--- title: 6 Books Bill Gates Recommended for TED 2015 description: The business magnate shares the best business book he's ever read canonical: https://time.com/3766307/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-01T16:53:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:19:03.438Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 6 Books Bill Gates Recommended for TED 2015 og:description: The business magnate shares the best business book he's ever read og:url: https://time.com/3766307/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a52a30be4c9e4e2/6987861455a85953baa86956/488198093-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bill Gates og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 6 Books Bill Gates Recommended for TED 2015 twitter:description: The business magnate shares the best business book he's ever read twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a52a30be4c9e4e2/6987861455a85953baa86956/488198093-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 6 Books Bill Gates Recommended for TED 2015 by [Shane Parrish](/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 1, 2015 4:53 PM CUT  Bill Gates Bill GatesBloomberg—Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 1, 2015 4:53 PM CUT Bill Gates, long an [avid](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/07/bill-gates-books-to-read-summer/ "undefined") [reader](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/12/bill-gates-best-books-2013/ "undefined"), attended the TED conference again this year and continued his [tradition of recommending books](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/bill-gates-ted-books/ "undefined") to fellow attendees. 1\. [Business Adventures, by John Brooks](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1497644895/farnamstreet-20 "undefined") --- > “” --- 2\. [The Bully Pulpit, by Doris Kearns Goodwin](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416547878/farnamstreet-20 "undefined") --- > “” --- 3\. [On Immunity, by Eula Biss](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1555976891/farnamstreet-20 "undefined") --- > “” --- 4\. [Making the Modern World, by Vaclav Smil](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1119942535/farnamstreet-20 "undefined") --- > “” --- 5\. [How Asia Works, by Joe Studwell](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802121322/farnamstreet-20 "undefined") --- > “” --- 6\. [How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393310728/farnamstreet-20 "undefined") --- > “” --- _This_ [_article_](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/03/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_Farnam Street_](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/ "undefined")_._ Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email [here](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3766307/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3766307/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/"},"headline":"6 Books Bill Gates Recommended for TED 2015","datePublished":"2015-04-01T16:53:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:19:03.438Z","description":"The business magnate shares the best business book he's ever read","url":"https://time.com/3766307/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/","keywords":["Books","Bill Gates","ideas","Ted"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a52a30be4c9e4e2/6987861455a85953baa86956/488198093-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a52a30be4c9e4e2/6987861455a85953baa86956/488198093-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Gates","caption":"Bill Gates","creditText":"Bloomberg—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3766307/6-books-bill-gates-recommended-for-ted-2015/","name":"6 Books Bill Gates Recommended for TED 2015"}}]}] ```