Bill Gates: The Billionaire Book Critic
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
I also like writing reviews of what I read (mostly on Amazon [1]). Writing the review helps me remember and understand the contents better - so it benefits me. At the same time, I think it helps other people decide if they want to read the book for themselves. If not, then they got what I considered most important from my review.
[1] On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1CG7W9QANKGOB/ but occasionally also on my blog, like what I recently wrote about Ghost in the Wire by Kevin Mitnick http://henrikwarne.com/2015/12/27/social-engineering-from-ke...
huh?
Vacation with family: 4 to 5 per week
Other: zero to x per week
Total: 50 per year
I haven't read many of his recommended books, but quite a few have are on my Amazon wishlist for later buying.
Of the many books Bill has read, 81/195 have reviews (approximate). Given that he's reading on the order of 50 books a year, let's assume he's been at this for 4 years. That would be about 20 book reviews a year, and each book review on average probably takes him an hour or two to write, get feedback, and revise. (They are not really that involved: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/XKCD)
Seems like it is totally doable, and would not even really take up that much time.
I've worked with a few celebs over the years. Be them CEOs or models, they all have "people" to handling this stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to hear gates reads none of these books, that the entire scheme is handled by his PR. Worse yet, many extremely wealthy people believe "they" create things when they in fact pay others to do the real work. I'd need lots more evidence before I'd believe that someone like Gates is actually typing the words.
But even if he is reading these books, there is this from the OP:
"“‘We don’t have any say over what Bill chooses,’” she said “‘We just leave it on his desk and he reads what he wants to read.’” Ms. Kim lucked out"
They "don't have any say" except that they appear to be able to shortlist books. Getting your book onto the desk of a reviewer is 90+% of the effort needed to secure a review. The ability to place anything on the desk of a billionaire is the sort of influence for which people pay good money.
CEOs/presidents have even a larger amount of individual influence on what they do, as the roles are more open than say a CFO/CTO.
Sure - there are things they need to do, but there are also things they choose to do. Sure - when they do those things they are aware of their overall responsibilities, but they still choose among what things they do and dont do.
It's a nice skill to be able to read books quickly. You really don't need to read every word of every sentence if you got the author's point 3 pages ago.
I still count these books as read, even if I read some pages in a few seconds.
I'd think he would just indulge you in your insults and walk away, not remembering the interaction in any meaningful way.
HN should resolve to not tell other people they would be surprised by things in 2016.
How many of them were largely self-taught engineers who made tens of billions of dollars and then started methodically giving all that money away? (at least then the comparison would be interesting)
It really is not much of a stretch to assume that Bill Gates is an outlier.
Comparing him with the others may be inaccurate.
The article already states Gates' reading habits. Sometimes they do put some videos on Gates' notes, (the one I saw was Bill interviewing Vaclav Smil) and it was largely consistent with review, enough that gave an impression, Bill Gates wrote the review. He may have people prettying up or other stuff, but there is no doubt that Bill Gates is responsible for a very significant portion of the output on Gates notes.
Gates is still the wealthiest person, he doesn't give all money away. He is like Zuckerberg, they obviously run a foundation that bunkers their money. And to pay little tax money, they give away a few millions/billions. Basically they decide what they want to do with their tax money. That's at least what can read in independent news articles.
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/this-man-made-bill-gates-so-w...
Because he is now a political actor. He and his charities are in constant contact with various governments. He does appearances with world leaders regularly. His public image is what allows him to do things that others with similar means cannot. (Having a great public image and being invited to everything is also just plain fun.)