Bill Gates isn’t particularly interested in cool beach readings this summer.
The billionaire bibliophile and co-founder of Microsoft is back with his latest list of reading recommendations – this time with five new titles for the summer season. And as Gates admits in a post on his blog Gates Notes on Monday, this year’s list seems “quite difficult to read on vacation.”
“There are books here about gender equality, political polarization, climate change and the difficult truth that life never goes the way young people think it will,” Gates, 66, wrote. “It doesn’t sound like things on the beach.”
But that doesn’t mean they’re hard to read, he said. From New York Times columnist Ezra Klein to science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson, Gates wrote that all the authors of his latest photos are “able to take a meat theme and make it fascinating without sacrificing any complexity.”
Here is his list of five “great books for the summer”:
‘The power’
By Naomi Alderman
Gates writes that The Force, a 2016 science fiction work by British writer Naomi Alderman, was originally recommended to him by his eldest daughter, Jennifer.
The premise of the novel is a scenario in which women around the world suddenly develop the ability to emit deadly electric shocks from their hands – which leads to women becoming the dominant sex and forming a matriarchy. The book, which addresses gender equality and gender roles, was recognized by critics when it was released, including by The New York Times and former President Barack Obama.
“As I read The Power, I gained a stronger and more visceral sense of the abuse and injustice that many women experience today,” Gates wrote. “And I have expanded my appreciation for the people who are working on these issues in the United States and around the world.”
“Why we are polarized”
By Ezra Klein
Gates is trying to remain “generally optimistic” about the future, he wrote, but political polarization in the United States is “the only thing that obscures my prospects.” This is exactly the topic of Why We Are Polarized, written by Klein, a political analyst and co-founder of Vox.
Klein’s book approaches America’s political divisions from a psychological point of view, arguing that the groups people identify with – including political parties – play a huge role in the way they make decisions and view the world.
“If you want to know what’s going on with politics in the United States right now, this is the book you should pick up,” Gates wrote.
Lincoln Highway: A Novel
From Amor Towles
American writer Amor Towles is fast becoming a staple in Gates ‘reading lists: the billionaire has included Towles’ bestseller “A Gentleman in Moscow” in his 2019 summer list, and now writes that he liked the Lincoln Highway almost as much. .
Published last year, Toules’ latest work is an adventure novel set in 1954. It is the story of a teenager’s journey with his younger brother, which is dropped from the course by a pair of labels from the protagonist’s story on work farm for juvenile delinquents.
“Towles is inspired by the famous hero’s travels and seems to say that our personal travels are never as linear or predictable as we might hope,” Gates wrote.
“Ministry of the Future”
By Kim Stanley Robinson
The Ministry of the Future is science fiction – or cli-fi, short for “climate fiction” – a novel published in 2020. Its action takes place in the near future and follows a fictional global organization that spearheads various efforts to combat climate change. .
Gates himself is an outspoken climate change activist who wrote his own book outlining potential solutions to climate change last year. In particular, he writes that Robinson’s novel offers “many intriguing ideas,” while effectively explaining the science behind climate change and working for a “surprisingly encouraging end.”
“How the world really works: The science behind how we got here and where we’re going”
From Vaclac Smil
Gates could not help praising “How the World Really Works,” calling it “another masterpiece by one of my favorite authors.”
The book is the latest work by Vaclav Smil, a Czech-Canadian honorary professor of ecology at the University of Manitoba. In 2017, Gates wrote that he had read all of Smill’s then-37 books on topics ranging from clean energy to manufacturing and agriculture. Gates intended to “wait for Smil’s new books, as some people are waiting for the next Star Wars movie,” he wrote.
Today, Gates writes that most of Smill’s books are read as textbooks – but “this one is written for a wide audience and gives an overview of the main areas of his experience.” It covers how energy has shaped the history of civilization, from agricultural societies to our modern, industrial age.
Gates writes that Smill “overcame all numbers” to provide “a brief but in-depth education in numerical thinking for many of the basic forces that shape human life.”
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