Books Recommended on Gates Notes

An annotated overview of books recommended by Bill Gates on his blog, Gates Notes. Recommendations are from Bill Gates; while annotations here are from me. I would also update my read status.

Summer reading recommendations 2018 ⭷

to-rd Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson — biography
.skip Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, by Kate Bowler — memoir of a cancer patient
undcd Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders — a novel about Abe Lincoln
to-rd Origin Story: A Big History of Everything, by David Christian — big history
undcd Factfulness, by Hans Rosling, with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund — a book on how people percieve facts

Other reviews published in 2018

.skip Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono and the Gates Foundation Rock the Work with OKRs, by John Doerr – management tips
read. Turtles All the Way Down, by John Green – novel
undcd Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker – on human progress that happened

Winter reading recommendations 2017 ⭷

to-rd The Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui — graphic novel memoir exploring what it means to be a parent and a refuge
.skip Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond — about eviction crisis in Milwaukee
undcd Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, by Eddie Izzard — memoir of an actor/cocomedian
to-rd The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen — novel, Vietnam War, immigrant
mayrd Energy and Civilization: A History, by Vaclav Smil — on how energy needs shaped us

Summer reading recommendations 2017 ⭷

read. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah — childhood memoir of a great comedian
undcd The Heart, by Maylis de Kerangal — medical fiction novel
undcd Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance — memoir
read. Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari — what may be ahead for humanity from a historian’s view
undcd A Full Life, by Jimmy Carter — autobiography

Other reviews published in 2017

undcd Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone Kindle Edition by Satya Nadella
maybe I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life, by Ed Yong — on microbes
.skip When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi — autobiog memoir of a lung cancer patient

Winter reading recommendations 2016 ⭷

.skip String Theory, by David Foster Wallace — essays on tennis
maybe Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight — memoir, by the co-founder of Nike
to-rd The Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee — past, present, and future of genome science
.skip The Myth of the Strong Leader, by Archie Brown — survey of political leadership
.skip The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke — book on American national power grid

Summer reading recommendations 2016 ⭷

to-rd Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson — hard sci-fi
undcd How Not to be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg — mathematical thinking in daily life
to-rd The Vital Question, by Nick Lane — about the way the evolution and origin of life on Earth was constrained by the provision of energy.
.skip The Power to Compete: An Economist and an Entrepreneur on Revitalizing Japan in the Global Economy, by Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani
read. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Noah Yuval Harari — history of humanity. This is one of the books I highly recommend. It provides us with some great perspective on how human evolved to be along with a historic timeline.

Other reviews published in 2016

undcd The Rise and Fall of American Growth, by Robert J. Gordon — non-fiction

Winter reading recommendations 2015 ⭷

.skip The Road to Character, by David Brooks
to-rd Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words, by Randall Munroe — XKCD guy explains various subjects using Simple English and blueprint-style diagrams.
.skip Being Nixon: A Man Divided, by Evan Thomas — biography
.skip Sustainable Materials With Both Eyes Open, by Julian M. Allwood, Jonathan M. Cullen, et al. — about reducing carbon emission (free ebook)
.skip Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever?, by Nancy Leys Stepan — history of eradication efforts
.skip Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck — self help book

Summer reading recommendations 2015 ⭷

to-rd Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh — based on her comic blog.
undcd The Magic of Reality, by Richard Dawkins — you know, science stuff!
read. What If?, by Randall Munroe — “Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” by the brain behind XKCD
read. XKCD vol 0, by Randall Munroe — a book containing early XKCD comics
.skip On Immunity, by Eula Biss — exploring why some people are anti-vax
maybe How to Lie With Statistics, by Darrell Huff — intro to stats by a journalist.
.skip Should We Eat Meat?, by Vaclav Smil

Other reviews published in 2015

.skip Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients, by Jeremy N. Smith
to-rd Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World Book by Mark Miodownik — science behind some inventions of our species

Winter reading recommendations 2014 ⭷

later Business Adventures, by John Brooks — business
to-red Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty — on wealth and income inequality
.skip How Asia Works, by Joe Studwell
undcd The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion — sequel of The Rosie Project
.skip Making the Modern World, by Vaclav Smil

Other picks in 2014 and before

not all books reviewed on Gates Notes in 2014 or before are included in this list

P.S.: My reading activity on GoodReads

ns7/notes

personal notes by nafSadh