Books best gift to man who has everything
What does a titan of industry do a decade after leaving his day job?
Continue to read — and recommend — books.
Bill Gates, the former chairman of Microsoft, has come out with his most recent list of favorite books.
“If you’re like me,” the philanthropist said in a statement, “you love giving — or getting! — books during the holidays. A great read is the perfect gift: thoughtful and easy to wrap (with no batteries or assembly required). Plus, I think everyone could use a few more books in their lives.”
The five books, all nonfiction titles, are:
“Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup,” by John Carreyrou
“Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War,” by Paul Scharre “21 Lessons for the 21st Century,” by Yuval Noah Harari “Educated: A Memoir,” by Tara Westover
“The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness,” by Andy Puddicombe
“My list is pretty eclectic this year,” Gates said. “From a howto guide about meditation to a deep dive on autonomous weapons to a thriller about the fall of a once-promising company, there’s something for everyone.”
All of the books came out in 2018, except for “The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness,” which was published in 2011 and which Gates read this summer.
Gates shared some notes about each book.
“I never thought I’d relate to a story about growing up in a Mormon survivalist household,” Gates wrote about the best-selling “Educated.” “But she’s such a good writer that she got me to reflect on my own life while reading about her extreme childhood. Melinda and I loved this memoir of a young woman whose thirst for learning was so strong that she ended up getting a Ph.D. from Cam-
bridge University.”
“Army of None,” Gates said, is about “an immensely complicated topic, but Scharre offers clear explanations and presents both the pros and cons of machinedriven warfare.”
Gates added that many friends recommended “Bad Blood” to him. “Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider’s look at the rise and fall of Theranos. The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started.”
“21 Lessons for the 21st Century,” Gates said, “offers a helpful framework for processing the news and thinking about the challenges we face.”
And a book on meditation and mindfulness?
“I’m sure 25-year-old me would scoff at this one,” he said about Puddicombe’s book, “but Melinda and I have gotten really into meditation lately. The book starts with Puddicombe’s personal journey from a university student to a Buddhist monk and then becomes an entertaining explainer on how to meditate.”