Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs: the Books They Recommended (mostrecommendedbooks.com) 45
Slashdot has featured "the 61 books Elon Musk has recommended on Twitter" as well as the 41 books Mark Zuckerberg recommended on Facebook. Both lists were compiled by a slick web site (with Amazon referrer codes) called "Most Recommended Books." But they've also created pages showing books recommended by over 400 other public figures — incuding Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs — which provide surprisingly revealing glimpses into the minds of two very different men.
Here's some of the highlights...
Gates' recommendations include Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War (which he calls "the book I had been waiting for. I can't recommend it highly enough.") But he also recommends Steven Pinker's more optimistic popular science books The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now (which Gates called "my new favorite book of all time.") Other books also reflect Gates' interest in philanthropy, including The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, and the 2015 book On Immunity. ("I had no idea how informative [this book] would be, even for someone like me who has been supporting and learning about vaccine research for many years.")Here's some of the highlights...
The co-founder of Microsoft also calls John Brooks' Business Adventures "the best business book I've ever read," while also enjoying SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, the classic math book How to Lie with Statistics, and Morten Jerven's Poor Numbers (which Gates says "makes a strong case that a lot of Gross Domestic Product measurements we thought were accurate are far from it.") He also notes Andrew S. Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive (about which he says "[This] basic theme is in the culture of Microsoft"), while David Brooks' The Road to Character "got me thinking about my own motivations and limitations in new ways." Also recommended: Hit Refresh by Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella.
Other recommended books show a more personal side of Gates, including Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime by his father Bill Gates Senior, and The Moment of Life, a call for change by Melinda Gates. There's also The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard P. Feynman and Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise, plus Neal Stephenson's hard-science fiction novel Seveneves, Jim Gaffigan's comic memoir Dad is Fat, and both What If? and xkcd: volume 0 by Randall Munroe.
Gates also recommended Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography, as well as the 2016 book Becoming Steve Jobs: the Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader, which Gates says "has me thinking of my old friend. A true visionary."
The late Steve Jobs himself has just 30 book on his recommendations page, including Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. (Steve Wozniak remembered that Jobs "read some books that really were his guide in life. I think [this book] might have been one of them that he mentioned back then.") Other novels include Jack Kerouac's On the Road and its vaguely Buddhist follow-up The Dharma Bums. ("[Steve Jobs and I] definitely read [this book] prior to the India trip," remembers Daniel Kottke.)
Other revealing books on Jobs' list include The Way of Zen, The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment and Ram Dass's book Be Here Now (which Jobs said "was profound. It transformed me and many of my friends"). Also included is Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. Saleforce CEO Marc Benioff is cited as saying that everyone at Steve Jobs' memorial service got a copy of the book. "This was the last thing he wanted us all to think about."
But other recommendations include Clayton M. Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma (which Walter Isaacson said had "deeply influenced" Jobs) and The Business Value of Computers. "It's rather thick and it's not good bedime reading," Jobs had said turing his lifetime. "But you can plough through it and there's some incredible stuff..."
And interestingly, one book appeared on both Steve Jobs' list and Bill Gates' list: Andrew S. Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive. "This book is about one super-important concept," Jobs once said. "You must learn about Strategic Inflection Points, because sooner or later you are going to live through one."
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Neither of Bill Gates’ parents were on the IBM board of directors.
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When IBM selected Microsoft, Microsoft was already a going business with the BASIC interpreter used on most of the pre-IBM-PC hardware.
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Yeah but who the fuck got the, come on they can not possibly be that stupid, to ignore copyright. So they pay to build M$ and then give it all away. The insiders were IBM own lawyers and the QDos, what is going to be the excuse for that. Damn, we would have all be better off if they lying little scummy cunt Wee Willie Gates the turd had bought CPM instead, a much better operating system than Qdos (in the fucking name itself Quick Dirty Operating system, the name change, showing just how dumb Wee Willie is, MSDOS M$ dick operating system, could only manage to swap the Q for MS, the genius). Yeah this was a mummy and daddy operation and the set the little liar up and then using IBMs own lawyers ripped IBM investors right off, big time. M$ office only won because the idiot lotus eaters were as high as fuck on their profit margins and refused to drop the price and down they went, too stoned on coke and heroine to do anything about it.
