想要新書大賣 讓比爾·蓋茨點個贊

Evan Thomas, the best-selling biographer of Robert F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower and the author of a half-dozen other books, has seen those books reviewed over the years by The New Yorker, The Washington Post and The Atlantic. But with the recent publication of his latest work, “Being Nixon: A Man Divided,” he experienced for the first time a new phenomenon: the Bill Gates bump.

埃文·托馬斯(Evan Thomas)是羅伯特·F·肯尼迪(Robert F. Kennedy)與德懷特·D·艾森豪威爾(Dwight D. Eisenhower)暢銷傳記的作者，另外還著有五六本其他書籍，都曾登上《紐約客》(The New Yorker)、《華盛頓郵報》(The Washington Post)和《大西洋月刊》(The Atlantic)的書評版面。但是這一次，他的新作《身爲尼克松：一個分裂的男人》(Being Nixon: A Man Divided)卻遇到了新鮮事：比爾·蓋茨(Bill Gates)衝擊波。

Just before Christmas, Mr. Thomas learned that his book had been favorably reviewed by Mr. Gates on his blog, Gates Notes.

聖誕節前，托馬斯得知，蓋茨在自己的博客Gates Notes上誇獎了這本書。

“I’m surprised by the number of biographies I read that paint their subjects in black-and-white terms,” Mr. Gates wrote. “A classic example is former U.S. president Richard Nixon, who is too often portrayed as little more than a crook and a warmonger. So it was refreshing to see a more balanced account in ‘Being Nixon,’ by author and journalist Evan Thomas.” The review was illustrated by a photograph of the book on a desk adorned with objects from the Nixon era, like a rotary phone.

“我讀過的傳記裏，很多作者都把自己筆下的主人公寫成黑白分明的角色，這真讓我吃驚，”蓋茨寫道，“一個典型的例子就是美國總統理查德·尼克松，他經常被描繪成騙子和好戰分子。所以作家兼記者埃文·托馬斯的《身爲尼克松》裏不偏不倚的描寫真是讓人耳目一新。”評論還配有照片，照片上這本書被放在書桌上，旁邊點綴着尼克松時代的物品，諸如撥盤電話之類。

Mr. Thomas was taken by surprise. “I’ve never met Bill Gates,” he said. “I had no idea he had a books blog.”

托馬斯大吃一驚。“我從來沒見過比爾·蓋茨，”他說。“我根本不知道他還有個讀書博客。”

“I was thrilled because he has a lot of reach,” Mr. Thomas said, adding that sales of the book jumped soon after that review was posted. “I can tell the blog is well read because I heard from all sorts of random people.”

“我很興奮，因爲他影響的範圍很廣，”托馬斯說。他還補充道，這篇書評發表之後，該書的銷量馬上節節攀升。“我敢說，有很多人都看到了這篇博客，因爲各種各樣不同的人都來跟我說這件事。”

For years, Mr. Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft who now focuses on the philanthropic work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, had been scribbling notes in the margins of books he was reading and then emailing recommendations to friends and colleagues.

蓋茨是微軟公司的聯合創始人，目前專注於比爾及梅林達·蓋茨基金會(Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)的慈善工作，多年來，他一直都喜歡邊讀書，邊在書頁空白處隨手做些筆記，還喜歡發電子郵件向朋友和同事們薦書。

Then he began to post these recommendations and critiques on the blog. “A few years ago I started thinking it would be fun to share some of these notes with the public,” Mr. Gates wrote in a recent email interview. “I have always loved reading and learning, so it is great if people see a book review and feel encouraged to read and share what they think online or with their friends.”

後來，他開始把這些推薦和批評貼在自己的博客上。“幾年前，我覺得和公衆分享一下這些筆記可能會很有意思，”蓋茨在近期接受電子郵件採訪時寫道。“我一直喜歡閱讀和學習，所以，如果有人看到一篇書評，就願意去閱讀，並且在網上和朋友們分享自己的想法，這不是很棒嗎。”

Mr. Gates says he reads about 50 books in a year, eschewing digital readers for old-fashioned books on paper. When he is busy with work, he reads about a book or two a week but will consume four or five in the same period while vacationing with family.

蓋茨說，自己每年都要讀大約50本書，他不用數字閱讀工具，還是選擇老式的實體書。忙於工作的時候，他每週讀一兩本書，但是和家人在一起休假時每星期都要讀四五本。

He has loved reading since boyhood. “I did things like reading the encyclopedia for fun,” he said, “and I was lucky in that my parents would buy me any book I wanted.”

他從小就喜歡讀書。“我會讀百科全書，因爲覺得很有意思，”他說，“很幸運，我想要什麼書父母都會給我買。”

The books section is one of a handful on Mr. Gates’s blog. He also writes on his philanthropic work and his foundation’s endeavors in health care, education and the like. The blog is filled with personal touches like a slide show of him with his friend Warren Buffett (including one of Mr. Buffett doing push-ups at Mr. Gates’s 50th birthday celebration) and an ode to his father to mark his father’s 90th birthday. But his book reviews tend to generate the most attention.

