Whether you read Hard Drive or Gates, Bill Gates emerges as the same supercharged and combative wunderkind.
The terse Hard Drive, written by two Seattle reporters, is like fast-food - nourishing but predictable. The Gates book uses far more first-hand interviews (including 30 hours of one-on-one with Gates himself) and fleshes out the history of computing. It's definitely higher on the dining scale.
Check it out. Here's a passage from Hard Drive:
"At Harvard, Gates had read business books like other male students read Playboy. He wanted to know everything he could about running a company."
And from Gates:
"At Harvard, Gates was not known to have girlfriends, and didn't join his buddies for the social mixers that ended mostly in frustration when the girls refused to go home with them. He did, however, amass a fairly sizable collection of Playboy and Penthouse magazines, and was the subject of rumors for his visits to Boston's Combat Zone, notorious for porn films and prostitution and drug deals."
The point is, I suppose, one can read business books and Playboy as well.
If I had to place bets on authenticity, the Gates book would win hands down. It's too bad, however, that none of these authors were - dare I say - female, or at least had a more humanist attitude. If so, they might have asked Gates some really serious questions: "What, if anything, inspires you outside of work? Have you ever been in love (with another person)? Do you ever feel unhappy, and why?" Having read both books, I still feel there must be more to Bill than the cocky kid; or maybe there isn't. I suppose I'll have to wait until Camille Paglia or Oriani Fallaci tackles the subject. - Sylvia Paull
Hard Drive, by James Wallace and Jim Erickson, US$22.95, John Wiley & Sons: +1 (212) 850 6000.
Gates, by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, US$25, Doubleday: +1 (212) 354 6500.
STREET CRED
VoyeurOpen the Men's Room Door, HAL
Will the Real Bill Gates Please Stand Up?
