Bill Gates puts a chapter from his favorite biz book online for free and lists 2014’s 5 must-reads

Bill Gates is out with his top reads from 2014. Along with his five favorite books of the year, he also got permission to release a chapter from his favorite business book, Business Adventures, online for free.

“The example of Xerox is one that everyone in the tech industry should study,” writes Gates about the chapter in Business Adventures, which details how Xerox become an R&D icon of the middle 20th century yet failed to benefit from many of its own innovations because they were outside the company’s core business.

In addition to Business Adventures, Gates also recommends Thomas Piketty’s inequality epic, Capital in the Twenty-First Century; a study of Asia’s economic success, How Asia Works; a novel, The Rosie Effect; and a look at the materials behind major inventions, Making the Modern World.

The blog post comes with a quaint graphical representation of each book in the video below:

I found Bill Gates’ thoughts on Piketty’s Capital absolutely fascinating. Piketty became a viral sensation this year in a book outlining the causes of rampant inequality. Gates agrees with most of Piketty’s premise but thinks that he undercuts how much technology has done for the poor. Disparity between rich and poor may have increased but so has the quality of life for everyone.

Readers can download the chapter from Business Adventures here.