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
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 | |
Lincoln in the Bardo | https://amzn.to/2s3zAkS | George Saunders |
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything | https://amzn.to/2LmXMaG | |
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 |
Google Drive doc link here