12 Books Recommended By Bill Gates

Bill Gates is a voracious reader, and he doesn’t just read technical business books. While general business books and specialized startup books by successful founders are certainly in his library, so too are science-fiction novels and other fun surprises. 

The non-business books actually are some of the most intriguing, as Gates has an aptitude for finding provocative novels that explore complex subjects in captivating ways. You’ll be well-served if you pick up one of the books on innovation, success, or business, too.

Also Recommended: Check out our list of the best startup books.

Vaclav Smil is Bill Gates’ favorite author, and you’ll find a couple of his works on this list. Smil is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, with the bulk of his work being on environmental research and policy.

“How the World Really Works” is one of Smil’s most approachable books, yet it’s equally profound as his more hefty ones. This particular selection explains how concrete, fertilizer, and many other materials in today’s world are made. 

We live in a material-based society, even as Gates’ and others’ work pushes virtual worlds, so it’s interesting to know how we got here and how the materials that form our world are produced. “How the World Really Works” is an entry point into Smil’s work to see whether you’re interested in his more hefty books, and is also one of the longest mainstays that’s consistently on Gates’ lists of must-read books.

Gates has readily admitted that “Grand Transitions” is “not for everyone” while simultaneously calling the work a “masterpiece.” The book’s exploration of how things grow captivated Gates, and he certainly had no issue following the sections that “read like a textbook or engineering manual.”

A more philosophical meta work, the book explores how things grow, beginning with dinosaurs and ending with microchips. Growing microchips has obvious interest to Gates, but the patterns that span all of these growing organisms are what really piqued his interest in Smil’s book.

Gates discovered John Brooks’ “Business Adventures” upon the recommendation of Warren Buffett. The book was Buffet’s immediate response after Gates asked for a business book recommendation back in 1991. 

You may be hard-pressed to find a copy, as the book has been out of print for more than a half-century (and should you manage to locate a copy, be prepared to find outdated New Yorker articles from the 1960s). Nonetheless, Gates assures that the book’s principles are as relevant today as back when the articles were first published.

Don’t drown yourself in the particulars of 1960s Xerox machine specs, but also don’t gloss over the chapters in a quick skim. There are plenty of insightful and actionable principles within the pages. (Also, don’t feel the need to return the book from whoever lent it. Gates still has Buffett’s copy on his bookcase.)

“Lights Out” isn’t the business book that you’d expect to read about a successful national conglomerate. Instead of retelling General Electric’s rise, the book examines the company’s singularly historical fall. For Gates, the value of Lights Out lies in its case study on leadership. Entrepreneurs are inherently in leadership positions, and they can learn from the mistakes that GE’s leaders made. A small business might not fall as far as the GE conglomerate, but the same leadership issues may precipitate and accelerate the demise of any sized business.

As a study on leadership, this particular selection isn’t just applicable to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Nonprofit leaders, religious leaders, coaches, and anyone in a formal leadership position can benefit from the reading.

Bob Iger isn’t a household name, but virtually every household has seen his company’s work. Iger was the CEO of Disney for 15 years, during which time he led Disney through the acquisition of Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Disney. Disney also more than quintupled its market cap during these 15 years.

Gates points to Iger’s “The Ride of a Lifetime” for its surprisingly applicable tips on how to build and grow an organization. Most people don’t realize how much is similar between building a billion-dollar company, and a local business that’s growing.

Looking for more book recommendations? We asked startup founders to share their favorite books on entrepreneurship, and here's what they said.

“Tap Dancing to Work” is a distillation of Warren Buffett’s thinking about investing and business -- including having fun with both, written by Buffett's friend and Fortune writer Carol Lewis.

This is hardly the only book on Buffett’s approach to investing and business, but it’s the one that Gates specifically points to. As a good friend who argues with Buffett over who’s going to pick up the restaurant bill, Gates is an authority on all books Buffett.

Paul Collier is an economist at Oxford and has spent much of his professional career seeking to alleviate global poverty. In “The Future of Capitalism,” Collier examines where the capitalist system fails, and how it can pragmatically be improved.

This book isn’t going to provide actionable ways to better run a business. It’s one of Gates’ more meta choices that looks at global and systemic issues. Understanding capitalism on a broad level can help entrepreneurs improve their little part of the system.

“The Box” purports to tell the story of the shipping container, or the standard metal box. Although a basic innovation, the shipping container fundamentally changed business.

Gates admits that this is a simple story from a simple innovation. He finds it a profound examination of globalization, though, and also notes some themes of philanthropy. Globalization and philanthropy are certainly subjects that Gates has extensive experience with.

“A Gentleman in Moscow” is on Bill Gates’ reading list for one reason only: it’s simply a good story told well. 

The novel tells of a Russian count who was sentenced to house arrest for 30 years. The story is “a little bit of everything,” including politics, espionage, parenthood, poetry, and romance. Don’t be ashamed if you’re tearing up during parts — Gates might have been.

Gates discovered “A Gentleman in Moscow” back in 2019 and has since enjoyed reading Towles’ “The Lincoln Highway.” A road trip from Nebraska to California might be a very different setting than a house in Moscow, but this is in fact a follow-up to Towles’ earlier novel.

Gates found that “The Lincoln Highway” didn’t follow a straightforward hero’s journey like many books do. It seems to suggest that our personal stories likewise may not be as linear as we assume. If you enjoy “A Gentleman in Mosco,” follow it up with this novel in between your nonfiction on innovation and start-ups. 

“The Power” was recommended to Gates by his oldest daughter, and he’s likely to take future recommendations because of how much he enjoyed this novel.

Soft science fiction might not seem like Gates’ first choice of genre, but The Power’s premise is what enthralled him. The novel’s premise is that all women suddenly gained the ability to produce deadly electric shocks. The ensuing story explores gender roles and equality in a way that gave Gates a deeper understanding of the injustice and abuse that many women suffer.

Gates recently wrote “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” and spent time promoting the book as many authors do. He repeatedly was recommended Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Ministry for the Future,” as a dramatization of many issues that Gates discussed in his own work.

Gates indeed found that the novel picked up many of the themes he had personally been studying and writing about. The novel maintains a narrative ark that spans decades and continents, and manages to weave everything together in a moving and illuminative way. 

As for how the narrative ark is woven together, “it’s so complex that it’s hard to summarize.” That’s a noteworthy statement coming from someone with a mind like Bill Gates.