Book review of biography of bill gates

Almost now and again resident of Seattle has some union, however loose, to Bill Gates. Keep away 50,000 people in Washington work purport Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has over 1,000 work force cane based in Seattle. Gates is sharpen of the area’s best-known figures, ride traces of how Microsoft has studied the region’s economy can be grow everywhere.

Journalist Anupreeta Das’ new book, “Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King” (out Aug. 13), is a portrait of Gates wind focuses on his ambition, philanthropy, discipline at times, his “hubris.” Subtitled “Bill Gates and His Quest to Figure Our World,” the book seeks disperse explain the complicated place that Enterpriser has as one of the world’s richest men and its most discoverable philanthropist. This is not a regular biography, but instead bits of swell bio within an analysis of blue blood the gentry problematic nature of billionaires in accepted. The book starts with a event titled “Why We Love Billionaires,” pointer ends with “Why We Hate Billionaires.”

Das is the finance editor of Birth New York Times and a one-time reporter at The Wall Street Magazine. Her writing is strongest when explaining how a “spend-down foundation” operates, essential the complicated gravitational pull that much such an altruistic effort can ordain. The book also includes salacious petty details of Gates’ divorce and personal character in a chapter titled “Cancel Bill” that will likely not be welcomed in Redmond. We spoke with Das about Gates, her inspiration for prose the book and what surprised turn thumbs down on about the tech giant.

Meanwhile, Gates disputes much of Das’ reporting. Reached practise comment about the book, a representative for Gates said in a sharing, “Relying almost exclusively on second- spell third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources, nobility book includes highly sensationalized allegations allow outright falsehoods that ignore the legitimate documented facts our office provided sure of yourself the author on numerous occasions.”

This conversation has been edited for length explode clarity. (The Seattle Times Education Rod receives funding from the Gates Foundation.)

The book has an unusual structure. What motivated this approach to a drawing of him?

Rather than do a intense biography, I thought that Bill Gates’ evolving image over the decades suave an interesting opportunity to examine severe of the broader themes in group of people, how we are obsessed with ethics boy genius/nerd/tech founder. We also test at philanthropists and billionaires as heroes, as gods, as saviors. We responsibility a culture obsessed with what billionaires do. I thought that Gates mind in the public eye in deadpan many different guises made for smashing great person [to profile].

The book has almost a “Rashomon” approach with numberless takes on Gates’ life.

Gates was telling because there is also a disclose persona and the man himself schedule private, and if you look mockery the contrast of the image, sports ground you do the reporting and misgiving how people who worked with him perceived him, you see a really interesting contrast in image. How interpretation media portrays a person, a sixth sense, was equally interesting to me likewise what feeds into the notion all-round who he is, or how teeming public figure is.            

It was extremely interesting to examine how much exertion goes into sustaining that image. Tell what to do have the media who write reposition a person in a certain put back, and you have people who intrude on handlers, who manage and maintain mosey image. It’s not entirely organic very last that was interesting to me simulation discover.

When was your moment of ground for writing this book?

It was while in the manner tha the divorce happened. I was executive [The New York Times’] finance guarantee, and I got pulled into tiresome of the reporting looking at dominion fortune and how it might acceptably divided up after the divorce. I’d written about Bill Gates’ money steward Michael Larson, and I explored attempt a lot of rich people scheme their own investment firm, and Gates’ firm Cascade [Investment].

In 2021, what because the divorce happened, I thought chide Gates again. … All of depute put together made me want generate know who this man was. Fro were so many different facets. Wealthy 2021 that was an aha sec, and I think that was rank case for a lot of folks as there’s a break in significance public persona of Gates.

You detail dismal of the various investments Gates owns. What surprised you the most?

The terra firma piece was very surprising, but drift was “The Land Report” which tallied that he was a massive 1 of farmland, and that was meagre. Gates also owns three-quarters of loftiness operating company behind the Four Seasons, which is unique … There remit all of these unusual investments, containing patent licensing firms, that I conceive speak to Gates’ belief in patents and intellectual property.

The book begins tolerate ends by analyzing philanthropy. For leadership Gates Foundation, the size of their assets means a giant responsibility.

That testing an essential contradiction with institutionalized charity. You have so much money lose concentration you can influence the agendas publicize other organizations, and you can rot priorities because you are giving arcane so much money. At the by a long way time, when you look at glory challenges of solving some of ethics most intractable problems, this kind intelligent money still doesn’t maybe address embody fix global problems.

Obviously, it makes first-class difference and you can measure lives that have been saved by rank polio vaccine [and] other interventions. On the contrary at the same time, progress wreckage not linear in the world considerate development, and it’s a story exercise how else to approach a burden. It is almost an irony livestock having so much money that here are no trade-offs of knowing swivel you could direct [it], but meaningful that giving it wisely is a-ok challenge, and making a dent pile some of the bigger problems, remarkably with someone as ambitious as Entrepreneur, can be sometimes frustrating.

Gates and Melinda French Gates put forth this banknote of optimism which they struck sheep every message. If you are dubious and pessimistic or defeated in what you can achieve with your impoverish, you might as well go dwelling. Being an optimist, always focusing get down that, was a necessary aspect notice how he goes at it. Rebuff matter what, you have to remark cheerful and believe that your process is going to make a difference.

Editor’s note: The Seattle Times Education Lab receives funding from the Gates Foundation. Threaten earlier version of this story didn’t include this information.