讀書並不是是蓋茨博客的唯一內容。他還會寫些自己的慈善工作，以及自己的基金會在健康、教育等方面所做的努力。他的博客充滿個人色彩，比如他和朋友沃倫·巴菲特(Warren Buffett)在一起時的照片的幻燈秀（其中包括巴菲特在蓋茨50歲生日會上做俯臥撐的照片）；還有爲慶祝他父親90歲生日所獻上的一篇讚歌。但他的書評是最引人矚目的。

On Gates Notes, he often recommends books that have a bend toward science and public health. This year, he read, and liked, “Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World,” by Mark Miodownik; “On Immunity: An Inoculation,” by Eula Biss; and “Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory,” by Vaclav Smil, to name a few.

在蓋茨的筆記裏，他經常推薦與科學和公共健康有關的書籍。今年，他喜歡的書包括馬克·米奧多尼克(Mark Miodownik)的《重要的東西：探索人造世界中的各種原材料》(Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World)、尤拉·比斯(Eula Biss)的《免疫：一種預防》(On Immunity: An Inoculation)，以及瓦克拉夫·斯米爾(Vaclav Smil)的《我們應當吃肉嗎？現代肉食者的演化與後果》(Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory)，等等。

Last month, he published a short list and accompanying video of his favorite books read in 2015. (His reviews are not necessarily for books published within the calendar year.) The list included Mr. Thomas’s Nixon biography; “Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever?” by Nancy Leys Stepan; and “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” by Carol S. Dweck. (“‘Mindset’ first came to my attention a few years ago,” Mr. Gates wrote, “in a fascinating invention session on education with my friend Nathan Myhrvold.”)

上個月，他發表了一份配有視頻的短名單，上面是自己2015年喜愛的書籍（他的書評不侷限在2015年出版的書中）。其中包括了托馬斯的尼克松傳記、南希·雷斯·斯蒂潘(Nancy Leys Stepan)的《根除：這個世界上的疾病能永遠消失嗎？》(Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever?” )，以及卡羅爾·S·德維克(Caro S. Dweck)的《思維模式：新成功心理學》(Mindset: The New Psychology of Success)。蓋茨寫道，“幾年前，我和朋友內森·梅爾沃德( Nathan Myhrvold)一起接受一次精彩的創意教育培訓時就注意到了《思維模式》這本書。”

On the best-of list, he also included, “Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words,” by Randall Munroe, the graphic writer and cartoonist who created the blog XKCD.

在這份最佳書目名單中還有圖文書作家與卡通畫家，博客“XKCD”的創建者蘭道爾·門羅(Randall Munroe)的《解釋者：用簡單的話說清複雜的事物》(Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words)。

Earlier in the year, Mr. Gates lavished praise on an earlier book of Mr. Munroe’s: “What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.” “My guess is that you haven’t spent a whole lot of time wondering what would happen if you pitched a baseball at 90 percent of the speed of light,” he wrote. “I haven’t either. But that’s O.K., because Randall Munroe has figured it out and explained it really clearly in his book ‘What If?’”

今年年初，蓋茨高度讚美了門羅的早期作品《那又會怎樣？對荒誕假設問題的嚴肅科學回答》(Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words)。“我猜你不會花很多時間去思考‘如果以光速的90%投出一隻棒球會怎樣？’這樣的問題，”他寫道，“我也沒想過。不過這沒關係，蘭道爾·門羅想了，還在他的《那又會怎樣？》這本書裏做了清晰的解釋。”

Mr. Munroe first learned that Mr. Gates had read and enjoyed his book when a relative sent him a screen shot of a photograph showing Mr. Gates reading his book. “I stared at it for a while,” Mr. Munroe said in a phone interview. “It didn’t really register. I didn’t know what to do.”

一個親戚給門羅發了一張屏幕截圖，是蓋茨讀他的書的照片，門羅這才知道蓋茨喜歡自己的書。“我盯着這張圖盯了好一會兒，”門羅在接受電話採訪時說。“這不像真的。我不知道該怎麼辦纔好。”

Mr. Gates said in the interview that he tries to fill his reviews with bits of information he hopes people will consider, even if they don’t end up reading the book. “I read textbooks related to global health but they are pretty technical for a general audience, so I generally don’t review them,” he said. “I make an exception for things like ‘Sustainable Materials: With Both Eyes Open,’ where the authors’ conclusions are important, and they help clarify some important basic facts. I like to share what I learn from books like that because I know most people won’t read the whole thing but some will read an 800-word review of it.”

