Bill Gates Recommended These 5 Books to His Friends Over the Years
These are a few of Bill Gates’ all-time favorite books
Bill Gates is famously known among book lovers for his excellent reading habit. Every year he reads a lot of books (around fifty) and then recommends a few for people who love books just like him.
But what are the books that inspired him the most? What are the books that he recommended to his friends over and over again?
Recently, on his blog, GateNotes, Bill talks about five of his all-time favorite books.
Yes, these are the ones he recommended to his family and friends over the years.
1. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
This 1961 science fiction novel tells the story of a human named Valentine Michael Smith (born and raised on the planet Mars) who is sent to Earth so that more information can be learned about Earth and its people.
Michael’s return to Earth actually makes him a “stranger” in a strange land.
He learns about human culture and eventually, creates a religion (the Church of All World) based on Martian philosophy. In the end, he is attacked and killed by members of a rival church.
Through this sci-fi novel, Heinlein explores issues of humanity, culture, religion, and sexuality.
Bill Gates says he and Paul Allen fell in love with Heinlein when they were just kids, and this book is still one of his favorite sci-fi novels.
And why does Bill like this book so much?
He says, “I think the best science fiction pushes your thinking about what’s possible in the future, and Heinlein managed to predict the rise of hippie culture years before it emerged.”
Quotes from Stranger in a Strange Land
“Thinking doesn’t pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you.”
“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that she used to be. But a great artist — a master — and that is what Auguste Rodin was — can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is . . . and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be . . . and more than that, he can make anyone with the sensitivity of an armadillo, or even you, see that this lovely young girl is still alive, not old and ugly at all, but simply prisoned inside her ruined body.”
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
“Art is the process of evoking pity and terror, which is not abstract at all but very human. What the self-styled modern artists are doing is a sort of unemotional pseudointellectual masturbation . . . whereas creative art is more like intercourse, in which the artist must seduce — render emotional — his audience, each time.”
“I refuse to grow younger. I came by my decrepitude the hard way and I propose to enjoy it.”
## Click this link to get yourself a copy of Stranger in a Strange Land (affiliate link)
2. Surrender by Bono
Bono is an artist, activist, and the lead singer of the Irish rock band U2.
Bono is his stage name. His real name is Paul David Hewson — and this book, Surrender, is his honest, intimate, and profound memoir.
In this book, he talks about his remarkable life, challenges, and the people who influenced him to become who he is now.
Bill Gates says this book is the best book by a rockstar he’s ever read.
Have I told you Bono is Bill Gates’ friend?
“… it’s a super fun read about how a boy from the suburbs of Dublin grew up to become a world-famous rock star and philanthropist,” says Bill. “I’m lucky enough to call Bono a friend, but a lot of the stories he tells in Surrender were new to me.”
Quotes from Surrender
“It takes great faith to have no faith.”
“Failure is when you give your enemies the confirmation, they were right all along to have you in their shit list.”
“I’m not sure a professional psychologist would agree, but something in me understands that until we deal with our most traumatic traumas, there’s a part of us that stays at the age at which we encountered them.”
“My fear is that I/we have fallen asleep in the comfort of our freedom.”
“There’s stuff you can learn from people who don’t tell you anything. Like how not to react when there is a crisis. Like how to stay still and maybe even unearth levity from the seriousness of a situation. Edge is the silence inside every noise. He’s the light inside the paint.”
## Click this link to get yourself a copy of Surrender (affiliate link)
3. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
This book is a biographical portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and a few people who served with him in his cabinet between 1861 and 1865.
According to Bill, it’s one of the best books on the subject.
In his words, “I can’t read enough about Abraham Lincoln, and this is one of the best books on the subject. It feels especially relevant now when our country is once again facing violent insurrection, difficult questions about race, and deep ideological divides.”
Bill considers this biography a masterpiece by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Quotes from Team of Rivals
“In order to “win a man to your cause,” Lincoln explained, you must first reach his heart, “the great high road to his reason.”
“Washington was a typical American. Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world. He was bigger than his country — bigger than all the Presidents together.”
“A real democracy would be a meritocracy where those born in the lower ranks could rise as far as their natural talents and discipline might take them.”
“Lincoln had internalized the pain of those around him — the wounded soldiers, the captured prisoners, the defeated Southerners. Little wonder that he was overwhelmed at times by a profound sadness that even his own resilient temperament could not dispel.”
## Click this link to get yourself a copy of Team of Rivals (affiliate link)
4. The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey
This 1974 book can help both those who play Tennis and those who don’t.
In this book, Gallwey argues that “your state of mind is just as important — if not more important — than your physical fitness.”
Bill says he has tried to follow Timothy’s excellent advice on and off the court over the years.
Quotes from The Inner Game of Tennis
“When the mind is free of any thought or judgment, it is still and acts like a mirror. Then and only then can we know things as they are.”
“A very wise person once told me, “When it comes to overcoming obstacles, there are three kinds of people. The first kind sees most obstacles as insurmountable and walks away. The second kind sees an obstacle and says, I can overcome it, and starts to dig under, climb over, or blast through it. The third type of person, before deciding to overcome the obstacle, tries to find a viewpoint where what is on the other side of the obstacle can be seen. Then, only if the reward is worth the effort, does he attempt to overcome the obstacle.”
“Focus is not achieved by staring hard at something. It is not trying to force focus, nor does it mean thinking hard about something. Natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. When this occurs, the mind is drawn irresistibly toward the object (or subject) of interest. It is effortless and relaxed, not tense and overly controlled.”
## Click this link to get yourself a copy of The Inner Game of Tennis (affiliate link)
5. Mendeleyev’s Dream by Paul Strathern
Did you know that the nineteenth-century Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev found the periodic table in his dream while sleeping at his desk?
Yes — the very periodic table upon which modern chemistry is founded. Isn’t it quite interesting?
In this incredibly entertaining book, Paul Strathern unveils the dramatic history of chemistry through the quest for the elements.
Bill Gates states, “It’s a fascinating look at how science develops and how human curiosity has evolved over the millennia.”
## Click this link to get yourself a copy of Mendeleyev’s Dream (affiliate link)
Recap for memory
Bill Gates loves to give these five books as Christmas gifts to his family and friends. And he has been doing this for years.
- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
- Surrender by Bono
- Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey
- Mendeleyev’s Dream by Paul Strathern
Keep the names in mind and start reading to expand your worldview.
(Please note that the book links mentioned in this post are Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to purchase these books through these links, it will help me earn a tiny amount of commission — at no extra cost to you. Thanks.)
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