Around 200 Books Recommended by Bill Gates

Updated on

This list of Bill Gates favorite books was last updated on 12/24/2019 with several other books

Last Updated 05/22/2020

Updated 2/19/2020

Updated 8/15/18 with a new suggestion

UPDATED 5/22/18 with more recommendations.

Bill Gates favorite books updated 5/16/18 with another name

updated on4/3/2018 with his two favorite books ever

1/29/2018 with his favorite book ever

Although, he has never authored one, Bill Gates has recommended a lot of books over the years. We were curious to find out how many in total and came up with over 190 names spanning from 2001 through 2017 2019. We put together the entire list below with the source of where Gates recommended the title. To our knowledge, no one has completed a record so vast and comprehensive, so we hope you enjoy and appreciate our work. Additionally, Gates focuses on a wide variety of topics, so this is not just investment books, and some names are out of the box – issues are vast and include investing but also science, history, politics and even fiction.

We also want to mention that we earn an affiliate fee if you purchase the book through these links it’s not enough to buy a new Windows PC and probably not enough to afford a copy of Margin of Safety but hopefully enough to obtain a copy of Dow 36,000.

You can see our complete investor book recommendations list here

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See the full list of 189 198 (according to our count)? books below and if we are missing any please shoot us an email at [email protected]

All the recommendations come from GatesNotes. Enjoy!

