20 Books Billionaire Bill Gates Recommends

Get a jump on your summer reading list with these suggestions from the billionaire and philanthropist.

By Nina Zipkin May 18, 2017
Ida Mae Astute | ABC | Getty Images

This week, Bill Gates took to Twitter to provide some advice to the graduating class of 2017.

Gates exhorted the new grads to fight inequity, spread progress and surround themselves with people who push them to be their best selves in his 14-part tweetstorm.

Related: Billionaire Bill Gates Tweets Advice to New Graduates

He also recommended a book by Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker called The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Gates said it is “the most inspiring book I’ve ever read.” And let it be known that the Gates bump is real: Pinker’s book is currently sitting at the number one spot on the Amazon bestseller list, leaving perennial graduation season favorite, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss in the dust at number three.

We’re sure that Gates has an incredibly busy schedule overseeing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, but that hasn’t prevented him from being quite the voracious reader. As someone who flies around the world on a pretty regular basis, it would make sense that he would need a wealth of reading material.

He frequently reviews and recommends books on a variety of subjects from big academic tomes about public health to sprightly romantic comedies. Read on for 20 Gates-approved books that you can add to your reading list.

For a better understanding of ourselves

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

Why Gates is a fan: Yong

For an appreciation of a brief life well lived

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Why Gates is a fan: “I don’t know how Kalanithi found the physical strength to write this book while he was so debilitated by the disease and then potent chemotherapy. But I’m so glad he did. He spent his whole brief life searching for meaning in one way or another — through books, writing, medicine, surgery, and science. I’m grateful that, by reading this book, I got to witness a small part of that journey. I just wish the journey hadn’t been cut so short.”

For an examination of a science fiction future

Seveneves Why Gates is a fan: the book

For environmentally sound building solutions

Sustainable Materials With Both Eyes Open by Julian M. Allwood and Jonathan M. Cullen

Why Gates is a fan: “I was surprised to learn how many opportunities there are to reduce overall use of materials. For example, although I knew about basic recycling efforts like collecting aluminum cans at the office, I hadn’t realized how much reuse is possible at an industrial level. The authors argue that when a product — say, a building or car — is discarded, the materials in it are often still usable. (Reusing is much better than recycling, because recycling takes yet more energy.) If you throw out your old refrigerator, the steel is probably still in good condition. So is the steel in old buildings, as long as there hasn’t been a fire or earthquake. It could be reused, if you could take it apart easily and get it to someone who wanted that shape.”

For a peek behind the curtain at global diplomacy

Interventions: A Life in War and Peace by Kofi Annan

Why Gates is a fan: “It was helpful to learn about the other side of Annan’s work at the UN — peacekeeping issues and the work of the Security Council. It is clearly very challenging work. One day, the Secretary-General has to be an impartial arbiter of disputes among member states. The next, he has to challenge member countries he believes are not acting in the interest of world peace. Surviving in that position for 10 years says a lot about Annan’s diplomatic skills.”

For an understanding of how numbers could help save lives

Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients by Jeremy Smith

Why Gates is a fan:

For an exploration of what it means to be human

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Why Gates is a fan: Harari tells our history in such an approachable way that you’ll have a hard time putting it down. He uses vivid language, photos, and diagrams to illustrate his points. He’s also an agile writer, deftly weaving in entertaining historical stories, like the importance of sauerkraut in sea exploration and why the earliest known written words from 5,000 years ago are a bit underwhelming.”

For an interrogation of the status quo when it comes to food sources

Should We Eat Meat? by Vaclav Smil

Why Gates is a fan: “I can’t think of anyone better equipped to present a clear-eyed analysis of this subject than Vaclav Smil. I have written several times before about how much I admire Smil’s work. When he tackles a subject, he doesn’t look at just one piece of it. He examines every angle. Even if I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, I always learn a lot from reading him.”

For an education about the complexity of life

The Vital Question by Nick Lane

Why Gates is a fan: Nick

For insight into how math impacts your life

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg

Why Gates is a fan: “The writing is funny, smooth, and accessible — not what you might expect from a book about math. What Ellenberg has written is ultimately a love letter to math. If the stories he tells add up to a larger lesson, it’s that ‘to do mathematics is to be, at once, touched by fire and bound by reason’ — and that there are ways in which we’re all doing math, all the time.”

For those fascinated by Japan’s culture and fortunes

The Power to Compete: An Economist and an Entrepreneur on Revitalizing Japan in the Global Economy by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani

Why Gates is a fan: Hiroshi’s

For a new strategy to tackle big ideas

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe

Why Gates is a fan: Thing Explainer may use a limited vocabulary, but it is filled with helpful explanations and drawings. Have you ever wondered why frozen food defrosts unevenly in a microwave oven (or, as Munroe calls it, a ‘food-heating radio box’)? Munroe writes: “When you put iced food in a radio box, after a while, parts of it start to turn to water. But since radio boxes are really good at heating water, those parts start to get hot really fast. They can even get so hot they start turning to air — before all the ice is even gone!'”

For those who want to shift their point of view

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

Why Gates is a fan: Mindset Dweck

For a re-visitation of a controversial figure

Being Nixon: A Man Divided by Evan Thomas

Why Gates is a fan: “I was a little surprised to learn what a bad manager Nixon was. Although it doesn’t compare to his other failings, Nixon’s management style offers some good reminders of how not to run a team. He avoided conflict at all costs. His staff frequently left meetings with diametrically opposed views on what he had just asked them to do. Or he would be crystal-clear about what he wanted, while actually expecting his staff to ignore his demands. His team wisely blew off his repeated orders to break into the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, and steal a document that might be damaging to him.”

For an education about what it takes to wipe out a disease

Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever? by Nancy Leys Stepan

Why Gates is a fan: “Finally, a word of warning: Eradication is written in a very academic style, and it may be a challenge for non-experts to get to Stepan’s valuable arguments. It’s worth the effort, though, because you come away from it with a clearer sense of what the world has learned about getting rid of diseases and how we can use that to guide the effort to save even more lives.”

For a charming and unusual love story

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Why Gates is a fan: “Anyone who occasionally gets overly logical will identify with the hero, a genetics professor with Asperger’s Syndrome who goes looking for a wife. (Melinda thought I would appreciate the parts where he’s a little too obsessed with optimizing his schedule. She was right.) It’s an extraordinarily clever, funny, and moving book about being comfortable with who you are and what you’re good at. I’m sending copies to several friends and hope to re-read it later this year. This is one of the most profound novels I’ve read in a long time.”

For a funny and honest look at dealing with anxiety and depression

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened by Allie Brosh

Why Gates is a fan: herself

For a closer look at materials that are more than they appear

Stuff Matters Why Gates is a fan: Mark Miodownik’s Stuff Matters Stuff Matters

For those who want to understand what drives leaders to enact big change

The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Why Gates is a fan: Doris Kearns Goodwin The Bully Pulpit. Jim Grant

For those who want to read Warren Buffett’s favorite book about business

Business Adventures by John Brooks

Why Gates is a fan: Brooks’s

This week, Bill Gates took to Twitter to provide some advice to the graduating class of 2017.

Gates exhorted the new grads to fight inequity, spread progress and surround themselves with people who push them to be their best selves in his 14-part tweetstorm.

Related: Billionaire Bill Gates Tweets Advice to New Graduates

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Nina Zipkin

Staff Writer. Covers leadership, media, technology and culture. at Entrepreneur Media
Entrepreneur Staff
Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers leadership, media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

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