• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Techbest books

Bill Gates’ Must-Read Books for 2016

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 5, 2016, 3:29 PM ET
Courtesy of GatesNotes.com

Bill Gates has always been a voracious reader, and he’s put out his own reading lists for quite some time. And now, drum roll please, he’s named his picks for his favorite books of 2016.

The Gene, Siddhartha Mukherjee

The list, includes four top choices and one honorable mention. Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Gene is on there. Mukherjee, who is as Gates notes a quadruple threat in that he’s a physician, teacher, and researcher who also just happens to have won a Pulitzer Prize for a previous book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

In his newer work, Mukherjee takes the reader through the history, present, and future world of genome science, and doesn’t shy away from ethical issues, said Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight

Also on the list, Nike (NKE) co-founder Phil Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, which Gates found refreshingly honest—and not a how-to business book.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

The Myth of the Strong Leader, by Archie Brown

Then there’s The Myth of the Strong Leader, by Archie Brown, an Oxford University scholar who studied political leadership for decades. Among his findings, per Gates, is that the leaders who’ve made the biggest impact on history are not those who were perceived to be strong, but rather those who “collaborate, delegate, and negotiate.”

String Theory, by David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace’s String Theory, a collection of essays about tennis also made the cut. Wallace, who died eight years ago at the age of 46, “found mind-blowing ways of bending language like a metal spoon,” Gates wrote.

For more on Bill Gates, watch:

The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke

And honorable mention goes to: The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke, which details the venerable (read: old) electrical grid that powers our world. Even if you don’t dwell on how your laptop charges, Gates thinks this book will make you realize that modernizing the grid is a critical priority for our age.

We’ve included affiliate links in this article. Click here to learn what those are.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Big Tech
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative cut 70 jobs as the Meta CEO’s philanthropy goes all in on mission to 'cure or prevent all disease'
By Sydney LakeFebruary 1, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
U.S. Olympic gold medalist went from $200,000-a-year sponsorship at 20 years old to $12-an-hour internship by 30
By Orianna Rosa RoyleFebruary 1, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
'I just don't have a good feeling about this': Top economist Claudia Sahm says the economy quietly shifted and everyone's now looking at the wrong alarm
By Eleanor PringleJanuary 31, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Ford CEO has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with up to 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: 'We are in trouble in our country'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJanuary 31, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Ryan Serhant starts work at 4:30 a.m.—he says most people don’t achieve their dreams because ‘what they really want is just to be lazy’
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Energy
Top energy expert says probability the U.S. will attack Iran soon is 75% as risk of major disruption to oil supply is priced in — 'this one is real'
By Jason MaFebruary 1, 2026
19 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

AIBots
Elon Musk warns a new social network where AI agents talk to each other is the beginning of the ‘singularity’
By Jason MaFebruary 2, 2026
39 minutes ago
huang
AINvidia
Pledge to invest $100 billion in OpenAI was ‘never a commitment,’ says Nvidia’s Huang
By Debby Wu, Nick Lichtenberg and BloombergFebruary 2, 2026
41 minutes ago
Dario Amodei sits in a white chair in front of a pink background and speaks animatedly.
AIAnthropic
Exclusive: Anthropic announces partnerships with Allen Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute as it bets AI can make science more efficient
By Sharon GoldmanFebruary 2, 2026
3 hours ago
NewslettersTerm Sheet
As Silicon Alley turns 30, New York is building its own tech mecca
By Leo SchwartzFebruary 2, 2026
5 hours ago
NewslettersFortune Tech
Start your engines: OpenAI and Anthropic race to IPO
By Alexei OreskovicFebruary 2, 2026
6 hours ago
Startups & Ventureaccounting
Goldman Sachs leads $75 million funding round for Fieldguide, an AI-native accounting and audit platform
By Leo SchwartzFebruary 2, 2026
7 hours ago