Bill Gates's Book List

Book Name Amazon Link Author
Capitalism Without Capital https://amzn.to/2PbpxVG Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake
Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved https://amzn.to/2GDByOj Kate Bowler
Lincoln in the Bardo https://amzn.to/2s3zAkS George Saunders
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything https://amzn.to/2LmXMaG David Christian
Measure What Matter https://amzn.to/2uMfLmM John Doerr
Factfulness https://amzn.to/2uMfLmM Hans Rosling
Enlightenment Now http://amzn.to/2B6Dlt2 Steven Pinker
The Best We Could Do http://amzn.to/2B6Dlt2 Thi Bui
Evicted http://amzn.to/2z214J6 Matthew Desmond
Believe Me http://amzn.to/2BkufgA Eddie Izzard
The Sympathizer http://amzn.to/2BBEHgw Viet Thanh Nguyen
Energy and Civilization http://amzn.to/2BLw85s Vaclav Smil
String Theory http://amzn.to/2BOhWbM David Foster Wallace
The Magic of Reality http://amzn.to/2BB8PZv Richard Dawkins
Shoe Dog http://amzn.to/2CJ68Vh Phil Knight
The Gene http://amzn.to/2CIywa7 Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Myth of the Strong Leader http://amzn.to/2BlKCth Archie Brown
The Grid http://amzn.to/2CI2yL0 Gretchen Bakke
Thing Explainer http://amzn.to/2CHtURk Randall Munroe
Mindset http://amzn.to/2BOT3Nh Carol S. Dweck
The Road to Character http://amzn.to/2Bizm0H David Brooks
Being Nixon http://amzn.to/2CJFprD Evan Thomas
Eradication http://amzn.to/2CJIHuU Nancy Leys Stepan
Sustainable Materials with Both Eyes Open http://amzn.to/2CI8KT9
Julian M. Allwood and Jonathan M. Cullen
Seveneves http://amzn.to/2B3yDMZ Neal Stephenson
Should We Eat Meat http://amzn.to/2BCo44s Vaclav Smil
Making the Modern World http://amzn.to/2BCzWn0 Vaclav Smil
Harvesting the Biosphere http://amzn.to/2CKjO29 Vaclav Smil
Energy Myths and Realities http://amzn.to/2BinlZg Vaclav Smil
Global Catastrophes and Trends http://amzn.to/2Bio64y Vaclav Smil
Energy at the Crossroads http://amzn.to/2BBkmbf Vaclav Smil
How Not to be Wrong http://amzn.to/2CHog1F Jordan Ellenberg
The Vital Question http://amzn.to/2CKTAMO Nick Lane
The Power to Compete http://amzn.to/2CIKFfb
Ryoichi Mikitani and Hiroshi Mikitani
Sapiens http://amzn.to/2z0Zmbd Yuval Harari
Infections and Inequalities http://amzn.to/2CGmsWL Paul Farmer
The Remains of the Day http://amzn.to/2CIiwVj Kazuo Ishiguro
Homo Deus http://amzn.to/2B2Hn62 Yuval Harari
House on Fire http://amzn.to/2BAIoDp Bill Foege
The Better Angels of Our Nature http://amzn.to/2CIw8A4 Steven Pinker
The Sixth Extinction http://amzn.to/2BCbDpj Elizabeth Kolbert
The Man Who Fed the World http://amzn.to/2CIpRnL Leon Hesser
Business Adventures http://amzn.to/2z27doP John Brooks
The Heart http://amzn.to/2CIOfpF Maylis de Kerangal
How to Lie with Statistics http://amzn.to/2CGTXIg Darrell Huff
The Bully Pulpit http://amzn.to/2B6oE9L Doris Kearns Goodwin
How Asia Works http://amzn.to/2BkaSUO Joe Studwell
Tap Dancing to Work http://amzn.to/2BCJ4Ii Carol Loomis
The Rosie Project http://amzn.to/2BAJQWn Graeme Simsion
Born a Crime http://amzn.to/2kPd7Vf Trevor Noah
Stuff Matters http://amzn.to/2DbBR28 Mark Miodownik
Hyperbole and a Half http://amzn.to/2BLi0ZU Allie Brosh
What If http://amzn.to/2BATR5D Randall Munroe
Stress Test http://amzn.to/2BCXfNw Tim Geithner
On Immunity http://amzn.to/2Bjff2t Eula Biss
Epic Measures http://amzn.to/2CK0KRH Jeremy Smith
Hit Refresh http://amzn.to/2B2O0oK Satya Nadella and Greg Shaw
Hillbilly Elegy http://amzn.to/2z39SyC J.D. Vance
A Full Life http://amzn.to/2BBfXF7 Jimmy Carter
When Breath Becomes Air http://amzn.to/2BlS1ZO Paul Kalanithi
The Rise and Fall of American Growth http://amzn.to/2CJ1eaD Robert J. Gordon
