Never before have I felt as empowered to learn as I do today. when I was young, there were few options to learn on my own. my parents had a set of encyclopedias of world books, which I read in alphabetical order. but there were no online courses, video lectures, or podcasts to introduce me to new ideas and thinkers like we have today.
Still, reading books is my favorite way to learn about a new subject. I have been reading a book a week on average since I was a child. Even when my schedule is out of whack, I spend a lot of time reading.
You are reading: Bill gates favorite books 2016
See Also: Five Books to Read Aloud On Fathers Day – A Bookish Home Podcast
If you’re looking for a book to enjoy over the holidays, here are some of my favorite books this year. They cover an eclectic mix of topics, from tennis to tennis shoes, from genomics to great leadership. they are all very well written, and they all dropped me down a rabbit hole of ideas and unexpected pleasures.
string theory, by david foster wallace. this book has nothing to do with physics, but its title will make you look super smart if you read it on a train or plane. String Theory is a collection of five of Wallace’s best essays on tennis, a sport I abandoned in my Microsoft days and once again pursue with passion. You don’t have to play or even watch tennis to love this book. The late author handled a pen as skillfully as Roger Federer handles a tennis racket. Here, as in his other brilliant work, Wallace found mind-bending ways to bend language like a metal spoon.
See Also: Gut health 101: Our top 10 books for getting to know your gut
shoe dog, by phil knight. This memoir, from the co-founder of Nike, is a refreshingly honest reminder of what the road to business success really is: messy, precarious, and riddled with mistakes. I have met Knight several times over the years. he’s super nice, but he’s also quiet and hard to get to know. Here Knight opens up in a way that few CEOs are willing to. I don’t think Knight intends to teach the reader anything. instead, he achieves something better. he tells his story as honestly as he can. It’s an amazing story.
the gene, by siddhartha mukherjee. Physicians are considered a “triple threat” when caring for patients, teaching medical students, and conducting research. Mukherjee, who does all of these things at Columbia University, is a “quadruple threat” because he is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. In his latest book, Mukherjee walks us through the past, present, and future of genome science, with a special focus on the huge ethical questions raised by the latest and greatest genome technologies. mukherjee wrote this book for a lay audience, because she knows that new genome technologies are about to affect us all in profound ways.
the myth of the strong leader, by archie brown. This year’s fierce election battle led me to choose this 2014 book, written by an Oxford University academic who has studied political leadership—good, bad, and ugly—for more than 50 years. Brown shows that the leaders who make the greatest contributions to history and humanity are generally not the ones we perceive as “strong leaders.” instead, they tend to be the ones to collaborate, delegate, and negotiate, recognizing that no one person can or should have all the answers. Brown couldn’t have predicted how resonant his book would be in 2016.
honorable mention: the grid, by gretchen bakke. This book, about our aging power grid, fits into one of my favorite genres: “books about mundane things that are really fascinating.” Part of the reason I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest. But even if you’ve never given a moment’s thought to how electricity gets to your outlets, I think this book will convince you that the electrical grid is one of the greatest engineering marvels of the modern world. I think you’ll also understand why grid modernization is so complex and critical to building our clean energy future.
See Also: Open a Book, Open Your Mind