Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, has announced his forthcoming memoir, "Source Code," which will delve into his early life and the journey that led him to become one of the world's most influential figures in technology and philanthropy.
Gates, who has previously authored several books on business, technology, climate change, and global health, revealed in a blog post on Tuesday that his new memoir would be the first to focus on his formative years.
"Source Code" will trace Gates' life "from childhood through my decision to leave college and start Microsoft," he wrote. Despite having been "in the public eye since my early twenties," Gates acknowledged that most people know very little about his early years. The upcoming memoir will explore "the relationships, lessons, and experiences that laid the foundation for everything in my life that followed," including the creation of Microsoft and his decision to donate "virtually all" of his estimated $128 billion net worth through his philanthropic foundation.
Gates, 68, referred to the memoir as his "origin story" and promised to delve into aspects of his early life that could provide further insight into the businessman he became. The book is set to be published in select countries on February 4, 2025, with all proceeds going to the nonprofit United Way Worldwide, according to a spokeswoman for Gates.
In his blog post, Gates shared some of the more challenging aspects of his early life, including feeling like an outsider as a child, clashing with his parents as a rebellious teenager, dealing with the sudden loss of a close friend, and nearly being expelled from college. He also discussed the risks associated with dropping out of school to invest in an industry that was in its infancy.
Gates has previously spoken about his experiences during his school years and how they shaped his successful career. In a 2005 speech at Lakeside School, the private high school he attended in Seattle, Gates spoke about how his time there helped mold him into a future tech titan.
"Lakeside was one of the best things that ever happened to me," Gates said. "One reason I'm so grateful to Lakeside is that I can directly trace the founding of Microsoft back to my earliest days here."
Before enrolling at Lakeside, Gates was unsure about the school and even considered sabotaging his own admission. However, once there, he was introduced to computers when several faculty members managed to acquire a terminal around the same time Gates started 7th grade in the late 1960s. It was also at Lakeside that he met his future Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen.
Gates recalled that computers were new, expensive, slow, and consumed a lot of electricity, which made them intimidating to many. However, instead of restricting access to the terminal, Lakeside chose to open it up. "Instead of teaching us about computers in the conventional sense, Lakeside just unleashed us," Gates said.
Gates quickly adapted to the new technology, teaching other students how to use computers, digitizing the school schedule, and even hacking the scheduling system to be placed in all-girls classes. He credited his experience at Lakeside with giving him and Allen "the confidence to start a company based on this wild idea that nobody else agreed with that computer chips were going to become so powerful that computers and software would become a tool that would be on every desk and in every home."
Gates concluded, "if there had been no Lakeside, there would have been no Microsoft." His memoir, "Source Code," promises to offer a deeper look into these formative experiences and the journey that led him to become Bill Gates.
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