比尔·盖茨2016年最爱这些书！

 

【书香君·书单】

2016年比尔·盖茨最爱的书

书香君

很多人对比尔盖茨的印象还停留在微软创始人、亿万富翁。近几年来呢，盖茨把很多精力放在慈善事业上，忙碌程度丝毫不亚于以前。不过即使再忙，他还是会花大量的时间阅读。不信你百度一下盖茨和读书之类的关键词，就会看到很多诸如《顶级成功人士的习惯》这样的鸡汤文章。

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比尔盖茨确实是一个avid reader（阅读狂热者）。他在一次访问时说即使工作忙每周都会看一两本书，度假时每周可多达买五本左右；一年大约看大约50本书。这位世界级的富翁geek还建了一个博客：GatesNotes，在里面详细罗列了每年的书单和他的书评。比尔盖茨推荐的书都会立马登上畅销榜，这种现象称之为“The Bill Gates Bump”！

书香君

“The Bill Gates Bump”，就是盖茨“顶过”的书。作为一个年过六旬的“极客”，盖茨的书单也颇有规律，一般是非小说类居多。每年12月初，盖茨都会精心推荐一份当年读过的精华书单。这几天，盖茨如期在博客奉上了他在2016年最喜欢的五本书，并亲自附上简短的书评。今天，我们就一起来看看，2016年盖茨最喜欢的书吧！

盖茨说：

Never before have I felt so empowered to learn as I do today. When I was young, there were few options to learn on my own. My parents had a set of World Book Encyclopedias, which I read through in alphabetical order. But there were no online courses, video lectures, or podcasts to introduce me to new ideas and thinkers as we have today.

Still, reading books is my favorite way to learn about a new topic. I’ve been reading about a book a week on average since I was a kid. Even when my schedule is out of control, I carve out a lot of time for reading.

If you’re looking for a book to enjoy over the holidays, here are some of my favorites from this year. They cover an eclectic mix of topics—from tennis to tennis shoes, genomics to great leadership. They’re all very well written, and they all dropped me down a rabbit hole of unexpected insights and pleasures.

By Bill Gates 

December 5, 2016

String Theory

《String Theory》

by David Foster Wallace

盖茨的书评：

 This book has nothing to do with physics, but its title will make you look super smart if you’re reading it on a train or plane. String Theory is a collection of five of Wallace’s best essays on tennis, a sport I gave up in my Microsoft days and am once again pursuing with a passion. You don’t have to play or even watch tennis to love this book. The late author wielded a pen as skillfully as Roger Federer wields a tennis racket. Here, as in his other brilliant works, Wallace found mind-blowing ways of bending language like a metal spoon.

这本书与物理学一点儿边都不沾，但是这个书名会让你在火车或飞机上拿出来读时显得智商很高。StringTheory收录了作者Wallace写的五篇最好的短文，都是关于网球的。我在微软工作期间曾放弃这项运动，后又重新拾起来。读这本书你甚至不需要会打网球或是爱看网球，就能从本书中找到乐趣。

Shoe Dog

《Shoe Dog》

by PhilKnight

盖茨的书评：

This memoir, by the co-founder of Nike, is a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like: messy, precarious, and riddled with mistakes. I’ve met Knight a few times over the years. He’s super nice, but he’s also quiet and difficult to get to know. Here Knight opens up in a way few CEOs are willing to do. I don’t think Knight sets out to teach the reader anything. Instead, he accomplishes something better. He tells his story as honestly as he can. It’s an amazing tale.

这是耐克创始人之一菲尔·奈特的回忆录，非常诚实地记录了耐克“从0到1”的过程，成功的商业过程十分相似：杂乱、危机、充满试错。近几年我见过奈特几面，他人非常好，但同样非常安静，你很难了解这个人。而在这本书中，奈特敞开心扉的程度，是很少CEO能够做到的。我不认为奈特在教读者什么，相反，他做得更好。他尽可能真实地还原他的故事。这个故事真的很精彩。

The Gene

《The Gene》

by Siddhartha Mukherjee

盖茨的书评：

 Doctors are deemed a “triple threat” when they take care of patients, teach medical students, and conduct research. Mukherjee, who does all of these things at Columbia University, is a “quadruple threat,” because he’s also a Pulitzer Prize– winning author. In his latest book, Mukherjee guides us through the past, present, and future of genome science, with a special focus on huge ethical questions that the latest and greatest genome technologies provoke. Mukherjee wrote this book for a lay audience, because he knows that the new genome technologies are at the cusp of affecting us all in profound ways.

医生被认为面临着“三重威胁”，照看病人、教医学院学生以及做研究。Siddhartha Mukherjee在哥伦比亚大学身兼这三项重任，同时还是普利策获奖作者。在他的新书中，Mukherjee引导大家认识基因重组技术的过去、现在和未来，特别关注了该技术引发的巨大伦理问题。这本书就是为外行的众多读者所写的，因为作者知道这项尖端科技将以深刻的方式影响所有人。

The Myth of the Strong Leader

《The Myth of the Strong Leader》

by Archie Brown

盖茨的书评：

This year’s fierce election battle prompted me to pick up this 2014 book, by an Oxford University scholar who has studied political leadership—good, bad, and ugly—for more than 50 years. Brown shows that the leaders who make the biggest contributions to history and humanity generally are not the ones we perceive to be “strong leaders.” Instead, they tend to be the ones who collaborate, delegate, and negotiate—and recognize that no one person can or should have all the answers. Brown could not have predicted how resonant his book would become in 2016.

今年竞争异常激烈的总统选举让我重新拿起这本2014年的书，这本书由一位牛津大学学者所写。这位学者研究政治领袖——好的、坏的、丑恶的——长达五十多年。Brown知道那些为历史和人类做出伟大贡献的领导并非那些我们眼中“强硬的领导”。相反，他们是那些懂得合作、妥协、沟通——并且认识到没有人能够或是应该知道所有问题答案的人。Brown不可能预测到这本书如何能在2016年引发共鸣。

Honorable mention:The Grid

《Honorable mention:The Grid》

by Gretchen Bakke

盖茨的书评：

This book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres: “Books About Mundane Stuff That Are Actually Fascinating.” Part of the reason I find this topic fascinating is because my first job, in high school, was writing software for the entity that controls the power grid in the Northwest. But even if you have never given a moment’s thought to how electricity reaches your outlets, I think this book would convince you that the electrical grid is one of the greatest engineering wonders of the modern world. I think you would also come to see why modernizing the grid is so complex and so critical for building our clean-energy future. 

这本书是关于我们不断老化的电网，属于我喜欢的流派之一：“关于世俗东西的书籍是迷人的”。我喜欢这本书的部分原因跟我在高中的第一份工作有关，当时我在写一个软件，能够控制当地西北地区的电网。但是，即使你从未好奇过电是如何送到你家的，这本书也能说服你，电网是现代世界最伟大的工程奇迹之一。我想，你会明白为何现代化电网这么复杂，以及它对未来构建清洁能源关键作用。

书香君

虽然这些书的中文版目前市面上还没有，但是其中有些的英文版已经可以看到了，感兴趣的爱书人不妨用心找一找哦。盖茨说“reading books is my favorite way to learn about a new topic”.嗯，一个开创互联网新时代的大人物，最爱的学习方法是阅读。这种爱读书的精神值得我们大家学习哦！