Inveterate reader and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates suggests you read five of his all-time favorite books.
Courtesy of Bill Gates
Just in time for the holidays, billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is sharing five book recommendations that are some of his favorites of all time.
It’s an eclectic collection, ranging from a sci-fi favorite from his teenage years and a history of the periodic table. Unlike his summer selections, all but one are works of nonfiction. Gates identifies themes in each book that analyze deeper truths about humanity – our spirit of discovery, capacity for collaboration, and contemplation of a higher power.
Gates has been an avid reader since he was young. His father told Forbes in 2016 that Bill loved all kinds of books, including encyclopedias. “He read so much that Bill’s mother and I had to institute a rule: no books at the dinner table,” Gates Sr. recalled.
Full reviews of his recommendations are published on Gates’ blog, GatesNotes. This year, his featured favorites have also been placed in 100 Free Little Libraries around the world.
Five of Gates’ favorites are below:
Strangers in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Strangers in a Strange Land inducted Gates, a longtime fan of Heinlein’s, into “grownup sci-fi” when he read it in 7th grade. The novel follows Michael Valentine Smith, a young man who grew up on Mars among Martians. When he returns to Earth, Smith escapes the scientists studying him to travel the world. In Heinlein’s futuristic reality, religions and their flashy leaders are more politically powerful than they are now. These influential systems inspire Smith to start his own, called the Church of All Worlds. His advanced intelligence and psychic abilities – leftovers from his time with the Martians – win him followers. Gates praises Heinlein’s descriptions of Smith’s commune, where he and his closest followers practice open sexuality and “oneness” with their surroundings, as an accurate prediction of the hippie culture that emerged just a few years after the novel was published in 1961. Unlike the sci-fi books Gates read as a child, Gates notes that Strangers does not have a clean ending or a straightforward moral message. “It’s up to us to decide what happens next,” says Gates, “just like in real life.”
The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey
Gates assures readers that, while The Inner Game of Tennis is the best book he’s ever read about tennis, it applies to areas of life outside the court, too. A successful tennis coach and business consultant, Gallwey argues that there are two components to tennis – the outer, physical game and the inner, mental game. While the outer game can change, the inner game is key – if players are too self-critical, they sabotage their mental game and inhibit their performance. Or, as Gates put it, “We need to learn from our mistakes without obsessing over them.” Gates shares that Gallwey’s maxim influenced his own management style at Microsoft; he recalls treating mistakes as problems to be solved instead of failures to be castigated.
Mendeleyev’s Dream by Paul Strathern
A prolific author and academic, Strathern catalogues the scientific discoveries that led to the creation of the periodic table, starting in ancient Greece and ending with the table’s creator, Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleyev. Strathern’s emphasis on the ways chemistry grew from alchemy and religion illustrates why Gates admires the periodic table – it’s an example, writes Gates, of how “one discovery can lead to countless others.” Gates, who dedicated an entire wall of his office to a giant representation of the periodic table, reminds readers how seminal it is. “Because we understand atoms, we can make chips, and therefore we can make software and therefore we can make AI,” says Gates that it enabled the creation of computer chips, which led to the creation of software and AI. Be it the elements themselves, or the discoveries they enabled, “All the complexities of the universe come from that chart.,” says Gates. For the less scientifically inclined, he assures readers that Strathern’s accounts of chemistry’s most eccentric personalities add a sense of levity to an otherwise dense topic. After all, Mendeleyev himself claimed the periodic table appeared to him in a dream.
Surrender by Bono
Gates praises Bono’s recently released autobiography as a deep, vulnerable look into the legendary U2 frontman’s rise to stardom, and his ensuing struggles with identity and meaning. Born Paul Hewson in Dublin, Ireland, Bono situates his life around U2’s creation of 40 songs. His witty, self-deprecating narrative concludes that spiritual surrender gave his life meaning – and he still has a ways to go.
Though Gates and Bono have been friends and collaborators for years – the Gates Foundation is a large supporter of ONE, the nonprofit Bono helped found (the two men talked about their friendship at a Forbes philanthropy summit in 2013) – Gates says the book includes many stories he had never heard. He praises Bono’s focus on the band’s shared values and loyalty to one another – something that Gates has long admired about them.
Team of Rivals: The political genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
This isn’t the first time Gates has lauded Team of Rivals. Gates mentioned his love of the biography in his 2014 recommendation of Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Teddy Roosevelt, “The Bully Pulpit.” The renowned presidential historian’s account of Abraham Lincoln’s life – which inspired the Oscar-winning film, Lincoln – centers around his election in 1860.. After Lincoln won the presidency, he broke tradition and filled his cabinet with political rivals – the people he had just defeated. Together, the disjointed group went about saving the Union.
Though some modern critics have questioned Lincoln’s stance on race, Gates emphasizes, “I came away from Team of Rivals more convinced than ever that Lincoln was a profoundly moral man who ranks as America’s greatest president.” He identifies Lincoln’s emotional control, intellectual security – which allowed him to invite rivals into his inner circle – and willingness to learn from his mistakes as traits that separate him from other presidents.
Gates feels Lincoln’s example can be used as a template to solve tough modern problems. “Lately I’ve been thinking about Goodwin’s book because it feels very relevant in 2022,” Gates writes. He explains that, like in 1860, America is grappling with insurrection, opposing ideologies, and questions about race. In terms of historical examples, says Gates, “Abraham Lincoln is as good a model as you will find.”