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17 Books Bill Gates Has Raved About
17
items Bill Gates reviews books on Gates Notes, and these are the ones he praised most: his best business book ever, his favorite book of all time, and the novel he gave to about 50 friends. Each pick comes from something he said or wrote.
Sections
5
Business stories
History, progress and energy
Science, health and math
Lives worth reading about
Fiction he keeps recommending
Business stories
Gates's favorite business books are honest about failure.
Twelve New Yorker stories from the 1960s about Ford's Edsel flop, Xerox, a stock market panic and more. Warren Buffett lent Gates his copy in 1991 and Gates still calls it the best business book he has read.
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
Phil Knight's memoir of building Nike out of a car trunk, close to going broke for years. Gates liked how honest it is about how messy and uncertain the early days really were.
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
History, progress and energy
Gates keeps returning to books that use data to explain how the world got better and what it runs on.
Steven Pinker's case, backed by a lot of charts, that life has improved on almost every measure because of reason and science. Gates called it his new favorite book of all time.
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Pinker's long, detailed argument that violence has fallen across human history. Gates has said it is one of the most important books he has ever read.
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
The late doctor and statistician Hans Rosling explains the instincts that make most of us think the world is worse than it is. Gates called it an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Vaclav Smil explains the basics modern life runs on: energy, food, steel, cement and plastic, and why they are hard to replace quickly. Gates called it a tour de force.
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
A history of humanity told through the energy we have used, from muscle and firewood to oil and electricity. Gates says he waits for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next Star Wars movie.
Energy and Civilization: A History
Science, health and math
The science and health books Gates has championed on Gates Notes, from the origin of life to the math of everyday decisions.
Biochemist Nick Lane asks how complex life began and argues that energy sits at the center of the answer. Gates called it a stunning inquiry into the origin of life.
Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
Siddhartha Mukherjee's history of genetics from Mendel to gene editing, woven together with his own family's history of mental illness. Gates named it one of his favorite books of the year.
The Gene: An Intimate History
Walter Isaacson follows Jennifer Doudna and the race to develop CRISPR gene editing. Gates reviewed and recommended it on Gates Notes.
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Neuroscientist Matthew Walker explains what sleep does for memory, health and mood. Gates said it changed how he thinks about sleep and made him rethink his old all-nighters.
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg shows how math thinking explains polls, lotteries, risk and everyday decisions. Gates called it a love letter to math.
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
Lives worth reading about
A memoir and a biography Gates singled out for the curiosity and grit behind them.
Tara Westover's memoir of growing up in a survivalist family in Idaho and teaching herself all the way to a Cambridge PhD. Gates called it an amazing story.
Educated: A Memoir
Isaacson builds a portrait of Leonardo from his notebooks, showing the curiosity behind both the art and the engineering. Gates said it is the best book on Leonardo he has read.
Leonardo da Vinci
Fiction he keeps recommending
Gates reads less fiction than nonfiction, which makes these three stand out.
A warm, funny novel about a genetics professor who designs a questionnaire to find a wife. Gates liked it enough to give copies to about 50 friends.
The Rosie Project: A Novel
After the revolution, a Russian count is sentenced to house arrest in a Moscow hotel and builds a full life inside it. Gates called it fun, clever and surprisingly upbeat.
A Gentleman in Moscow
Neal Stephenson's novel opens with the Moon breaking apart and follows humanity's attempt to survive in orbit. Gates said it rekindled his love of science fiction.
Seveneves