XKCD http://amzn.to/2z2mzJR Randall Munroe
Capital in the Twenty-First Century http://amzn.to/2CKN74I Thomas Piketty
The Rosie Effect http://amzn.to/2CJxQRR Graeme Simsion
The Fever http://amzn.to/2Bk7Y2H Sonia Shah
Smallpox http://amzn.to/2CJfNuP D. A. Henderson
Reinventing American Health Care http://amzn.to/2CJDbZc Ezekiel J. Emanue
Material-World http://amzn.to/2CJzVx9 Peter Menzel
The Idealist http://amzn.to/2CJG1NI Nina Munk
The Great Escape http://amzn.to/2kOX75t Angus Deaton
The Bet http://amzn.to/2BlaYLU Rachel Van Dyken
Getting Better http://amzn.to/2z22ymD Charles Kenny
Behind the Beautiful Forevers http://amzn.to/2z3Ii4o Katherine Boo
The Last Hunger Season http://amzn.to/2DdpiUj Roger Thurow
However Long the Night http://amzn.to/2BDiKOe Aimee Molloy
In the Company of the Poor http://amzn.to/2Bk8Lka
Paul Farmer and Gustavo Gutierrez
Change by Design http://amzn.to/2CJgy79 Tim Brown
Mighty Be Our Powers http://amzn.to/2z34POB Leymah Gbowee
The Box http://amzn.to/2CLD6Ea Marc Levinson
The Most Powerful Idea in the World http://amzn.to/2z2yU0D William Rosen
The World Until Yesterday http://amzn.to/2CLk0y9 Jared Diamond
Poor Numbers http://amzn.to/2BEDRQq Morten Jerven
Why Does College Cost So Much? http://amzn.to/2BmSaMg
Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman
How Children Succeed http://amzn.to/2CKwg1X Paul Tough
Japan’s Dietary Transition and Its Impacts http://amzn.to/2B4ofV3
Vaclav Smil and Kazuhiko Kobayashi
Made in the USA http://amzn.to/2DaAf93 Vaclav Smil
Whistling Vivaldi http://amzn.to/2BQ5JTW Claude Steele
Patriot and Assassin http://amzn.to/2BAWEMd Robert Cook
The Path Between the Seas http://amzn.to/2DaCadL David McCullough
Where Good Ideas Come From http://amzn.to/2BDvhRE Steven Johnson
For the Love of Physics http://amzn.to/2z3jVUm Walter Lewin
Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 1 http://amzn.to/2BiXhwZ Richard P. Feynman
Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 2 http://amzn.to/2kNQ11i Richard P. Feynman
Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 3 http://amzn.to/2z2Csjz Richard P. Feynman
The New Science of Strong Materials http://amzn.to/2z1EP6h J.E. Gordon
The Hair of the Dog and other Scientific Surprises http://amzn.to/2BjONWz Karl Sabbagh
13 Things that Don’t Make Sense http://amzn.to/2BAXh8L Michael Brooks
Why Nations Fail http://amzn.to/2BFaVHG
Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson
The Signal and the Noise http://amzn.to/2z2K3P8 Nate Silver
The Price of Inequality http://amzn.to/2D9Xn7F Joseph E. Stiglitz
Value Added Measures in Education http://amzn.to/2BL3uBA Douglas N. Harris
Interventions http://amzn.to/2BBL9Ei Kofi Annan
One Billion Hungry Can we Feed the World http://amzn.to/2CIGlfD Gordon Conway
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China http://amzn.to/2DcqZBp Ezra F. Vogel
The Quest http://amzn.to/2B7e16c Daniel Yergin
Moonwalking with Einstein http://amzn.to/2z1ZHdC Joshua Foer
This Time is Different http://amzn.to/2BjZQ2a Carmen M. Reinhart
A World-Class Education http://amzn.to/2CKlVTH Vivien Stewart
Academically Adrift http://amzn.to/2z1XE9d Richard Arum & Joshipa Roksa
The City that Became Safe http://amzn.to/2BCbVfJ Franklin Zimring
Reinventing Fire http://amzn.to/2CJbfof Amory Lovins
The Art of Being Unreasonable http://amzn.to/2z22OlO Eli Broad
Science Business http://amzn.to/2CJwTJ4 Gary P. Pisano
Awakening Joy http://amzn.to/2BDcqpY
James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander
The Cost of Hope http://amzn.to/2z1xyTU Amanda Bennett
Steve Jobs http://amzn.to/2BjjxH7 Walter Isaacson
