Gates
by Stephen Manes, Paul Andrews · first published 1993
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Readable, well-researched biography of Bill Gates that captures the thrill of building a startup and covers the Microsoft and Apple partnerships without judgment; suits readers curious about early personal computing.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
He is the youngest self-made billionaire in history, the most powerful person in the computer industry, the most eligible bachelor in America. His limited-edition Porsche, his high-tech mansion, his tantrums, and his odd rocking tic have become the stuff of legend. Bill Gates is an American icon, the ultimate revenge of the nerd. In high school he organized computer enterprises for profit. At Harvard he co-wrote Microsoft BASIC, the first commercial personal computer software - then dropped out and made it an international standard. At twenty-five, he offered IBM a program he did not yet own -
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2009–2020Winners, losers & Microsoft
S. J. Liebowitz, Stephen E. Margolis
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 33 recommend · 3 mention3 recommend · 33 recommend
2007–2024Microsoft Secrets
Michael A. Cusumano, Richard W. Selby
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 64 recommend · 6 mention4 recommend · 64 recommend
2010–2025Hard drive
James Wallace
Recommended by 11 · mentioned by 1611 recommend · 16 mention11 recommend · 1611 recommend
2014–2026Almost Perfect
Brian Katcher
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 1313 recommend · 13 mention13 recommend · 1313 recommend
2008–2025Programmers at work
Susan M. Lammers
Recommended by 19 · mentioned by 3619 recommend · 36 mention19 recommend · 3619 recommend
2012–2025Idea Man
Allen, Paul
Recommended by 17 · mentioned by 2417 recommend · 24 mention17 recommend · 2417 recommend
2008–2024Crypto
Steven Levy
Recommended by 26 · mentioned by 3426 recommend · 34 mention26 recommend · 3426 recommend
2014–2026The Innovators
Walter Isaacson, Francisco José Ramos Mena, Marcos Pérez Sánchez, Inga Pellisa Díaz
Recommended by 55 · mentioned by 7355 recommend · 73 mention55 recommend · 7355 recommend
Three I'm familiar with, all recommended: 'Gates', Stephen Manes [1] 'Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft', G.P. Zachary [2] 'Microsoft in the Mirror', Karin Carter [3] But I agree with the…
on “Programmers At Work: Bill Gates (1986)” ↗…Fair, The Way We Live Now, and Wodehouse. Biography Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, by Roger Lowenstein. An insightful biography of the greatest living investor, or maybe of all time. Gates, by Manes and Andrews, is also very good. Science Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics, by Gary Zukav, and The Tao of Physics, by Fritjof Capra, on the unbearable elusiveness of reality.…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗Gates by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews is a much better book. Bigger, better researched, better written, and a lot more accurate. (Paul Andrews worked for the Seattle Times and Microsoft was his beat. I guess…
on “Microsoft Has It All—Almost (1985)” ↗…Cyberculture - https://www.amazon.com/The-Friendly-Orange-Glow-audiobook/dp... Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age - https://www.amazon.com/Troublemakers-Silicon-Valleys-Coming-... Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire - https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp... Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture - https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Cult...…
on “Ask HN: Material on early computing history and innovation?” ↗I've not read 'Hard Drive', but I've re-read 'Gates' by Manes and Andrews, and can recommend it.
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗Nobody has written a modern, high quality, comprehensive biography of Gates. I'd recommend these three: Hard Drive (1993), by James Wallace Gates (1992), by Stephen Manes Idea Man (2011), by Paul Allen Idea Man is available for $5 on the Kindle right now and is an excellent…
on “Bill Gates Resume (1974)” ↗Also Recommended: Gates, by Manes and Andrews. It doesn't score high on a literary scale but it really captures the thrill of starting a company. It also covers the partnerships between MS and Apple without passing judgment.
on “Joel Spolsky: Don't Leave The Industry (You Whining Emo Girl)” ↗Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America, by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews. Yes, it's by far the best biography of Gates, and extremely detailed. However,…
on “Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”” ↗'Gates', Stephen Manes. It's a biography of Bill Gates, but you see a good deal of how Microsoft came to be.
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗…personally (and there was a lot) was almost all correct, and whatever the exceptions were weren't bad enough for me to recall them now. I don't see it on my shelf now, but I think it was http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Microsofts-Reinvented-Industry-H... The cover looks familiar, the year is about right, and I have a vague memory of the author being named "Steven".
on “Wozniak: “Actually, the movie was largely a lie about me”” ↗…Gary Kildall, "Who set the high price?". Gary said it was him. I don't know if the page is up. I also don't know how to find it. I'm betting it's somewhere in the Internet Archive. Even before OSes, Gates would argue with Allen: "If we give away our programming language for free, we will have high market share!" Allen would reply, "We would also go broke." Source: Andrews and Manes' "Gates": http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Microsofts-Reinvented-Industry-H...…
on “Gary Kildall” ↗Back in the day, Bill was kind of a dick, too. From Gates by Stephen Manes: “The Gates motivational method: You yell, you holler, you point out how stupid something is, the chastened subject goes back and redoubles his efforts to do a better job.” Actually,…
on “Bill Gates on his last visit with Steve Jobs ” ↗They've changed logos a number of times... and moved from Bellevue to Redmond in ~1985 (and from Albuquerque to Bellevue in 1979). - recollected from 'Gates', Stephen Manes.
on “Byte Magazine Smalltalk-80 Issue ” ↗The Gates biography 'Gates' by Stephen Manes recalls that Gates used to play chess against Paul Allen a great deal in the early days. IIRC, Gates would play very aggressively, leaving lots of opportunities to be…
on “Bill Gates loses to Magnus Carlsen in 9 moves” ↗