11 Business Books Bill Gates Wants You to Read

11. “How Asia Works” by Joe Studwell

Gates had this to say about the book, “I found the book to be quite compelling…Studwell’s book does a better job than anything else I’ve read of articulating the key role of agriculture in development…A good read for anyone who wants to understand what actually determines whether a developing economy will succeed.” This book has a 4.4 rating on Amazon from 62 customer reviews with 68% of readers giving it 5 stars. Gates named “How Asia Works” as one of this Top 5 Books of the Year in 2014.

What is the book about? Author Joe Studwell is a business journalist who aims to understand the development of different countries. In this book, he looks closely at nine Asian countries namely Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China—and presents in a readable narrative how some of these countries flourish and others don’t.