Gates has always been a nasty little lying scummy cunt, the only good thing about gates, good as in effective and not of human worth, the PR=B$ M$ paid for to make the executives look good to sell the product, high IQ wee willie, yep uh huh, high lying IQ maybe but not the rest.
As for text books I reccomend, NONE. You read want you want out of them and done, how ever many chapters, ignoring the twaddle and focus on the good stuff of value to you at the time. They are called reference books for a reason. Read a text book and put it away, SHITTY TEXT BOOK, keep it and refer to it, THE BEST POSSIBLE TEXT BOOK.
Fun reads, the only books I read in their entirety, one per day, a good series the Helliconia series by Brian Aldiss and really good fun read. I could probably list one hundred really good fun reads but they are packed in boxes that I never bother to look in that much any more and that has been true for over a decade, the internet, it is simply too interactive and provides much reading material, both serious reference works and fun reading. I reach for one of my old paperbacks, only when the power goes down.
duly noted
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He did however have a 94 year old parent who died of Coronavirus a week ago today ...
Are you sure? News reports are saying [cbsnews.com] it was from Alzheimer's disease, not Covid-19.
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He did however have a 94 year old parent who died of Coronavirus a week ago today
Liar He died of the effects of Alzheimer’s.
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
was on the supreme court in Washington
Liar Bill Gates Sr was never a judge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org].
his mother a director of a large bank First Interstate Bank of Washington in 1980
Liar She was a board member, not a director.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I see you are still sucking Trump's dick
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You can like the walled garden for legitimate reasons. You can like specific hardware for all sorts of legitimate reasons. But the iPhone 1 (for example) was such a massive pile of shit, but the marketing/fanboy RDF plus the fact that it came out pretty much right as Youtube and Facebook-for-the-masses we
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For that matter, what exactly are Jobs' accomplishments other than being able to market stuff to convince people (including, apparently, legions of hypersensitive nerds) that he invented / perfected it?
You can like the walled garden for legitimate reasons. You can like specific hardware for all sorts of legitimate reasons. But the iPhone 1 (for example) was such a massive pile of shit, but the marketing/fanboy RDF plus the fact that it came out pretty much right as Youtube and Facebook-for-the-masses were being launched made hundreds of millions of people sit up, take note, and associate the whole concept of of a smartphone with Apple and Apple alone. (Despite the fact that the damned thing wasn't even 3G, had a significantly worse app environment than Android, couldn't send pictures using the most widely supported standard of the day, MMS, etc.)
It's really one of Apple's worst products, but because of their incredibly fortuitous timing, their glitter (though sadly-delayed N900 was better, even with resistive touchscreen) , their marketing and their unusually loyal fanbase it became the most important and successful product line they ever make. I mean hell, pre-iPhone, most people I knew didn't even realize they could use their existing phones as MP3 players (e.g., the second generation RAZRs could), and with a far longer battery life than the iPhone could manage. Jobs deserves credit for being able to alter consumer's knowledge, perceptions and behavior, sure. But that's not how his accomplishments are typically described.
They gave people what we all knew we could have. What we all knew we yearned for.
I bought a Phillips touchscreen mp3/photo/something else device just before the iPhone was released. Steve jobs called it a "shiny brick" by name. At the time I thought "What a fucking dick"
It was in the years that followed that I realized his genius. I never owned the original iPhone, I started with the 3gs. And I've had every 2-3 generations since.
He gave us the thing that we have all ALWAYS wanted. He gave it to us first.
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The iPhone 1 was, as I just said, a piece of shit. The Android and N900, both of which were in the works at the time and came out about a year later (maybe closer to 2 years for the N900), were much nicer. Most importantly, they were 3G (as were many phones *predating* the iPhone 1.) They let you send and receive picture texts (this was back when MMS was the main meth
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Except no, no he didn't do it "first". That was my whole point. As I recall, the Android G1 came out over a year before the 3GS you used.
