Smart People Are Reading These Books

Ok, so you’ve seen the nine books Bill Gates is reading this summer. Gates has some pretty smart friends and they were kind enough to share what they were reading this summer too.

******

Vinod Khosla is one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems,and founder of the firm Khosla Ventures, which focuses on venture investments in various technology sectors, most notably clean technology.

Here’s a list of books recommended by Vaclav Smil, who does interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy.

Nathan Myhrvold, was Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer, and now follows a wide variety of interests.

Here’s a list of books recommended by Arne Duncan, the United States Secretary of Education and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

Here’s a list of books recommended by Steven Pinker, a Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. He conducts research on language and cognition, and his most recent book is “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.”

Peter Diamandis, Abundance – Diamandis is even more optimistic than I am, and this book will remind readers of the opportunities we have to stave off disease, hunger, and privation. Henry Hitching, The Language Wars – a stylish history of style and usage, for those of you who have ever wondered who decides what’s correct and incorrect in the English language. Rebecca Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction – an exploration of the tension between faith and reason, played out in the romantic and academic fortunes of an atheist bestselling professor.

Here’s a list of books recommended by David Christian. David is a member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities who originated the “Big History” online course, which surveys the past on the largest possible scales.

Here’s a book recommended by Charles Kenny, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and the New America Foundation. He’s also the author of “Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding, and How We Can Improve the World Even More.”

The book I’ve just finished is a couple of years old – so out in paperback and perfect for the beach. It’s A Splendid Exchange by William Bernstein – a history of trade from pretty much the beginning to now. That makes It a global history, but one focused on some of the most colorful of the world’s explorers and some of its most interesting technology. It particularly interesting to see how much truly globe-spanning trade has turned from an activity designed to bring a few luxuries to the very rich into a vital part of preserving the quality of life of everyone planet-wide.

Here’s a list of books recommended by Atul Gawande, a surgeon and public health researcher who practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He’s also the author of “The Checklist Manifesto.”

Michael Kinsley is a columnist for Bloomberg View and for many years was the Editor of The New Republic and a columnist for the Washington Post.

There is only one novel that makes the cut for any of the other distinguished recommenders. That is Zuleika Dobson (1911), by Max Beerbohm, a parody of life at Oxford. I would only give it a B+ (although there is a very funny portrayal of an American Rhodes Scholar). Those who are willing to leave the heavy stuff to Bill and are looking for something shorter and more amusing might consider: The Dog of the South, by Charles Portis. A first-person account of one man’s attempt to reclaim his wife by following her trail of credit-card charges.”It was cool up there and the landscape was not like the friendly earth I knew. This was the cool dry place that we hear so much about, the place where we are supposed to store things.” Memento Mori, by Muriel Spark. A group of old people in London keep getting a mysterious phone call from someone saying, “Remember you must die.” Scoop (or anything else) by Evelyn Waugh. This great novel of journalism has absolutely nothing to say about the profession’s current trials. Finally, I second Bill’s recommendation of Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, an unbelievably rich account of the life of the unbelievably poor people who live on a mountain of trash next to Mumbai’s glamorous new international airport.

Source: The Gates Notes, various pages.