Bill Gates
Co-founder of Microsoft
Bill Gates publishes his reading recommendations every year on Gates Notes, and his taste runs to big-picture history and rigorous social science , books that change how you see whole systems, not just your morning routine. These are the titles from the index he has championed.
6 books Bill recommends
In Bill's order. Each note is our paraphrase of why they rate it, drawn from their public lists and interviews, not a quote.
Sapiens
Why Bill rates itGates calls Harari's sweep from foragers to capitalism one of the most thought-provoking big-history books he has read.
Intermediate~9hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Naval Ravikant, Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Why Bill rates itA long-time favourite , Diamond's environmental account of why societies diverged shaped how Gates thinks about global development.
Advanced~10hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Charlie Munger
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Why Bill rates itHe points to Kahneman's map of the two systems of the mind for anyone who makes decisions under uncertainty.
Advanced~10hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Naval Ravikant
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Why Bill rates itAn avowed Bill Bryson fan, Gates recommends this science survey to rekindle curiosity about how we know what we know.
Beginner~11hRead the breakdown →
Educated
Why Bill rates itGates put Westover's memoir on his 2018 favourites list and interviewed her, calling himself lucky to have had the schooling she had to fight for.
Beginner~7hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Barack Obama
Business Adventures
Why Bill rates itBuffett lent Gates his copy in 1991. Gates has called it the best business book he has read, and Brooks's essays still sit on his shelf.
Intermediate~9hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Warren Buffett
More shelves to borrow
Other readers, other shelves.
The relentless interviewer , tactics, negotiation, and Stoic fundamentals distilled from hundreds of deep dives.
Management thinker and champion of the psychology-of-work shelf, from growth mindset to candour.
Built the everything store partly out of business classics he made his executives read.