact tension. It is like reading a suspenseful novel. Even a small fragment will seem to be mentioned casually at the end and pieced together to form the most critical mystery.
However, what fascinates me most is that even such a highly efficient novel, like a high-speed motor, does not appear to be vulgar, or hollow, and does not appear to be too meticulously woven and tiresome.
Fitzgerald makes a magic trick full of warmth and sadness. Like a sad fairy tale, the froth studded with gold rim is so real and delicate the noise and glitz.
Does Gatsby really exist?
Like a sad fable, Fitzgerald, did it really exist? Why can he write an elegy to this country, this era, including himself, in prosperous America, the golden age, and the prosperous reputation?
It's like Gatsby's love, humble to ridiculous, solemn to pitiful. Fitzgerald was abandoned by his time, and died suddenly with the dream of re-emergence, just like a sad character in his own novel.
He loves those prosperous ones, otherwise, he won't be so tiresome to write their details. At the same time, he knows that these are just phantoms, so he will write about how they disillusioned so affectionately.
They don’t know how science can advance the world, and they don’t really understand how the economy manipulates the entire era. They don't know the almighty palm behind entertainment and wealth, or even how to manage their own destiny well.
However, they trace the huge and small contexts, wind directions, and shadows of the entire era. They pay attention to every insignificant or triumphant heart. They have insight into the secrets of the entire era. They are not inferred and proven, but intuitive, sensitive, and natural.
He wrote it all out and then was forgotten. Just like the little mermaid, maybe he never really existed, in this world.
13. Parenting With Love And Logic
This book is mainly to advise parents to let their children bear the natural consequences of their choices, rather than to enter the vicious circle of parents' persuasion to be invalid, angry, beating and scolding their children, and continuing next time.
Some practice: I now let the two children begin to have some housework responsibilities because they are also part of the family and cannot just enjoy the services of their mothers. In fact, they also like to take responsibility but give them real meaningful work.
For example, food preparation: washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, peeling, peeling garlic, beating eggs, setting a table, and so on.
The work in the kitchen can always make them interested, and it can also encourage them to eat more without being picky eaters because they are involved in doing it themselves.
The second little bit of experience is that you need to provide tools suitable for your child's height or small hands, and tasks that match the characteristics of the age.
Especially for young children, if the tools are inappropriate or the task is too difficult, the child will not be able to do a good job but will feel frustrated and lose interest in the future. It is a good way to prepare exclusive cutting boards for plastic knives, small aprons, and small carts at home.
The author mentioned that positive self-esteem comes from a sense of accomplishment, not just praise and appreciation. I think it makes sense. Children get achievements through hard work. This internal process helps them build good self-awareness and self-confidence.
14. Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air
This book focuses on sustainable energy in the UK. The causes are energy security and global warming. It proposes problems, solutions, and specific technical details. Clarified a lot of unreliable rumors.
Although coal and oil prices have fallen recently, the premise is that oil-producing countries increase production, not that humans’ reliance on chemical energy is reduced.
However, from the author who published this book in 2012 to now in 2016, many things have changed. Shale gas, asteroid mining, improved photovoltaic power generation efficiency, popularization of electric vehicles, fourth-generation nuclear power plants, the realization of recyclable rockets, and staged breakthroughs in controllable nuclear fusion technology.
In the long run, sustainable energy will no longer be the main problem for mankind. In fact, it has never been. Human greed and material arrogance are.
In theory, mankind has never had such an opportunity for peaceful and great development at a historical moment. Generally speaking, it has a guiding significance for engaging in sustainable energy.
15. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
The book "The Good Angels in Human Nature" aims to break the illusion that the twentieth century is full of war and destruction, "the present is not as good as the old", and to look for the overall downward trend of violence in the long history. Various reasons.
The author points out that this illusion is actually caused by psychological factors: the person who fortunes the future can always win more attention, we always look at the present realistically and romanticize the memories of the irrelevant past.
However, the statistics clearly point out that the violence in the pre-state society is far greater than that in the state, and the violence in (and between) class societies or strong ideological countries is far greater than that in (and between) democratic countries) Violence.
The author of this book is a professor of psychology at Harvard. The study of psychology is the study of psychological hallucinations.
If it were not for the study of hallucinations, there would be no psychology: the refraction of light on the surface of different media is a physical phenomenon. Only when the chopsticks in your brain water are bent, is it a psychological illusion.
Psychological research is to pierce the illusion, to help humans muster the courage to laugh at the distorted illusion in the haha mirror.
For example, when he talked about the war on terrorism in the 21st century, he believed that excessive attention to terrorism was purely psychological: terrorists have been active for a long time, and we used to dismiss them.
The reason they are drawing attention today is precisely the result of the more brutal violence that has disappeared.
The casualty rate caused by terrorists is minimal, and the reason why terrorists adopt this tactic precisely shows that fundamental ideology can only use the means of "creating terrorist emotions" to create psychological strikes, and cannot carry out effective material strikes. They have no strength except dying madness.
16. The Man Who Fed the World by Leon Hesser
Although Gates could meet almost anyone in the world, he never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Norman Borlaug, winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. The late Blog was a renowned American geneticist and plant pathologist.
He led the "Green Revolution" and his series of innovations helped countless people to rid themselves of hunger.
Gates said:
"Although many people may never have heard of Blog, he may be the person who saved the most innocent lives in world history. According to estimates, Balog's invention successfully protected more than a thousand million people from starvation. Most are from India and Pakistan."
In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, Blog also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. For Gates, the Blog is his role model to follow him to participate in the most important work in the world.