How Will You Measure Your Life? http://amzn.to/2B3bSbT Clayton Christensen
Creating Innovators http://amzn.to/2B5ZpEe Tony Wagner
The Hunger Games http://amzn.to/2B3ciir Suzanne Collins
The Devil in the White City http://amzn.to/2BBGXEL Erik Larson
The Art of War http://amzn.to/2BBHlmH Sun Tzu
Think & Grow Rich http://amzn.to/2Bn3qIw Napoleon Hill
The Grand Design http://amzn.to/2Bjp3JL Stephen Hawking
Life of Pi http://amzn.to/2BEWzaA Yann Martel
A New Kind of Science http://amzn.to/2CJT9me Stephen Wolfram
A Rogue’s Guide to Acquisition http://amzn.to/2Df2RxR
Ranak Jones, Jayesh Mehta, Anish Sikri
The Alchemist http://amzn.to/2kNLQmc Paul Coelho
Limits to Growth http://amzn.to/2BCIiLm Donella Meadows
Abundance http://amzn.to/2BndX6D
Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
Thinking, Fast and Slow http://amzn.to/2BCHAxI Daniel Kahneman
The Man Who Stayed Behind http://amzn.to/2CK8sLJ Amanda Bennett
The Checklist Manifesto http://amzn.to/2CKJc8a Atul Gawande
Unlocking Energy Innovation http://amzn.to/2BmR1UY Richard K. Lester
The Cat’s Table http://amzn.to/2z28j3M Michael Ondaatje
Titan II http://amzn.to/2CKuJJf David K. Stumpf
Why Don’t Students Like School http://amzn.to/2CLjbp3 Dan Willingham
For the Love of Physics http://amzn.to/2z2PYUk Walter Lewin
That Used to Be Us http://amzn.to/2kNLADG Thomas L. Friedman
Change.edu http://amzn.to/2CH9kAD Andrew S Rosen
The Emperor of All Maladies http://amzn.to/2B4Jjeh Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Hair of the Dog http://amzn.to/2BDzNQr Karl Sabbagh
World on the Edge http://amzn.to/2Bml3Zi Lester R. Brown
Global Health http://amzn.to/2kOxstG Lindstrand and S. Bergstrom
Unlocking the Gates http://amzn.to/2BCQDyM Taylor Walsh
How to Make the World a Better Place http://amzn.to/2BDpCuX Bjørn Lomborg
Global Warming http://amzn.to/2z38EmX John Houghton
Frank Stewart’s Bridge Club http://amzn.to/2BjxJjz Frank Stewart
Poor Economics http://amzn.to/2BDoaZA
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee and Esther Duflo
Prime Movers of Globalization http://amzn.to/2z1ZQ0L Vaclav Smil
Modernist Cuisine http://amzn.to/2BFOWjS
Nathan Myhrvold & ? Maxime Bilet
A Champion’s Mind http://amzn.to/2z2meqI Pete Sampras
Outliers http://amzn.to/2kP2x0n Malcolm Gladwell
Class Warfare http://amzn.to/2kNM7pe Steven Brill
Health Care Will Not Reform Itself, http://amzn.to/2CIQDfS George Halvorson
Beyond Smoke and Mirror http://amzn.to/2De2Uu3 Burton Richter
Dirt and Disease http://amzn.to/2BkDFZx Naomi Rogers
Beyond the Crash http://amzn.to/2BjVWpT Gordon Brown
The Foundation http://amzn.to/2CJieNT Joel L. Fleishman
Who’s Teaching Your Children http://amzn.to/2BkmbfL
Vivian Troen and Katherine C. Boles
The Making of a Tropical Disease http://amzn.to/2BCBw8y Randall M. Packard
Priorities in Health http://amzn.to/2B41h0r
Dean T. Jamison and Joel G. Breman
Poor Charlie’s Almanack http://amzn.to/2kQZtkC Peter D. Kaufman and Ed Wexler
The Catcher in the Rye http://amzn.to/2z2jE3Q J. D. Salinger
Too Big to Fail http://amzn.to/2kNaMdq Andrew Ross Sorkin
The World is Flat http://amzn.to/2kN5C18 Thomas L. Friedman
Showing Up for Life http://amzn.to/2BlgApK Bill Gates
Open http://amzn.to/2kPoTPr Andre Agassi
Give Smart http://amzn.to/2CHfalm Joel L. Fleishman
Einstein http://amzn.to/2BkiqqT Walter Isaacson
Creating the Twentieth Century http://amzn.to/2B54RY7 Vaclav Smil
Broken Genius http://amzn.to/2BCvCEc Joel Shurkin
A Separate Peace http://amzn.to/2BPm2Am John Knowles
Vaccine http://amzn.to/2z36vrs Arthur Allen
Tropical Infectious Diseases http://amzn.to/2CJhton Dr. Richard L. Guerrant
Mountains Beyond Mountains http://amzn.to/2BCu11a Tracy Kidder
