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

The business triumphs of Bill Gates are 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.

©2025 Bill Gates (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“We cling to tidy success narratives—appealing stories that trace an outsize triumph to a single critical decision, a vital personality trait, a striking incident from childhood. Such stories make extraordinary success seem comprehensible, perhaps (we imagine) even attainable. Yet reality tends to be more complicated. At a certain level of achievement, success is unfathomably contingent, requiring a hefty amount of luck on top of remarkable ability and durable conviction. In Source Code, Bill Gates’s chronicle of his early years, we are treated to an unexpectedly revealing account of the swirl of factors leading to the birth of Microsoft and the ascent of personal computing.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A remarkably introspective and personally revealing tour through some of the key moments and experiences that shaped Gates the boy and teenage programming whiz, years before he became a business titan.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“In contrast to the current crop of swaggering tech bros, the Microsoft founder comes across as wry and self-deprecating in this memoir of starting out. . . . [This volume] is more than just a geek’s inventory of early achievements. There is a genuine gratitude for influential mentors, and a wry mood of self-deprecation throughout. . . . There is a sense of the writer, older and wiser, trying to redeem the past through understanding it better, a thing that no one has yet seen Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg attempt in public. That alone makes Bill Gates a more human tech titan than most of his rivals, past and present.”—The Guardian

Great story with historical significance.

A wonderful book by Bill Gates. I wish he would have told his own story on Audible. Wil Wheaton is a terrible narrator. His voice drops off at the end of each sentence making much of his articulation unintelligible. The next time I see an Audible book narrated by Wil Wheaton I will pass.

Great Narration, But Not the Microsoft Story I Expected

I had been eagerly waiting for Source Code for months after preordering, especially since I had previously read Idea Man and wanted to hear the story from the other side. However, this book is primarily about Bill Gates’ youth rather than a deep dive into Microsoft’s history. While there is a chapter on Microsoft, it plays a relatively minor role in the overall narrative.

The title Source Code is excellent, and in hindsight, the cover featuring a young Bill should have made it clear what the focus would be.

One standout aspect is the narration—Wil Wheaton brings an incredible level of dramatization, which I’ve rarely heard in non-fiction audiobooks. At times, it feels a bit over the top, considering the book is in Bill’s own words, and he isn’t known for being particularly charismatic.

Overall, if you’re looking for insight into Gates’ early life and mindset, this is a great listen. But if you’re hoping for an in-depth Microsoft story or a look at his later life, this isn’t it. Hopefully, Bill has at least two more books in him—one focused entirely on Microsoft and another covering his post-Microsoft journey. I’d pre-order both immediately!

There is always more to someone’s life

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Bill Gates’ childhood stories and his experiences growing up through the beginning of Microsoft. While the content of his book is very interesting, I didn’t enjoy the reader at all. He overdoes it and becomes extremely annoying: I just can’t figure out why this man was selected to read this book. I wish Bill Gates himself would have read it; he does a fine job with the prologue and epilogue.

So interesting

The whole story of Microsoft is fascinating, but I particularly liked
getting to know his parents.

Remarkable

Bill Gates’ determination and hard work were key to his success. His relentless focus on innovation and commitment to learning helped him turn Microsoft into a global leader. I am lucky to live in a generation with genius as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

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!

Story is great .. narrator annoying

I listed for the story not to hear a show. Very annoying . Gates story was good wish he narrated it .