Nova's PicksGates Notes: 10 Books for Winter Selection
A winter reading shelf curated from Bill Gates' recent picks—built for the quiet days when you want books that feel absorbing, meaningful, and genuinely clarifying. These titles pull back the curtain on leadership, purpose, communication, climate solutions, and the systems that shape what progress looks like.
1. People, Purpose, and Reinvention
Stories that feel personal and cinematic. They are about identity, resilience, and what it takes to rebuild a life or lead through pressure.
Personal History
A leadership memoir about stepping into power unexpectedly, defending truth under political pressure, and proving that great leaders can come from places no one predicted.
Educated
A powerful account of breaking away from isolation and re-creating yourself through learning. It captures the painful, universal shift of seeing your parents as limited humans, not all-knowing authorities.
Born a Crime
A coming-of-age story that turns an outsider identity into insight and strength. It shows how humor can survive inside a system designed to erase you.
Surrender
A surprisingly vulnerable memoir about ambition, insecurity, and the hunger to be seen. Then realizing that massive crowds still can't solve private emotional needs.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
A warm, character-driven novel about a 70-year-old woman finding meaning again. It quietly explores what purpose looks like after work ends, and what communities owe their older members.
2. How the World Actually Works
Books that make complex systems legible. How the climate problem is changing, how media empires get built, and how “common knowledge” shapes human coordination.
Clearing the Air
One of the clearest, most data-grounded explanations of climate change. It is structured around 50 real questions and anchored in evidence that progress is happening across renewables, EVs, and industrial innovation.
When Everyone Knows and Everyone Knows…
A practical explanation of “common knowledge” and why it matters. It makes everyday social signals feel suddenly more readable once you understand how coordination really works.
Who Knew
A front-row memoir of modern media history. The book shows how long-term bets on ideas can reshape entire industries, from film and TV to the internet era.
3. Progress, Bottlenecks, and Big Fixes
A "winter reset" section for anyone thinking beyond the next week. This section focused on how societies get stuck, how optimism survives reality, and how progress becomes real.
Abundance
A sharp diagnosis of why the U.S. struggles to build. It is also a systems-level argument that progress depends on fixing the pipelines that turn good ideas into housing, infrastructure, clean energy, and scientific breakthroughs.
Chasing Hope
A memoir built around a hard question: how do you witness the worst of the world and stay optimistic anyway? It's a model of moral stamina. It is a reminder that optimism can be a discipline, not a mood.