The iPhone 1 was, as I just said, a piece of shit. The Android and N900, both of which were in the works at the time and came out about a year later (maybe closer to 2 years for the N900), were much nicer. Most importantly, they were 3G (as were many phones *predating* the iPhone 1.) They let you send and receive picture texts (this was back when MMS was the main method of doing this over cell phones.) They let you create custom ring tones. They had removable batteries (which I still count as a big plus; maybe you don't.) Android had great app marketplace back when Apple was stifling the shit out of their own marketplace.
Jobs gave us something very much halfassed and overpriced "first". Competition with Android (which, again, was in the works prior to the iPhone 1's release) led to them offering something usable years later.
The only genuinely sorta-innovative thing the iPhone 1 brought to the table was the capacitive screen, which I (as a former N900 owner) believe has been somewhat overrated. It's especially overrated since they refuse to make plastic ones, thus making phones far, far more fragile (I've used a plastic capacitive touchscreen phone and it worked fine, the only issues were increased friction--but that can be dealt with--and the need for a film screen protector if you're worried about scratches.)
And not to sit here repeating myself but once again, the iPhone 1 was released the same year social media exploded. (Within a year of the release of Youtube and public access Facebook, as I recall.) It's ridiculous to give Apple credit for that. Other platforms could watch Youtube vids as well (often MUCH more effectively, for the 3G phones); Apple got all the glory simply because their brand awareness was exploding at that point.
Whom was responsible for said brand awareness?
Are we done?
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Jobs deserves credit for being able to alter consumer's knowledge, perceptions and behavior, sure. But that's not how his accomplishments are typically described.
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It was not the technical merits alone that made the iPhone successful. It was the user experience of two very specific things put together: pinch to zoom and capacitive touch. Those together made mobile web browsing possible before mobile-optimization was a thing. Before modern apps were really a thing. Nothing else they did with the iPhone really matters.
I never had an iPhone, but this is what made smartphones take off. It wasn't until after those features had made it to Android that I really cared ab
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It was NOT some ultra-revolutionary thing that suddenly made web browsing usable:
1) First and foremost, the N900 (and its non-cellphone predecessors... which came out BEFORE the iPhone 1) used resistive touchscreen and spiral to zoom with its webbrowser. Spiral to zoom was really easy to use. Is it as quick and precise as pinch to zoom? No, not *quite*, but very close. It was perfectly usable and is easier to
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It was NOT some ultra-revolutionary thing that suddenly made web browsing usable:
It didn't take much. It was just enough to push over the edge of usability. Capacitive + pinch to zoom. Technical users could use anything, but this finally put it in a form that could catch on more widely.
There were mobile "versions" of many web sites prior to that. But nothing unified - and you often had to switch to the desktop version of a site to have full functionality. Being able to use desktop sites effectively on such a tiny screen was a big deal.
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Well, no, sorry, that wasn't it. The iPhone 1 was an EDGE phone for crying out loud. Its web browsing was for that reason alone abysmal.
Pinch to zoom was a nice incremental improving features, but zoom simply wasn't that much more difficult on resistive screens and no o
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And what - you think it was only marketing? Again, you were happy with the N900. You're not the target demographic. I'll admit that visual voicemail was probably a part of it, but that's less a phone feature and more coercing network operators to move forward.
Both phones had WiFi. The fact is, cell network speed isn't the only relevant thing.
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Well, if you (for whatever insane reason) believe that to be true, why don't you check all the other kids of IBM directors and see how Billy measures up.
The heck with Bill's and Steve's books (Score:2)
They've got lists from Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, and Emma Watson!
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Only the Paranoid Survive (Score:3)
And interestingly, one book appeared on both Steve Jobs' list and Bill Gates' list: Andrew S. Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive. "This book is about one super-important concept," Jobs once said. "You must learn about Strategic Inflection Points, because sooner or later you are going to live through one."
I find it surprising that Job's read and liked this book. It has been a while since I read the book but the most important point I remember is the detailing of the transition of the computer industry from the Vertical to Horizontal. That is, the early major computer players were nearly entirely vertical producing everything from the hardware to the OS to the Apps. The disruption in this business model was the horizontal layering where companies specialize... for example Intel CPUs, Microsoft OS, Others Apps. Jobs as far as I know (I never an Apple user so correct me if i am wrong) kept to the vertical model aka walled gardens.
