Bill Gates: Computer Legend

A useful addition to Wayland’s ‘Famous Lives’ series, this pictorial biography charts the inexorable rise of computer whizz-kid Bill Gates, whose programming skills and business acumen enabled him to become head of a multi-billion dollar business. Much of the factual information can be found on Microsoft’s own website, but Barton-Wood here fleshes out the story with details of Gates’ upbringing and his extraordinary sense of timing in seizing the moment and dropping everything, including a place at Harvard, to develop a program that was to revolutionise computer usage forever. Plenty of first-hand quotes from Gates and his contemporaries enliven the story, while photographs show Gates’ own transformation from geeky bespectacled nerd to golfing chum of ex-presidents. Much is made of Gates’ role as benefactor on a grand scale to education and health programmes in the third world. Less is made of the hostility that Microsoft has attracted through its dominance of the software market. A useful glossary and date chart are included as well as websites and other sources of information.