Source Code

My Beginnings

By: Bill Gates

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Bill Gates

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The origin story of one of the most influential and transformative business leaders and philanthropists of the modern age

“A surprisingly candid memoir of the Microsoft mogul’s early years…Reading this book feels like watching someone take a well-known black-and-white sketch, fill in the details, and paint it in vivid color.” —GeekWire

Everyone is programmed a little differently, and Bill Gates' unique insight led to business triumphs that are now widely known: the twenty-year-old who dropped out of Harvard to start a software company that became an industry giant and changed the way the world works and lives; the billionaire many times over who turned his attention to philanthropic pursuits to address climate change, global health, and U.S. education.

Source Code is not about Microsoft or the Gates Foundation or the future of technology. It’s the human, personal story of how Bill Gates became who he is today: his childhood, his early passions and pursuits. It’s the story of his principled grandmother and ambitious parents, his first deep friendships and the sudden death of his best friend; of his struggles to fit in and his discovery of a world of coding and computers in the dawn of a new era; of embarking in his early teens on a path that took him from midnight escapades at a nearby computer center to his college dorm room, where he sparked a revolution that would change the world.

Bill Gates tells this, his own story, for the first time: wise, warm, revealing, it’s a fascinating portrait of an American life.

Interesting story, poorly read.

Interesting story, but poorly narrated. Narrator regularly dropped his voice at the end of sentences, making the final word or words nearly impossible to hear, particularly if you are in a car or noisy environment. Too bad.

Great Story

Very interesting and insightful into what drove Bill Gates and the opportunities he pursued. Also a fascinating look at the birth and growth of what became the personal computer.

terrible narration

Clown narrator... oh my... the story is well worth, but narrator is a joke, so teathric

Engaging from start to finish

Wow, I did not expect the level of details and personal insights shared by Bill Gates. The book grabbed me from the start and had me reluctant to put it down all the way through the epilogue. To me, this was one of the top ten books I have ever read … and the most enjoyable. I highly recommend this book!

Bill Gates changed my life!

I’m so glad to finally know his life story. I have heard it’s good to read famous people’s autobiographies. Especially the ones you admire. It’s like crawling inside their minds. My first computer was a Windows 3.1, 56K modem, 512KB HD. Boy, is that thing a dinosaur!