Reading Habits of Bill Gates- Insights from 'Inside Bill's Brain' (2024)

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Reading Habits of Bill Gates- Insights from 'Inside Bill's Brain'? ›

Mike Slade, former director of marketing at Microsoft, reveals that Bill Gates doesn't read one book about something, he reads at least five books to arrive at a decisive insight about something. His phenomenal reading speed

Bill Gates

The former Microsoft CEO has attested to reading 50 books a year, or roughly one book a week. Most of the books are non-fiction dealing with public health, disease, engineering, business, and science. Every now and then he'll breeze through a novel (and sometimes in one sitting late into the night).

The trick, he says, is context. “If you read enough, there's a similarity between things that make it easy, because this thing is like this other thing. If you have a broad framework, then you have a place to put everything,” Gates says in the Quartz video, “How Bill Gates remembers what he reads.”

Similarly, Musk's habit of reading began at a young age, with reports suggesting he spent up to ten hours a day immersed in books, even reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.

Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey – they are all successful in their respective careers, and they have one thing in common – all of them follow the 5-hour rule. This means allotting one hour per weekday for reading and learning (e.g. online courses).

He takes notes as he goes, whether it be in the margins or on a yellow legal pad. He prefers paper books to ebooks and makes sure he blocks out at least an hour when he does sit down with a book. Gates says that you need at least an hour to get in a groove.

Gates won't begin reading a book that he won't finish. According to his wife Melinda, Bill reads approximately 150 pages per hour, a staggering speed, especially given that he takes in and understands the vast majority of what he reads (his comprehension level is off the charts).

Bill Gates takes notes in the margins of the book he reads. Isn't that funny? “For me, taking notes helps make sure that I'm really thinking hard about what's in there.

(Gates famously packs a tote bag of books when he goes on vacations.) “On vacation I get to read about 3 hours a day so I get through a lot of books,” Gates wrote on the Reddit AMA. Taking notes is one way that Gates synthesizes all the information he reads.

What books does Bill Gates recommend to read? ›

In his blog GatesNotes, Gates wrote, “Cheeseburgers are my favorite food. But I wish they weren't, given the impact they have on the environment.” He discussed the difficulty in finding alternatives that fully satisfy the craving for a traditional cheeseburger.

You know him as the founder of Facebook, but Mark Zuckerberg is also an avid reader.

Let's first answer the critical question — Elon Musk's IQ is around 155. For context, it is believed that Albert Einstein had an IQ between 160 to 165. As such, Elon is way more brilliant than the average person.

And just like most other successful people, Jeff Bezos has a habit of reading books too. Bezos is very passionate about books and reading. And in the appendix of Brad Stone's book on Amazon, there is a list of books called “Jeff's Reading List”. You can find the books recommended by Jeff Bezos there.

Gates reads 50 books each year, and often takes a tote bag of books with him on vacation. “On vacation I get to read about 3 hours a day so I get through a lot of books,” Gates wrote during a 2021 Reddit AMA.

How many hours a day does Elon Musk read? Before Elon Musk became the owner of Tesla, he read for 10 hours a day. It helped him build confidence, empathy, decision-making, and other skills that are crucial to being a business owner.

That sense of accomplishment you get after doing something productive is addictive, and you will want to do more throughout the day. I noticed a significant increase in productivity since I started reading in the morning. I also tend to reach for a book more often during the day if I start it with reading.