That story is told in her riveting memoir Personal History, which came out in 1997—just a few years before she passed away—and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
Most of the coverage of The Coming Wave has focused on what it has to say about artificial intelligence—which makes sense, given that it's one of the most important books on AI ever written.
Gates's 2024 holiday reading list entry; he calls it his favorite book on AI.
This terrific novel tells the story of Frankie McGrath, an army nurse who serves two tours on the frontlines in Vietnam before returning home to a country rocked by protest and anti-war sentiment.
Gates's 2024 summer reading list entry on Kristin Hannah's Vietnam novel.
His life and work have influenced my own tremendously—and just a few pages into Ritchie’s essential and hopeful new book, Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet, it became clear that she was carrying on his tremendous legacy.
Gates's 2023 holiday reading list entry on Hannah Ritchie's climate book.
Paul Strathern’s terrific book Mendeleyev’s Dream traces that journey all the way back to ancient Greece, when people first started questioning why the world is the way it is.
Gates's 2022 holiday reading list entry on Paul Strathern's history of chemistry.
Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes.
Gates's 2022 summer reading list entry on Amor Towles's novel.
The Ministry for the Future does a better job than any other book I’ve read of playing out, in a dramatic but realistic way, how high temperatures can literally kill people.
Gates's 2022 summer reading list entry on Kim Stanley Robinson's climate novel.
The Splendid and the Vile is a brilliant account of another era of widespread anxiety: the years 1940 and 1941, when English citizens spent almost every night in makeshift shelters as massive bombs rained down on them.
Gates's 2020 holiday reading list entry on Erik Larson's book about Churchill and the Blitz.
But to read Archie Brown’s fascinating book, The Myth of the Strong Leader, is to see an illustration that leaders like Suárez, who served as prime minister of Spain from 1976 to 1981, possess leadership styles and capacities that are incredibly effective, and depressingly rare.
Gates's 2016 holiday reading list entry on Archie Brown's book about political leadership.
Today, more than two decades after Warren lent it to me—and more than four decades after it was first published—Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read.
Gates writes about the John Brooks collection Warren Buffett lent him.
It is the subject of an excellent book I read this summer called The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, by a former Economist editor named Marc Levinson.
Gates reviews Marc Levinson's history of the shipping container.
If you’re as interested in Japan as I am, I think you’ll find that The Power to Compete is a smart and thought-provoking look at the future of a fascinating country.
Gates's 2016 summer reading list entry on the Mikitanis' dialogue about Japan's economy.
How Asia Works is not a gripping page-turner aimed at general audiences, but it’s a good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed.
Gates reviews Joe Studwell's book on Asian development economics.
I got to thinking about all this after reading Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization, by my favorite author, the historian Vaclav Smil.
Gates reviews Vaclav Smil's book on materials and dematerialization.
There are a lot of fascinating historical points and statistics in Smil’s book that make it an interesting read, but what most fascinated me was learning about the incredible impact these two innovations have had on so many aspects of our lives.
Gates reviews Vaclav Smil's book on diesel engines and gas turbines.
Well, one I literally binged this weekend was The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. That's, you know, fiction, very touching, uh uh very upbeat. Apropos of what we just discussed, uh there's a one called Into the Woodchipper by Nicholas Eneric, which talks about how somebody didn't go to a party one weekend and they decided instead to put USAID into the woodchipper.
Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “Bill Gates’s Blunt Warning on A.I.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bill-gates.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.
About a month ago, I read The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby.
Answering The Ezra Klein Show's closing question, three books to recommend, in “Bill Gates’s Blunt Warning on A.I.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bill-gates.html). Quoted from the episode's YouTube auto-captions.
If you are interested in learning more about how humans communicate and work together, I highly recommend reading When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.
Gates's 2025 holiday reading list entry on Steven Pinker's book about common knowledge.
Whether you already know a lot about the ’60s or you’re just dipping your toe into those waters, whether you want a deep dive into the art of political writing or a charming story about a married couple who adored each other, you’ll get it from An Unfinished Love Story.
Gates's 2024 holiday reading list entry on Doris Kearns Goodwin's memoir.
It's a must-read for anyone looking to deepen their relationships and broaden their perspectives—and I believe it has the power to make us better friends, colleagues, and citizens.
Gates reviews David Brooks's book on seeing other people clearly.
If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Africa, its central role in the world, and the ways in which both have been misunderstood in the West, I highly recommend Born in Blackness.
Gates's 2023 summer reading list entry on Howard French's history of Africa.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow resonated with me for personal reasons, but I think Zevin’s exploration of partnership and collaboration is worth reading no matter who you are.
Gates's 2023 summer reading list entry on Gabrielle Zevin's novel about game developers.
If you’re interested in learning more about the real lives caught up in our country's justice system, I highly recommend The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Gates's 2020 holiday reading list entry on Michelle Alexander's book about mass incarceration.
I recommend The Bet to anyone wanting to understand the history of the divisive discussions we have today, especially the stalemate over climate change.
Gates reviews Paul Sabin's book on the Ehrlich-Simon wager over resource scarcity.
For a basic understanding of where education money comes from and how it gets spent, one of the books I highly recommend is Educational Economics: Where Do School Funds Go?
Gates reviews Marguerite Roza's book on how school money is actually spent.
I recommend this book to everyone who spends time working on energy issues, not to cheer them up but to help them have a stronger framework for evaluating energy promises.
Gates reviews Vaclav Smil's book debunking energy myths.
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