蓋茨在採訪中說，他儘量在書評裏多放他希望人們思考的信息，就算人們最後不會去讀這本書也好。“我讀和全球健康問題有關的教材，但是它們對於一般讀者來說技術性太強了，所以我一般不推薦這樣的書，”他說。“但是也有例外，比如《可持續材料：雙眼睜大》(Sustainable Materials: With Both Eyes Open)，作者們的結論非常重要，他們還澄清了一些重要的基本事實。我希望分享自己從這樣的書裏學到的東西，因爲我知道，大多數人不會讀完一整本書，但是有些人會讀完一篇800字的書評。”

He also shares some unexpected titles. Of Allie Brosh’s memoir, “Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened,” Mr. Gates wrote: “You will rip through it in three hours, tops. But you’ll wish it went on longer, because it’s funny and smart as hell. I must have interrupted Melinda a dozen times to read to her passages that made me laugh out loud.”

他還會分享一些出人意料的題材。比如艾麗·布羅什(Allie Brosh)的回憶錄《誇張與一半：不幸的狀況、對機制、騷亂與其他事情有缺陷的處理》(Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened)，蓋茨寫道：“這本書頂多花三個小時就能讀完，但你會希望它能更長一點兒，因爲它實在太聰明，太有趣了。讀這本書的時候我起碼打斷了梅林達十幾次，給她念能讓我大笑起來的段落。”

Of the novel “The Rosie Project,” by Graeme Simsion, Mr. Gates wrote: “I started it myself at 11 p.m. one Saturday and stayed up with it until 3 the next morning. Anyone who occasionally gets overly logical will identify with the hero, a genetics professor with Asperger’s syndrome who goes looking for a wife. (Melinda thought I would appreciate the parts where he’s a little too obsessed with optimizing his schedule. She was right.)”

至於格拉伊姆·西姆森(Graeme Simsion)的小說《羅西方案》(The Rosie Project)，蓋茨寫道：“星期六晚上11點，我開始讀這本書，一口氣讀到凌晨三點。偶爾有過度邏輯化傾向的人都會對主角產生認同，他是個患有阿斯伯格徵的基因學教授，在尋找一個妻子（梅林達覺得我會特別喜歡這部分，因爲他有點過於沉迷優化自己的方案。她是對的）。”

He rarely posts negative reviews of books, explaining that he sees no need to waste anyone’s time telling them why they shouldn’t bother reading something. He doesn’t spare himself, though. “I have a habit, which I don’t recommend, of finishing essentially every book I start,” he said. “And if I disagree with a book I spend lots of time writing notes in the margins. Perversely, this means that the more I dislike a book, the longer I spend reading it.”

他很少發表對什麼書的差評，他說，這是因爲他覺得沒必要浪費時間告訴人們爲什麼不應該讀什麼。不過他對自己並不寬容。“我有個習慣，不過我並不推薦，那就是一本書一開頭一定要讀完，”他說。“如果我不同意這本書的觀點，我會花很多時間在書邊寫筆記。變態的是，這意味着我愈是不喜歡一本書，就會花費愈長的時間去讀它。”

As publishers have become more aware of Mr. Gates’s reviews — missing the publicity they used to get from Oprah Winfrey’s televised book club or from the regular author appearances on “The Colbert Report,” which have been less frequent since Stephen Colbert moved to CBS from Comedy Central — they have tried to figure out how to get their new books in front of him.

現在沒有了奧普拉·溫弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey)的電視讀書俱樂部；隨着史蒂芬·科爾伯特(Stephen Colbert)離開CBS，轉投Comedy Central臺，“科爾伯特報告”(The Colbert Report)中原本是固定的作家訪談節目也愈來愈少，出版社的曝光機會減少了，他們開始日益關注蓋茨的書評，想知道怎麼才能讓他讀到自家出版的新書。

Stephanie Kim, a publicist for Mr. Munroe’s publisher, hustled her way into a connection with someone on Mr. Gates’s team only to be told, “‘We don’t have any say over what Bill chooses,’” she said “‘We just leave it on his desk and he reads what he wants to read.’” Ms. Kim lucked out.

門羅的出版社的公關人員史蒂芬妮·基姆(Stephanie Kim)想盡辦法和蓋茨團隊裏的某人建立了聯繫，只被告知，“我們對比爾的選擇完全沒有發言權，”她說，“‘我們只能把書放在他桌上，然後他想讀什麼就讀什麼。’”基姆的運氣不錯。

Mr. Gates’s reading selections are influenced by his wife, his work and the experiences that move him. “Someone at the foundation recently recommended ‘The Vital Question,’ by Nick Lane,” he said, “which is about mitochondria and the origins of life on Earth. It was so good that as soon as I finished it, I ordered all of Lane’s other books.”

蓋茨選書受妻子影響，工作和其他經歷也會影響他。“最近基金會裏有人推薦我讀尼克·萊恩(Nick Lane)的《生死攸關的問題》(The Vital Question)，”他說，“這是關於線粒體與地球上生命的來源的。它太精彩了，一讀完我就下單買了萊恩寫的所有書。”

“This is one of the things I love about reading,” Mr. Gates said. “Each book opens up new avenues of knowledge to explore.”

“這就是我熱愛閱讀的原因之一，”蓋茨說，“每本書都會開啓一條條通往探索新知的大道。”