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And interestingly, one book appeared on both Steve Jobs' list and Bill Gates' list: Andrew S. Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive. "This book is about one super-important concept," Jobs once said. "You must learn about Strategic Inflection Points, because sooner or later you are going to live through one."
I find it surprising that Job's read and liked this book. It has been a while since I read the book but the most important point I remember is the detailing of the transition of the computer industry from the Vertical to Horizontal. That is, the early major computer players were nearly entirely vertical producing everything from the hardware to the OS to the Apps. The disruption in this business model was the horizontal layering where companies specialize... for example Intel CPUs, Microsoft OS, Others Apps. Jobs as far as I know (I never an Apple user so correct me if i am wrong) kept to the vertical model aka walled gardens.
That is my take as well.
These days the company that can make it's own hardware and OS, and apps is extraordinarily rare. Maybe even only one in fact. This is called a Unicorn.
How many top players today can say that their hardware is designed to support their software and that their software exist only to maximize the capability of the hardware? Add in walled garden of approved apps, and BOOM! Game over.
Apple vs. Android comparison always make me laugh. One phone vs, all other phones , OK
Tell me why I'm w
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Each strategy has its place and strong points. Apple filters out a lot of riff-raff. On Android & Windows you get more riff-raff, but also more choice and perhaps more bargains. It's more wild-west: more freedom but also more likely you'll get shot in the e-back.
Jobs wanted to make a "great experience" for the customer; Gates was about quantity of features and market share. Jobs didn't want to be known for crap, Gates was happy to sell average qualit
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Jobs as far as I know (I never an Apple user so correct me if i am wrong) kept to the vertical model aka walled gardens.
Semi-vertical. Third-party software is huge to Apple's success, especially Adobe software. They didn't start putting their own CPUs in computers until this year. Sometimes just being aware of the trade-off is enough, and they made enough of the right choices to still be around.
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They didn't start putting their own CPUs in computers until this year.
Say-what-now? Apple has used in-house designed processors for most of their history. Their use of off-the-shelf Intel processors was a relatively brief stint.
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The M68K is a standard Motorola CPU - directly off the shelf. PowerPC is more or less just the POWER architecture by IBM. Apple had some input in the design, but was far from the only user of these CPUs. Apple's A-series chips are designed, based on the ARM spec - but mostly Apple's own design.
Their secret #1 favorite books (Score:4, Insightful)
Determining which one is which is left as an exercise to the reader.
Jobs: "Do you remember the time you were poor?" (Score:2)
Gates: "No."
*Both men grin*
Book of the Subgenius ? (Score:1)
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The real battle (Score:2)
im more interested in what Woz would recommend (Score:3)
i just ... dont care.
i also dont understand the obsession with these guys.
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Gates is nothing like Woz. Woz was able to see beyond what was in front of him, taking ideas from an array of sources and making them coalesce. He also puts the needs of others before himself. Gates is neither of those things.
There's plenty of interviews with people who worked with Jobs in the early and later days. If you think Jobs is about marketing, read those articles. Or just keep thinking what you're thinking if that's what you're comfortable with.
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It's all part of the myth that if you just behave like a rich person you too can become one.
In reality you either have to get extremely lucky or be born into wealth (same thing). Simply emulating people like Jobs and Gates and especially voting for things they think are good ideas actually makes it less likely you will become rich.
Is it a sign? (Score:2)
My mother was a teacher. She taught people who we might now describe as having "special needs". 30+ years ago when she was doing that, they did not need to use special words. The words they used had not yet been devalued by nasty people. I think there have been at least two cycles of acceptable/trendy descriptions of this group. The kids in question described themselves to me as "stupid", "thick" and lots of other words I never did as it was just rude
My school terms were not as long as theirs so I ende
Let's see what they read (Score:2)
Was it Bezos who read, among others, Atlas Shrugged, and thought it was good (rather than *terrible* writing, and Gault's employees were waiting after a 60 or 90 page speech with baseball bats?).
Meanwhile, Gates, who since he retired from M$, I find myself less hostile to, mentions things like Feynmann's Lectures on Physics, and Diamond's Gun, Germs and Steel.
Gaming (Score:1)