2 weeks Ago By Meezan Zahra Khwaja
Bill Gates is one of the individuals who has changed our world today in more ways than we know. In Source Code , he takes us back to his beginnings in Seattle. He describes with frankness the importance of his family in his early development, his card-playing maternal grandmother Gami who led him to a better appreciation of algorithms, and his rather demanding but still caring parents.
He describes his struggles to fit in to his school at Lakeside, his rebelliousness, his precociousness at Harvard, his first strong friendships and he even describes losing one of his closest friends to a skiing accident. Gates writes about his youth: “We were at that age when kids test their limits, experiment with different identities – and also sometimes feel a yearning for bigger, even transcendental experiences. I had started to feel a clear longing to figure out what my path would be.
I wasn’t sure what direction it would take, but it had to be something interesting and consequential.” He describes losing his best friend in detail and going to his house after the death and meeting Kent’s parents. Gates writes about Kent’s mother so deeply, “He was my best friend, but he was her baby.
” Such a deep understanding of human nature at such a young age is what makes a genius. He talks about his problems growing up, even being thought to be “retarded” at one point in school - which thankfully his parents didn’t agree with He describes in detail his Christmases at home, with his mother making Christmas cards and organizing the events each year. By all accounts, it was a happy childhood.
When his parents’ friends came to play bridge, he was assigned the task of pouring coffee for them. His mother planned a Disney trip meticulously for him and his siblings. Even in youth, he was fond of reading and he explored other worlds and kept up with current affairs, celebrities, wars, science and a cross section of America and the world.
Growing up, Bill Gates loved mathematics and he became a library assistant, since he loved math and books. He faced challenges with his parents following rules, especially with his mother, who expected him to be perfect. Emanuel Sarfraz, Longtime Journalist And Media Icon, Passes Away In Lahore Throughout the course of the book, the reader watches Gates’ extraordinary mind developing from the agitated teenager who learned a love of coding and computing at the coming of a new beginning where he felt that “by applying my brain, I could solve even the world’s most complex mysteries.
” The earliest signs of his remarkable business acumen are on display, which led him to drop out of Harvard at the age of 20 to devote all his energies to Microsoft, the company he started with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He also writes about his first involvement with three Steves – Jobs, Wozniak and Ballmer – who would play a crucial role in so much that followed. Gates is humble enough to accept his privileged position in the world as he writes: “It’s impossible to state the unearned privilege I enjoyed: to be born in the rich United States is a big part of the winning lottery ticket, as is being born white and male in a society that advantages white men.
” Just the fact that he is aware of his privilege and acknowledges it makes him a much more decent person in my eyes. The book ends in the late 1970s, when Microsoft, with still only a dozen employees, signed its first deal with Apple. The deals would go on and Microsoft would grow unimaginably.
Yet Gates never forgot his mother’s reminder that he was merely a steward of any wealth that he gained. He says that he wished his mother had lived to see how he actually put her words into action, because she died of breast cancer at the age of 64, in 1994. He concludes that, “It would be my father in the years after my mother died who would help at our foundation started and serve as a co-chair for years, bringing the same compassion and decency that had served so well in his law career.
” The book is a peek into Bill Gates’ world, how he evolved into the person he is today, and the first half is indeed very interesting. When he gets into the part about Microsoft and coding, it does tend to get a bit dry and dull, and perhaps only computer science majors can thoroughly enjoy that part, but overall, he talks about his sisters, his friends, his parents. He talks about his problems growing up, even being thought to be “retarded” at one point in school (which thankfully his parents didn’t agree with).
The book is an honest account of a great man’s life, and tells you that behind a great man there are several influences – his community, his family and his friends. Indigenous Peshawaris And The Code Of Peshoritop Bill Gates’ influences have made him into a stronger, more powerful individual, who helps out the world today and is one of the leading philanthropists, so we should be grateful for them. The book is an easy read, especially for those who wish to understand Bill Gates.
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