Here's Why Millions of People Find Bill Gates' Reading List Fascinating

When successful businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates makes a suggestion, people listen.  Just this week when his recommended reading list, including six novels and a separate list of 12 books on science, appeared, millions immediately clicked on links to view the list and on LinkedIn the list became a trending topic in no time. From Gates to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to many others, suggestions on books are huge draws for people in business. But why? Turns out there is much more at play than simply looking for a good book.

Many might say that this particular reading list of Gates is of fervent interest given the intriguing mix of history, politics, and science. Others may find the language with which the books are written to be alluring. But in an era of the alleged eight-second attention span and one in which many entrepreneurs say that they simply don"t have time to read hundreds of pages, the reading list is inevitably a hot draw for people. 

Notable psychologist Dr. Vinita Mehta told me in an interview that when we admire such notable people as Gates we want to emulate them and learn from them.  "Discovering what they believe is worthy of reading is actually a window into how their thinking works, and that"s why it"s so compelling," explains Mehta.

But this is not really effective unless one follows through on actually reading the list because a mere book blurb does not provide enough insight into the actual perspective of said notable.  "Follow through is key, but it seems that time is one very big factor as to why most who read the list will actually never even read one book on it," says Mehta.  Given this attention to time, the real value of the list, it turns out, is that the reader is actually curious about what notables feel is important enough material that they would give their valuable time to read it.

For those few who may actually move beyond this initial psychological stage to the desire to actually read one of the books, just read a few pages when you can or better yet, scoop up the audio version for commuting time, should that be part of your schedule.  A little can go a long way. Says Dr. Metha, "Trend setters often anticipate the direction in which the culture and world is moving.  Having a sense of their thinking may help the rest of us stay better informed and help ourselves and others in the process."