Billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates has recommended his top 5 favourite books of 2021, and the choices will surprise you!
Earlier this week, the business mogul and philanthropist released his annual list of winter reading recommendations in his usual ritual – which he has maintained for some years now.
Surprisingly, Gates shared that he is still drawn to the same type of books he has grown up reading – and loves science fiction books and novels as a kid. In a blog post he titled, “5 books I loved reading this year”, Gates shared the titles of the books and gave insight into why he enjoyed reading them.
Gates, who close sources say reads about 50 books a year, said that he has tried to read ‘more matured books’; lately, he is more interested in children’s books. “Lately, though, I’ve found myself drawn back to the kinds of books I would’ve loved as a kid,” he said.
As a result, Gates books recommendations are more of science fiction books, something he enjoyed with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. “When I was a kid, I was obsessed with science fiction. Paul Allen and I would spend countless hours discussing Isaac Asimov’s original ‘Foundation’ trilogy,” he said. “There was something so thrilling about these stories that pushed the limits of what was possible.”
‘Here are five books that I’d recommend as we wrap up 2021,’ wrote the tech mogul as he shared his coveted reading list. Gates said that the winter reading list includes two sci-fi novels that “made me think about how people can use technology to respond to challenges,” Gates said. One is Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary,” and the other sci-fi book is Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun.” Gates also recommends two non-fiction books about cutting-edge science. One is Walter Isaacson’s “The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race,” which focuses on discovering CRISPR gene-editing. The other is “A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence,” by Jeff Hawkins.
“Project Hail Mary,” by Andy Weir
The plot follows the story of a high school science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship in a different solar system with no memory of how he got there.
“Like most people, I was first introduced to Weir’s writing through The Martian. His latest novel is a wild tale about a high school science teacher who wakes up in a different star system with no memory of how he got there. The rest of the story is all about how he uses science and engineering to save the day. It’s a fun read, and I finished the whole thing in one weekend,” Gates said of the book.
“Klara and the Sun,” by Kazuo Ishiguro
“I love a good robot story, and Ishiguro’s novel about an “artificial friend” to a sick young girl is no exception. Although it takes place in a dystopian future, the robots aren’t a force for evil. Instead, they serve as companions to keep people company. This book made me think about what life with super intelligent robots might look like—and whether we’ll treat these kinds of machines as pieces of technology or as something more,” Gates said of the book.
“The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race,” by Walter Isaacson
According to Gates’ review of the book, “The CRISPR gene-editing system is one of the coolest and perhaps most significant scientific breakthroughs of the last decade. I’m familiar with it because of my work at the foundation—we’re funding several projects that use the technology—but I still learned a lot from this comprehensive and accessible book about its discovery by Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues. In addition, Isaacson does a good job highlighting the most important ethical questions around gene editing.”
“A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence,” by Jeff Hawkins
In “A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence,” Jeff Hawkins, who co-invented the PalmPilot, explores artificial intelligence. According to Gates’ review of the book, “Few subjects have captured the imaginations of science fiction writers like artificial intelligence. If you’re interested in learning more about what it might take to create a true AI, this book offers a fascinating theory. Hawkins may be best known as the co-inventor of the PalmPilot. Still, he’s spent decades thinking about the connections between neuroscience and machine learning, and there’s no better introduction to his thinking than this book.”
“Hamnet,” by Maggie O’Farrell
The last book on the list is a fictional reimagination of William Shakespeare’s life. “If you’re a Shakespeare fan, you’ll love this moving novel about how his personal life might’ve influenced the writing of one of his most famous plays. O’Farrell has built her story on two facts we know to be true about “The Bard”: his son Hamnet died at the age of 11, and a couple years later, Shakespeare wrote a tragedy called Hamlet. I especially enjoyed reading about his wife, Anne, who is imagined here as an almost supernatural figure,” Gates said of the book.
