In 2017, Gates wrote that he'd read all of Smil's then-37 published books, on topics ranging from clean energy to manufacturing and agriculture. The book is the latest work from Vaclav Smil, a Czech-Canadian professor emeritus of environmental science at the University of Manitoba. Gates doesn't hold back his praise for ' How the World Really Works,' calling it 'another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors.' Notably, he writes that Robinson's novel offers 'a lot of intriguing ideas' while effectively explaining the science behind climate change and working toward 'a surprisingly hopeful ending.' 'How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going' Gates himself is an outspoken climate change activist who wrote his own book putting forth potential solutions to climate change last year. It is set in the near future, and follows a fictional global organization that spearheads various efforts to combat climate change. ' The Ministry for the Future' is a sci-fi – or cli-fi, short for 'climate fiction' – novel published in 2020. 'Towles takes inspiration from famous hero's journeys and seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope,' Gates writes. It's the story of a teenager's cross-country journey with his younger brother, which is thrown off course by a pair of tag-alongs from the protagonist's history on a work farm for juvenile offenders. Published last year, Towles' latest work is an adventure novel set in 1954. 'The Lincoln Highway: A Novel'Īmerican novelist Amor Towles is quickly becoming a staple on Gates' reading lists: The billionaire included Towles' bestselling 'A Gentleman in Moscow' on his 2019 summer list, and now writes that he enjoyed ' The Lincoln Highway' almost as much. 'If you want to understand what's going on with politics in the United States right now, this is the book to pick up,' Gates writes.

Klein's book approaches America's political divisions from a psychological perspective, arguing that the groups people self-identify with – including political parties – play an outsized role in how they make decisions and view the world. is the 'one thing that dampens my outlook.' That very topic is the subject of ' Why We're Polarized,' written by Klein, a political analyst and co-founder of Vox. Gates tries to remain 'generally optimistic' about the future, he writes, but political polarization in the U.S.

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