We’re heading into our second summer of the pandemic, and Bill Gates is still barreling through books at a steady clip.
The latest theme of Gates’s reading list focuses on the idea of conflict between man and nature. In a post on his personal blog, the Microsoft founder shares five books he recommends, conceding the theme may be at the top of his mind owing to his dedicated interest in solving climate change, and because of the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus. The pandemic itself mirrored this conflict, spreading like wildfire across the country and—for a time—seeming to eclipse humanity’s best efforts to control it.
In an unprecedented year, Gates has had his share of news-making personal challenges. The billionaire and his former wife, Melinda French Gates, announced their divorce, after 27 years of marriage, in early May. Shortly after, additional information about ties between the tech mogul and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were brought to light, and French Gates’s filing was reported to be in the works since 2019.
Gates publishes his reading lists on a regular basis. Similar to previous recommendations, he includes a handful of thought-provoking reads, which are either suggested by a respected peer, or which he became “inspired to read [after finishing another book] about the same subject.” This is the third list of book ideas the philanthropist has published during the pandemic (aside from sharing his 2020 summer picks with Fast Company’s editor-in-chief, Stephanie Mehta, last July).
Here are the five books Gates included on his summer 2021 reading list:
- Lights Out: Pride, Delusion, and the Fall of General Electric — Thomas Gryta and Ted Mann
- Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future — Elizabeth Kolbert
- A Promised Land — Barack Obama
- The Overstory — Richard Powers
- An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives — Matt Richtel
Read Gates’s full post on his blog, Gates Notes, here.
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