While reading is the best activity you can engage in, it is important to realize that not all books are created equal. If you have a genuine love of reading, it is essential to be very selective about the books you read, and one great way to find out about the new great books you should read is to see what successful people, like Bill Gates, read and recommend. Here are top 10 books recommended by Bill Gates in 2024.
Books recommended by Bill Gates 2024
“The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles.
Amor Towles is good. I’d rank “A Gentleman in Moscow” the highest, but this is still a very good book. The characters are all pretty interesting. That’s the heart and soul of his book. It’s sort of a tale of morality, that you need to watch what you do and be careful out there. There’s definitely a sense that the world’s kind of a dangerous and unpredictable place. The end has a lot of twists and turns. Why did this happen? Why did this guy behave this way? And is kind of excitingly fantastical, and by the end you understand those characters.
“Why We’re Polarized” by Ezra Klein.
Well, sadly I have to say that literally, until I read this book, I kept thinking, we’re just not making our arguments carefully enough. This book aligns so many things about open mindedness and therefore, liking the past versus the present, and thinking of immigrations as kind of threatening. It’s good to be reminded of how messed up things were, particularly with respect to race, in the past. His framework explains a broader set of things than any other framework I’d seen. But, it’s kind of daunting, even though it’s clarifying. I feel like I have more understanding of what’s gone on and that it’ll help me predict things better.
“The Ministry for the Future”, Kim Stanley Robinson.
It’s a wild book because it has everything. The way that it pushes socialistic solutions or organic farming or this carbon coin thing. Those are not real solutions. But the idea of the incredible unrest and how you go backwards, if you don’t get on top of this thing, and that you should be thinking about the people born in the future and what the world is going to be like for them. It’s got some amazing stuff in it.
“How the World Really Works” by Vaclav Smil.
It’s quite a readable book and explains the physical economy. It’s such important knowledge. You know, wow, there’s a lot of cement making. There’s a lot of steel making. These are very optimized processes that allow us to have roads and buildings, and stay out of the weather. He doesn’t go so far back in history that it feels obscure. It’s a very foundational piece of work to understand why climate change is so hard to solve, because even once you have innovations, scaling them out to replace all the physical economy is so difficult. And if it’s more expensive, that will feel like, hey, living standards are going down instead of going up. “How the World Really Works” is a profound book.
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Books recommended by Bill Gates in 2021
“The Power”, by Naomi Alderman.
“The Power” is very provocative. It imagines a world where women end up being able to use electricity as a weapon, and it changes the gender balance of power so dramatically. You meet people like Margot, Ally, Roxy. They were all pretty tough. Allie, who becomes Mother Eve and has a religious slant and develops a big following. It’s certainly a troubling vision, but I think it’s part of getting people thinking about gender imbalances. I think it’s a powerful story. I hope you try these books. I really enjoyed them.
Books recommended by Bill Gates in 2021
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Books recommended by Bill Gates in 2021
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
This book is my favorite on this list. Sapience covers the history of humankind in a brief interesting way. This well-written book is very enjoyable and you’d get tons of valuable knowledge with each page you read. From food to religion to politics to money this book accurately explains how all of them came to be and navigates their evolution in a very educational manner.
The book takes a very broad approach, condensing huge topics into short chapters in an attempt to provide a basis for the development of our entire species. The book surveys the history of humankind from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century, focusing on Homo sapiens. The account is situated within a framework provided by the natural sciences, particularly evolutionary biology.
After you read the book, you would know how fantastic it is. You would then see why every successful person out there like Bill Gates and Barack Obama were raving about it. It’s an extremely compelling and accessible history – almost like a novelization – of humankind.
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, by Erik Larson.
When you choose the right book, learning about the past can be one of the most absorbing thing you will ever do. History doesn’t have to be dull. As always Erik Larson transcended the usual historical novel. This author always goes the extra mile in his books and provides the readers with a meticulous story that not only flows smoothly, but also provides facts that are fascinating, studious, and ultimately educate the reader, in a way that is engaging and captivating.
I have read many historical books, and while some are better than others, I have never read for an author who can make learning about history engaging and easily readable like Erik Larson.
This is the kind of history that I love to read, political and social but not primarily military. The book vividly covers one year in the life of Winston Churchill, the first year as prime minister, and the start of the Second World War II.
While Larson’s book mainly focuses on Churchill, it gives the reader a feeling of the effect of the years of the Blitz on his family, close associates, and the whole country. He also reached into the mindset of the German leaders and uncovered their anticipated outcome of bombing the British people and forcing them into submission.
I strongly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys history or anyone who would enjoy a true story of a difficult time some people had to endure.
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Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine, by Bijal P. Trivedi.
I was hesitant to pick up this book. It’s over 600 pages and I am not that interested in science books, but I’m glad that I managed to read it! Bijal made me passionately feel connected to every person and family affected by Cystic Fibrosis.
Trivedi’s book is an epic tale of Cystic fibrosis disease and the many decades of science, research, and development that went into developing a cure. I love the book because the author makes the ‘complex science’ a financing and easier subject to digest. Apart from that, Bijal narrates the stories of some people who suffer from this disease, genuine stories of perseverance, sacrifice, courage, and heartbreak – of patients and their families, physicians, and researchers – always putting drug development in the context of what it meant for all the people involved.
I highly recommend it if you’re looking for an informative read and have some interest in science and medicine.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander.
This book is thought-provoking, filled with historical facts, statistics, analyses, and, more importantly, advice on how to proceed towards giving rise to a more just and equitable society for all.
Michelle argues that the war on drugs and its ensuing incarceration of a huge number of black American men is due to a new form of radicalized social control similar to the Jim Crow laws. She does a magnificent job reviewing history, the different sections of the legal system, and the social, economic, and political situation of black Americans today.
This book is a must-read for anyone who is serious about understanding the current state of law, order, and justice in the United States.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World, by David Epstein.
Specializing in specific fields is the emphasis of today’s society. This book contains many tales about how generalized thinking and training led to the greatest successes.
Epstein vividly weaves multiple stories to bring his point forward about the power and strength of exploration and breadth in a world that is increasingly moving towards specialization and head start.
It’s an extremely engaging book packed with accessible tidbits of knowledge. Epstein explains things in an understandable and highly readable fashion.
I would recommend it to people, like me, who feel bad about their tendency to immerse in too many different fields at the same time – this might be the chill pill that you were looking for.
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story Of The Cold War, by Ben Macintyre.
Ben MacIntyre is a remarkable writer and knows how to grab the reader and hold them in place from the first page to the last. I found this as thrilling and compelling as any fiction book would be, accurate and thoroughly researched.
This book is the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a high-level KGB agent, who served as a double agent for the UK. Gordievsky helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union, and this book details his career and the story of how a CIA agent was almost his downfall.
If you are interested in the history of the Cold War, then this is a great read. I highly recommend it.
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