Bill Gates, a billionaire philanthropist, has shared his summer reading lists for 2021. Gates recently shared in a blog post that he chooses his next book randomly. Gates said that he now finds himself reaching for books on the complex relationship between humans and nature. Perhaps it’s because a virus ruined so many people’s lives. Maybe it’s because I spent so much time this past year discussing what we can do to prevent a climate catastrophe. No matter the reason, the majority of books on my summer reading list for this year focus on what happens to people when they are in conflict with the world around their lives,” he wrote.
Here are five books Bill Gates recommends for this summer.
A Promised Land
Obama’s memoir, “A Promised Land,” is the first part of his four-volume collection. Obama’s early life and the events that led to his mission to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011 are described in this book. Gates praised the book and said, “I’m almost always interested in books on American presidents. I loved ‘A Promised Land President Obama is unusually candid about his experiences in the White House, including how isolating it to be the one who ultimately calls all the shots.”
An Elegant Defense
Although Richardtel’s book was written before the pandemic, this study of the human immune system will be a useful read and help you to understand the challenges involved in stopping COVID-19. The subject is kept accessible by his focus on four patients who are forced to manage their own immune systems in a different way. Gates praised the book and said that their stories are a fascinating look at immunity science.
The Overstory
Gates will also be reading Richard Powers’ 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner book, ‘The Overstory’ in his summer 2021 reading list. “This novel is unlike anything I have ever read.” Bill Gates described the book as “one of the most unusual novels I’ve ever read” and said that each character’s passion moved him for trees. Barack Obama recommended the book for 2021.
Under a White Sky
Bill Gates recommended Elizabeth Kolbert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental writer, for his summer 2021 reading lists. Gates called it an “enjoyable read” and said that “Kolbert’s latest is the most straightforward exam of “humanity against nature” on his blog. “She writes about a variety of ways people are interfering with nature, including geoengineering and gene drive–two topics that I am particularly interested in.”
Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric
The book examines the leadership mistakes that led to General Electric’s demise. Bill Gates stated that the book is a must-read for anyone who holds any leadership position, whether at a company or a non-profit.