Recently i was forwarded a New York Times article about Bill Gates and his reading habits. One would wonder whether long form reading still plays a major part in people's learning. Well if you are like Bill Gates it certainly does. According to Gates he reads about 50 books a year and he does say that a major part of his learning comes from books. I think with his schedule finding time to read 50 books a year is quite a feat. What is more impressive is that he finds time to review some of them. Gates has a section on his site listng some of the books he has read and some of his reviews. You can access it hear: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books.

You should read some of the reviews, they are quite insightful. What I also find interesting are his reading choices, mostly non-fiction, they are a combination of biographies, management, business, science and health topics. Books that certainly won't meet the criteria of brain candy. I love reading but seeing the kind of books that Gates reads challenged me to be a bit more stretching with my reading. I'm currently reading The Innovators by Walter Isaacson, the author of Steve Jobs best selling biography and it's a book like i've never read before. The learning i have got from it even though i'm just half way through is immense. Expect a review soon. But the lesson for me from Gates is to read more and read stuff that stretches and challenges me.