Is Bill Gates a hero or villain? New book presents a balanced perspective

There is no shortage of books on the Microsoft founder, but this latest one is different in that it paints Mr Gates in shades of grey, leaving it to readers to make their own judgement about the man

Billionaire, Nerd, Saviour, King: The Hidden Truth About Bill Gates and his Power to Shape our World

Author: Anupreeta Das

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 336

Price: Rs 799

The problem with writing a book about William Henry Gates III, better known as Bill Gates, is that there are far too many books about the man already, several of which he authored himself. Even if we take only the books written by others and not by Mr Gates himself, one would easily end up with close to two dozen titles. With billions at the command of his Foundation, Mr Gates influences governments and policymakers across the globe in a range of areas and that is why new books get written about him. Some of these books are biographies, many more are hagiographies and a few try to decipher larger lessons from his management style. Of late, several have portrayed him as an out-and-out global villain — The Bill Gates Problem  by Tim Schwab, which came out last year is one example.

Anupreeta Das’ offering understands this problem of plenty and tries to sidestep it. She attempts to offer a more nuanced view of the man and explore the shades of grey. She also tries to paint on a bigger canvas — using Mr Gates at the core but looking at the universe of tech billionaires, mostly in the rarefied world of Silicon Valley and the humongous power they wield.

Ms Das, who is the finance editor of The New York Times and had earlier spent nearly a decade with The Wall Street Journal, succeeds to a large extent, if not fully. She is successful to a large extent because her approach avoids the straightforward narration of Mr Gate’s life, much of which is in the public domain already. The effort is not entirely successful also because she has to depend a lot on well-worn material and her efforts to find more new information are thwarted because billionaires are also good at keeping some information hidden from even the most dogged reporters.

It is an interesting book and offers new information on many people related to Bill Gates — from his former wife Melinda French Gates and her charity to the management style of Michael Larson, who runs Cascade Asset Management. Mr Larson, who oversees all investment decisions of Mr Gates and is responsible for managing the hundred billion dollar plus portfolio, is apparently a brilliant but also a ruthless and insensitive money manager. At any rate, Mr Larson has ensured that the Gates fortune keeps increasing even though the latter is giving away billions. Mr Gates is reportedly worth well over $124 billion despite having given away billions to his Foundation for philanthropic activities.

Ms Das also looks at the relationship between the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and Mr Gates, though she has not been able to dig up much on this.

The chapters “Why We Love Billionaires” and “Why We Hate Billionaires” explore the bigger picture of the influence wielded by tech billionaires. They are thought-provoking, whether you agree with the author’s ideas or not. Ms Das also explores the world of nerds and the evolution of this world and the ecosystem around nerds.

The chapter dealing with the different styles of Bill Gates and his now former wife Melinda towards their philanthropic activities makes for very interesting reading. Ms Das has sharply analysed the different philanthropic approaches of not just the two of them, but also how Ms Gates’ philanthropic style differs from that of MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Jeff Bezos, who is also giving away billions. While Ms Scott chooses NGOs carefully and then writes a big cheque for them to spend however they wish to, Ms Gates has set up an investment and advisory firm that not only writes cheques but also takes up stakes in start-ups trying to solve social issues that have been ignored for long.

The book is easy to read and the narrative does not sag. One thing I would have liked the author to explore — given her long years in technology reporting — is an honest assessment of how much of a technology visionary Mr Gates actually is, and what has his stamp been on the tech world, beyond the software for PCs. One suspects that Bill Gates, despite his reputation as a nerd, was perhaps a far better businessman than he was a tech visionary.

The book covers much of the early Bill Gates and Microsoft story, which can easily be skipped by anyone familiar with the evolution of the tech world, as it is already well known. Having said that, there was probably no way of avoiding them because this book is meant for a wider audience and not just people following the Gates and Microsoft story. In fact, Mr Gates and Microsoft are on entirely different paths today, with Mr Gates having very little to do with the company he founded.

This is a good addition to the reading list of anyone who is interested in Bill Gates, Microsoft, or the US tech billionaires in general. In the end though, while Ms Das paints Mr Gates in hues of dark grey, she leaves it to readers to make their own judgement about  the man.

The reviewer is former editor of Businessworld and Business Today, and founder of Prosaic View, an editorial consultancy