The Earth’s Biosphere http://amzn.to/2BAIdrJ Vaclav Smil
Hot, Flat, and Crowded http://amzn.to/2BLJjTY Thomas L. Friedman
Energies http://amzn.to/2z30fjy Vaclav Smil
Big History http://amzn.to/2B3oXSD Cynthia Brown
The End of Poverty http://amzn.to/2CIRsoT Jeffrey Sachs
Guns, Germs, and Steel http://amzn.to/2BivnRL Jared Diamond
Enriching the Earth http://amzn.to/2z2vLht Vaclav Smil
Collapse http://amzn.to/2BjG0nE Jared Diamond
Polio http://amzn.to/2CIlyJa David M. Oshinsky
Stretching the School Dollar http://amzn.to/2Bjjf39
Frederick M. Hess & ? Eric Osberg (Editor)
Where Do School Funds Go http://amzn.to/2CIrDFG Marguerite Roza
The Rational Optimist http://amzn.to/2CIFprU Matt Ridley
Why America is Not a New Rome http://amzn.to/2CIiuN7 Vaclav Smil
Energy Transitions http://amzn.to/2Bk2zsn Vaclav Smil
Liberating Learning http://amzn.to/2CIJxYG Terry Moe and John Chubb
Life is What You Make It http://amzn.to/2BE1o3W Peter Buffett
Tomorrow’s Table http://amzn.to/2BjBcyw
Pamela C. Ronald & R. W. Adamchak
In Fed We Trust http://amzn.to/2BjkXl1 David Wessel
Super Freakonomics http://amzn.to/2CIct35 Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Work Hard. Be Nice http://amzn.to/2Bj2eGi Jay Mathews
Sustainable Energy http://amzn.to/2DaapBT David JC MacKay
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis https://www.amazon.com/Upheaval-Turning-Points-Nations-Crisis/dp/0316409138 Jared Diamond
Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Pints-Journey-Medicine-Mysteries/dp/1627796371 Rose George
A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Moscow-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0670026190 Amor Towles
Presidents of War https://www.amazon.com/Presidents-War-Michael-Beschloss/dp/0307409600 Michael Beschloss
The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties https://www.amazon.com/Future-Capitalism-Facing-New-Anxieties/dp/0062748653 Paul Collier
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society https://www.amazon.com/Blueprint-Evolutionary-Origins-Good-Society/dp/0316230030 Nicholas A. Christakis
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst https://www.amazon.com/Behave-Biology-Humans-Best-Worst/dp/1594205078 Robert M. Sapolsky
Leonardo da Vinci https://amzn.to/2uMfLmM Walter Isaacson
An American Marriage: A Novel https://www.amazon.com/American-Marriage-Novel-Oprahs-Selection/dp/1616208775 Tayari Jones
These Truths: A History of the United States https://www.amazon.com/These-Truths-History-United-States/dp/0393635244 Jill Lepore
Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Microorganisms-Megacities-MIT-Press/dp/0262042835 Vaclav Smil
Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life https://www.amazon.com/Prepared-What-Kids-Need-Fulfilled/dp/1984826069 Diane Tavenner
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144316 Matthew Walker PhD
The Choice: Embrace the Possible https://www.amazon.com/Choice-Dr-Edith-Eva-Eger/dp/1501130781 Dr. Edith Eva Eger
Cloud Atlas https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Modern-Library-Hardcover/dp/081299471X David Mitchell
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lifetime-Lessons-Learned-Company/dp/0399592091 Robert Iger
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History https://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-History/dp/0143036491 John M. Barry
Good Economics for Hard Times https://www.amazon.com/Good-Economics-Times-Abhijit-Banerjee/dp/1610399501 Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo

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