Read Like a Billionaire – Bill Gates Reveals His Summer Reading List

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In what has become an annual tradition, Bill Gates has shared his summer reading list for 2018 so you too can read like a billionaire.

From Lincoln to Leonardo, I hope you enjoy my summer reading list. https://t.co/fRrg5HwzoG

— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 21, 2018

This summer Gates has chosen five favorite books including one fiction and four non-fiction, revealing on his blog, “I realized that several of my choices wrestle with big questions,” but promising “despite the heavy subject matter, all these books were fun to read, and most of them are pretty short.”
For summer 2018 Gates recommends the following books:
“Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”- Leonardo da Vinci 🐢Tag Day 7/7 Finally Done ✅ • Leonardo Da Vinci Novel byWalter Isaacson • Seven Book Cover Challenge Post a book you love No explanation. No review. Just the cover Then challenge some friends to do the same. Challenged by @rds.crimson Now I challenge @my_one_thousand_lives • • • • • #bookworm #bookstagram #booklover #bibliophile #booknerd #bookish #bookaddict #books #bookphotography #walterisaacson #leonardodavinci

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“I think Leonardo was one of the most fascinating people ever,” Gates shares on his blog. “Isaacson does the best job I’ve seen of pulling together the different strands of Leonardo’s life and explaining what made him so exceptional.”
“Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved” by Kate Bowler

Friends. This book is coming out soon and I can’t wait to read it. I’ve been so impressed with Kate Bowler’s perspective on religion and her own cancer journey. She is a jewel. #teamkate #everythinghappens

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After Bowler, a professor at Duke Divinity School, was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, she set out to find out why it happened to her. The result is this brilliant book with Gates promises “is a heartbreaking , surprisingly funny memoir about faith and coming to grips with your own mortality.”
“Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders

‘Won’t you regret dragging that heavy book around London?’ Au contraire- I’m hoping it will make some new friends… 😉 #bookcover #bookstagram #lincolninthebardo #georgesaunders

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In this novel about Abraham Lincoln, Saunders blends Civil War historical facts with fantastical elements through the use of conversation with 166 ghosts, including Lincoln’s deceased son. “I got new insight into the way Lincoln must have been crushed by the weight of both grief and responsibility,” Gates says of the book. “This is one of those fascinating, ambiguous books you’ll want to discuss with a friend when you’re done.”
“Origin Story: A Big History of Everything” by David Christian

[free book! xo @littlebrown] New book, new book! A little bit of existential nonfiction is on the menu after a few fluffy reads in a row. I absolutely love reading about humanity and the world from other people’s perspectives, especially when the that person is a distinguished professor of history and co-founder of the Big History Project. • • 💭 What did you read this weekend? 💭

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This book “tells the story of the universe from the Big Bang to today’s complex societies,” writes Gates. “The book will leave you with a greater appreciation of humanity’s place in the universe.”
“Factfulness” by Hans Rosling, with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund

Time to get the facts straight and learn why Im wrong and Hans Rosling was RIGHT! Looking forward to this read @gapminders @gapminder_org #factfulness #factfulnesshansrosling #hansrosling

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“I’ve been recommending this book since the day it came out,” Gates enthuses on his blog. “Hans, the brilliant global-health lecturer who died last year, gives you a breakthrough way of understanding basic truths about the world – how life is getting better, and where the world still needs to improve. And he weaves in unforgettable anecdotes from his life. It’s a fitting final word from a brilliant man, and one of the best books I’ve ever read.”