The 5 books that Bill Gates recommends for this Christmas

It is said that Gates locks himself in a cabin for one week a year and reads a selection of books that help keep him informed about the latest being done and said in fields as varied as medicine, biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, astronomy. …. And periodically shares them with his followers. Usually they are essays, but this time he has also chosen a couple of novels, in addition to other texts related to robotics, science and the future. Be the closest to Christmas.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Hamnet (Asteroid Books) is a story inspired by the son of Shakespeare and his early demise. A play set in Stratford at the time that recreates the life of the boy and his father. The Irish writer delves into everyday issues like family life, grief and loss. Also how the death of the son led the playwright to create one of the greatest plays of all time: Hamlet.

Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro

The second book recommended by Bill Gates takes us to a friendly world with robots written by the Nobel Laureate 2017 Kazu Ishiguro, published by Anagrama. Klara is an AA, an Artificial Friend, specialized in childcare, who spends her days in a store, waiting for someone to buy her and take her home. Meanwhile, contemplate the exterior from the window. And, like his companions, he needs the Sun to feed himself, to recharge himself with energy … What awaits him in the outside world when he leaves the store and goes to live with a family? Do you understand well the behaviors, sudden mood swings, emotions, feelings of humans? This is Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel after being awarded the Nobel Prize. . Disturbing questions emerge on these pages: What is it that defines us as people? What is our role in the world? What is love

The Code of Life: Jennifer Doudna, Genetic Editing and the Future of the Human Species, by Walter Isaacson

From science fiction to science, from one Nobel Prize to the next, biographer Walter Isaacson tells the story of 2020 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues, discoverers of the CRISPR DNA modification system. In Spain it is published by Debate. Although her high school teacher warned her that girls couldn’t be scientists, Her passionate search for the hidden mechanisms of life and her will to turn discoveries into inventions led Jennifer Doudna to participate in the most important advance in the field of biology since the discovery of the double helix of DNA. With his team, he transformed a curiosity of nature into a tool that changes the course of the human being. CRISPR, an easy-to-use technique that allows us to modify DNA, which will allow us to cure diseases, defeat viruses and have healthier children. It opens a new world of medical miracles but also of moral questions. Should we use our new capabilities to make ourselves less vulnerable to viruses? And to prevent depression? Should we accept that families who can afford it improve the physical constitution or intelligence of their children?

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir

The author of The Martian publishes in Nova an irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could imagine and that Ryan Gossling take to the movies. It is a story of discovery, speculation and survival that fans of science fiction and space will fall in love with. A science teacher wakes up millions of miles from Earth in a ship where the only survivor is him. At the beginning he does not remember anything, but little by little he will regain his memory and depend on him for humanity to have a future. And you may find some friends along the way.

A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins

Neuroscientist and computer engineer Jeff Hawkins explains in depth everything we have misunderstood about how the human brain works, what it can actually be like, and how that could influence the creation of real artificial intelligence, an AI capable of learning by itself. herself. He explains that the brain is organized into thousands of units called cortical columns, which process information from the outside world. But since each column has different connections to the rest of the body, each has a unique frame of reference. The book explains how they coordinate to handle thousands of thoughts at any given moment.

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