Bill Gates made his fortune in the world of operating systems and computers, but it’s an “antiquated” system that he credits for his knowledge. Gates carries a tote bag full of books “everywhere he goes.”
Books are so critical to Gates’s life, the tote bag plays a recurring role in the new Netflix series, Inside Bill’s Brain. The opening scene begins with a close-up of Gates carefully placing hardcover books in the bag until it reaches the top. The bag holds about fifteen books, some of which are 500-page books which weigh up to two pounds each.
Gates is “joyous about learning,” according to friends. Gates’s assistant refreshes the bag of books every week and packs it for every trip. In one scene, she’s reading off the titles of books as she packs the bag. The books range from popular non-fiction books such as Measure What Matters, Bad Blood, and Educated to science books that examine topics like vaccines and quantum mechanics.
One friend recalls a vacation when Gates brought fourteen books along. “He doesn’t read one about about something, he’ll read five books about it, most of which are too dense for any mortal to read. He almost always knows more than the other person he talks to.”
Gates shares his voracious reading habit with his good friend, Warren Buffett, who once said that knowledge builds up like compound interest. The more you read, the more you know. Although Gates travels to interesting places and meets with the world’s top scientists, “Reading is still the main way that I learn new things and test my understanding,” he once said. “Each book opens up new avenues of knowledge to explore.”
Gates is an active reader, which means he gets the most out of every book. First, he writes a ton of notes in the margins. Second, Gates commits to uninterrupted reading time. In a scene from one of his ‘think weeks,’ Gates walks on a dock toward a small, remote cabin. He’s carrying his tote bag of new books. He sits at a small desk with a view of the water. The only items he places on the desk are a Diet Coke, a notepad, a pen and a book. Magazine articles, he once said, can be read in the short bursts of time, but books require that you set aside at least an hour at a time.
“You have pick a finite number of things to tell your mind to work on,” says Gates. “You have to decide what you should care about.” Once Gates decides what to care about, he immerses himself in the topic—educating himself on every possible aspect of the subject. And if that means reading obsure books, then it’s part of the job.
In the third and final episode of the series, Gates is standing in his massive home library and pointing to one shelf with at least thirty books on it. Each of the books belongs to one author, Vaclav Smil, a Canadian energy scientist. Smil’s books help Gates understand how to create clean energy to meet the world’s needs while reducing carbon emissions. Some of the books are even too dense for Gates. He pulled one of Smil’s books off the shelf that he hadn’t finished. “The natural audience size might be less than one on this one,” Gates joked.
If success leave clues, Gates is giving leaders a key lesson. Reading is “absolutely” essential to success in any field, he once said in an interview. “You don’t really start getting old until you stop learning. Every book teaches me something new or helps me see things differently…Reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world, which I think helped drive me forward in my career.”