{"id":42182,"date":"2023-10-20T15:19:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/the-five-books-on-bill-gates-reading-list-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:19:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:19:21","slug":"the-five-books-on-bill-gates-reading-list-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/the-five-books-on-bill-gates-reading-list-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"The five books on Bill Gates\u2019 reading list – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bill<\/div>\n

Science and mathematics are the key themes in the book Bill Gates is recommending this year \u2013 although the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft says \u201cthere\u2019s no science of math\u201d to his process for selecting his favourite books.<\/p>\n

Gates puts out a list of book recommendations at the start of the North American summer each year and, as with previous years, this year\u2019s list covers a diverse range of topics: from science fiction to a tome on \u201chow Japan can get its economic mojo back\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gates\u2019 endorsements usually carry weight: the books are known to climb up the bestseller charts as soon as Gates writes about them on his personal blog, which also features his now-traditional animated reading video.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe following five books are simply ones that I loved, made me think in new ways, and kept me up reading long past when I should have gone to sleep,\u201d Gates says.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Gates\u2019 annual summer reading list.<\/p>\n

1. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson<\/h3>\n

While Gates says he hadn\u2019t picked up a science fiction book for a decade, he started reading Stephenson\u2019s book after a friend recommended it.<\/p>\n

According to Gates, he was hooked from the first sentence, which describes the moon blowing up. The plot of the novel centres on a plan to save the world from a cataclysmic meteor shower using space orbit and while Gates says some readers may get lost in all the details of space flight, he \u201cloved the technical details\u201d.<\/p>\n

2. How Not to be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg<\/h3>\n

Ellenberg\u2019s book is an explanation of the central role mathematics plays in our daily lives and Gates has praised the author\u2019s ability to describe complex maths in a way that all readers can understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach chapter starts with a subject that seems fairly straightforward \u2013 electoral politics, say, or the Massachusetts lottery \u2013 and then uses it as a jumping-off point to talk about the math involved,\u201d Gates says.<\/p>\n

3. The Vital Question by Nick Lane<\/h3>\n

Nick Lane\u2019s The Vital Question continues the science focus of Gates\u2019 reading list.<\/p>\n

The premise of the book is to improve awareness of the role energy plays in all living things and Gates describes Lane as \u201cone of those original thinkers who makes you say, \u2018More people should know about this guy\u2019s work\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the details of Nick\u2019s work turn out to be wrong, I suspect his focus on energy will be seen as an important contribution to our understanding of where we come from,\u201d Gates says.<\/p>\n

4. The Power to Compete by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani<\/h3>\n

Described by Gates as a \u201csmart look at the future of a fascinating country\u201d, The Power to Compete is based on a series of dialogues between the late Ryoichi Mikitani, an economist, and his son, Hiroshi, who is the founder of internet giant Rakuten.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a soft spot for Japan that dates back three decades or so, when I first traveled there for Microsoft,\u201d Gates says.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, of course, Japan is intensely interesting to anyone who follows global economics.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Saipiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Noah Yuval Harari<\/h3>\n

Gates says Harari\u2019s 400-page history of the human race \u201csparked lots of great conversations\u201d at the dinner table between him and his wife Melinda, who also read the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I found things to disagree with \u2026 I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who\u2019s interested in the history and future of our species,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This article was first published on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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