This is a question I ask often. I ask my friends, I ask people I’ve just met, I ask my authors: What are you reading? No judgment, I’m just curious: What are you reading? I like talking about books.

So I was delighted when I stumbled upon Bill Gates’s personal website, the Gates Notes. Launched in early 2010, it’s a place for Gates to discuss subjects separate from the interests of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, topics that interest and excite him on a personal level. Categories are education, energy, development, health, personal … and books. Yes, it’s a place Bill Gates posts what he’s been reading.

He reads a lot of nonfiction, as you might imagine. 🙂 The list ranges from popular science (The Hair of the Dog and Other Scientific Surprises by Karl Sabbagh) to physics (The New Science of Strong Materials by J. E. Gordon) to chemistry (Molecules at an Exhibition: The Chemistry of Everyday Life by John Emsley) to economics (Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm) to history (One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs) to education (Unlocking the Gates by Taylor Walsh) to biography (The Patriarch by David Nasaw) and autobiography (Open by Andre Agassi).

He’s reading things you’d expect (Philanthro-Capitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green) and things that might come as a surprise (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins). He’s read the Feynman Lectures on Physics, something I’ve always wanted to tackle, as well as Physics for Dummies, which I have.

There are books on Gates’s list currently in my TBR pile:

The World Is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker
The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo

And there are books I’ve read, too, though there’s not a lot of intersection between his set and mine:

The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson
A Separate Peace, John Knowles
The Post-American World, Fareed Zakaria
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Physics for Dummies

Oh, I’m fascinated by others’ reading lists! I’m interested in what they have to say about books I’ve read or am thinking of reading. In this case, Gates doesn’t write all the reviews, but he writes some of them; the reviews are linked with related content on the site too. Check it out!

Tweet: Bill Gates has a reading list—and it’s online. Check it out!
Tweet: I ask my friends, I ask people I’ve just met, I ask my authors: What are you reading?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”