17. The Rosie Project: A Novel by Graeme Simsion
Gates rarely read novels, but the book recommended by Gates's wife, Melinda, is an exception.
Gates wrote:
"This book tells the story of how an Asperger genetics teacher finds true love. It is so interesting, meaningful, and touching!"
18. On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
Although from a scientific point of view, vaccines are one of the most important inventions in the history of mankind. However, there is still much debate about whether the introduction of vaccines is a good idea.
Gates wrote:
“Biss has confirmed the common knowledge error about the spread of childhood immunity among parents of children through research of the literature and philosophical and scientific rapid test methods. Biss's attention to this topic is not purely for academic research purposes. But because she is also a mother. "
19. How Asia Works by Joe Studwell
Stawell is a business journalist whose primary mission is to understand the meaning of "economic development."
The "Financial Times" commented that the "Asian Model" is the first paper to analyze the success and failure of Asian economic development.
Gates commented: “How all countries are successful in economic development are:
- Creating conditions for the development of small farmers;
- From an extensive agricultural surplus to the establishment of a complete intensive industrial chain of production, processing, and export;
- Guide companies and financial institutions to closely cooperate and be controlled by the government."
20. How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
"Statistical Pitfalls" was first published in 1954. It mainly presents statistics and the basic principles of how to manipulate statistics.
Gates believes that the content of the book is still inextricably linked to modern reality, and is even more important than ever.
Gates wrote:
"One of the chapters teaches readers how to judge how distorted and exaggerated actual results are based on surface phenomena. This reminder is timely. We can use data modeling to see what is flooding our Facebook and Twitter. these days. content."
21. Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients by Jeremy N. Smith
Reading this biography is especially important to Gates because he has known a doctor named Chris Murray for more than 10 years.
Gates said this book is worth reading for anyone who wants to learn more about Murray's work and why it is so important.
Murray's work includes creating a public website called "Global Burden of Disease," which collects research data on human diseases and causes of death around the world.
Murray's inspiration comes from: If we don't know what the cause is, we may not be able to find a cure at all.
Gates wrote:
"This book shows that the more reliable the information we have, the better decisions we can make and have a greater impact."
22. Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik
Are you like most people? Although you use glass teacups, notepads, and stainless steel sheets every day, you don't think too much about the materials used to make them.
Materials scientist McDonald explained in the book why these materials are so fascinating the science.
This sounds similar to the book "Creating the Contemporary World: Materials and Dematerialization" by Gates' favorite author Smil, but Gates said the two works are completely different.
A smile is a man who speaks my "numbers and facts," while Madonnak pays more attention to romance than numbers, making the latter's book easier to read.
Gates stated that he likes the McDonald's chapter description of carbon best, which provides an in-depth analysis of the atom's past and its role in human life in the future.
23. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
It can be hard to imagine Gates reading a cartoon while she is holding a book, but "Over and Half" is far more poignant and profound than her comic expression.
The basis for the writing of this book comes from the Bloss blog site. The stories and cartoons above describe Bloss's real-life scenes and the disasters he imagined.
Gates wrote:
"This is a very interesting and very wise book. Blocher's story is incredible, but at times it is very real."
Gates described Bloche's struggles in the book.
The severe depression part was particularly moving, including a series of scenes about his suicide note. Gates said this is a rare book that can make you laugh, cry, and ponder the meaning of existence at the same time.
24. What If by Randall Munroe
This is another blog-based book that answers hypothetical scientific questions with cartoon illustrations. These questions include: What happens if I swim in a pool of spent nuclear fuel?
If everyone had a single soulmate, what would happen to someone who appeared randomly somewhere in the world?
Each question is asked by a different reader, and Monroe, a former NASA rocket expert, gave the most serious answer after research and investigation.
Gates wrote:
"The reason the Monroe method is such a great way to understand science is that it allows everyone to understand and then explore what happens in extreme cases. For example, we all know what gravity is. Earth's gravity doubles, what if it increases 3 times, 100 times? Look at these problems this way, you will find that gravity looks a little different. "
25. Should We Eat Meat by Vaclav Smil
Gates wrote that Smil commented on the issue of eating human flesh from every possible angle. First, he tried to define meat, and then he addressed the role of meat in human evolution.
Then, Smil released data on the meat consumed in each country, the health and environmental risks that meat brings, and the ethics of raising animals for slaughter.
Gates had been a vegetarian for a year when he was in his early 20s. He was impressed by Smil's ability to use science to reveal common errors, such as his refutation of the "error" that requires a lot of water to obtain meat.
Gates wrote:
"The facts have shown that not all water is equal. 90% of the water that cattle need is green water," such as planting grasslands. In most places, "green water" comes almost entirely from rainwater. , because most of the "green water" will eventually evaporate back into the atmosphere and not be consumed. "
This book made Gates feel that the need for human flesh will eventually be met.
Conclusion: Bill Gates Book List Recommendations for Everyone
Books Recommended by Bill Gates that Found Helpful and Inspiring This Year.
Bill Gates’ lifelong passion for reading has shaped his curiosity, innovation, and leadership.
Most of Gates' book lists are non-fiction works, usually related to his foundation.
His book recommendations, spanning biographies, science, and business, provide readers with insights that can broaden perspectives and inspire success, just as they have for Gates himself.
Many of these books are about institutional changes:
For example,
- How to develop a country more reasonably;
- How to lead an organization;
- How can changes be made more beneficial to society?
We take stock of the book reviews Gates has published in the last five years and select those books that he has given classic reviews to and changed his views.
Although everyone can't be the richest man. But everyone can get inspiration from these Bill Gates-recommended books. However, no matter how busy he is, Gates still finishes reading a book a week.
