Bill Gates Reveals His 5 Great Vacation Reading Recommendations

As many people around here may know, Bill Gates loves reading. The Microsoft co-founder said he devours no less than 50 books a year. As many people are curious to know what he is consuming, so the executive went on to write notes about the works and publish on the blog Gates Notes. The summer is coming, and the school holidays there are up to July, so Gates took the opportunity to list five recommendations that deserve attention.

Genres shift from fiction to historical memory and biography, and according to the literate, his selections seek to ask big questions, such as “what makes a genius work?”, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Or “where do is humanity coming and where are we going?

Although they seem complex, the experiences are fun, he says. Let's go to the list - which, as you will notice, has some versions available in Portuguese:

1. Kate Bowler's “Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved”

“Not everything has reason to happen. I was not surprised to find that at times Kate's book is heartbreaking. But I didn't expect it to be funny. Sometimes it's both in one part, ”says Gates, describing the work in which she partakes in a spiritual quest for her beliefs after she is diagnosed with cancer.

The publication also touched Microsoft's co-founder in a personal way, as his grandparents were devout and believed that bad things happened because of a sin. When his grandfather became ill, he blamed his wife. The lesson would be to understand that not all questions can be answered directly.

2. “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson

In addition to a skilled painter, Da Vinci was an inventor, engineer, medical researcher, among other things. According to Gates, the biography is about "one of the most fascinating people of all." “When you look at all of Leonardo's few skills and failures, the one that stands out is his sense of wonder and curiosity.”

“When he tried to understand something, whether it was the blood flow to the heart or the shape of a woodpecker's tongue, he would watch closely, write down his thoughts and then try to find out, ” he says in wonder. For the executive, Isaacson was able to bring together different aspects of Da Vinci's life in a pleasant way to read - but it must have been hard work.

“Better than any other book I've ever read about Leonardo, this one helps to see him as a complete human being and to understand how special he was. He came to understand almost everything that was known about the planet at that time. ”

3. David Christian's Origin Story: A Big History of Everything

Historian David Christian is the creator of the online course Big History, where he covers what we know about the 13.7 billion years of our existence, from the Big Bang and the origin of life to today's most complex societies. Gates is a fan of this project and the book "will make you happier with the role of humanity in the universe."

The executive says that is a great way to understand some concepts on the subject and, if you already follow Big History, is a way to update the content already seen there. “The book shows how everything is connected with everything else, weaving reflections and evidence from various disciplines into one understandable narrative.”

4. “Lincoln in Limbo” by George Saunders

The novel blends fiction with history and takes place one night after the death of Willie, his 11-year-old son. After visiting his grave, the boy's spirit refuses to leave and despite the plea of ​​other spirits in limbo. The US president's contemplation of the boy's loss, which comes just a year after the outbreak of the American Civil War, gives him a new understanding of the grief experienced by families losing their children during the battle.

"I thought I knew everything I needed about Abraham Lincoln, but this novel made me rethink parts of his life, " says Gates, who calls the work "American Ghost History." He still says he doesn't know if Willie's death changed the politician's way of changing the conflict, but in a "mysterious and funny" way, it's an imaginative exercise in thinking the weight of pain over the determination to prevent further deaths in the country. pasta.

5. “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think” by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Global health professor Hans Rosling died last year and he describes this work as his "last battle in my lifelong mission to combat devastating ignorance" - something that can be seen in Gates's own messages that in recent years tries to be more didactic in all his interviews, texts and explanations.

The late speaker, along with his son and daughter-in-law, analyze what would be the ten instincts that distort our perspective on the world, leading us to dramatically underestimate the amount of progress we have made as a society.

The point is to note that as we get too distracted thinking things are worse than they seem, we lose the ability to focus on the issues that are really worth worrying about. "It's the most appropriate final word for a brilliant man and one of the best books I've ever read, " says Gates.

If you want to buy:

• 1. Kate Bowler's “Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved”
• 2. “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson
• 3. David Christian's Origin Story: A Big History of Everything
• 4. “Lincoln in Limbo” by George Saunders
• 5. “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think” by Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Bill Gates Reveals His 5 Great Vacation Reading Recommendations via TecMundo