节日快乐！希望你和你所爱的人都在享受一年中最温馨的时光——也希望你能在与家人共度时光的同时，抽出些时间来读几本好书。

如果你想读点新书，我在这里列出了今年我喜欢的四本书。这四本书或多或少都涉及如何理解周围的世界。这并不是我刻意安排的主题，但看到它的出现我并不感到惊讶：在瞬息万变的时代，人们自然会试图理解新事物，就像我们现在所经历的那样。

我的书单上有两本书聚焦于未来，探讨人工智能的崛起和巨大的技术进步如何改变我们生活、学习和爱的方式。其中一本从过去寻找答案——书中关于领导人如何应对艰难时期的经验教训既令人欣慰又引人入胜。而我书单上的第四本书则完全聚焦于当下。它将帮助你欣赏每天环绕我们的、那种神奇且无形的社会支柱。

我还额外推荐了一本，以备你为身边的网球爱好者挑选礼物。书永远不嫌多，尤其是每年的这个时候！

点击观看视频

《未完的爱情故事（An Unfinished Love Story）》，多丽丝·肯斯·古德温（Doris Kearns Goodwin）著。我是多丽丝的忠实书迷，但在阅读她的新自传之前，我并不了解她的个人生活。这本书聚焦于她与已故丈夫的生活，她的丈夫曾在肯尼迪总统和约翰逊总统任内担任政策专家和演讲稿撰写人，经历了美国历史上最动荡的时期之一。多丽丝是一位才华横溢的作家，关于她爱情故事的章节与关于肯尼迪遇刺和越南战争的章节一样引人入胜，给人以启迪。

《焦虑的一代（The Anxious Generation）》，乔纳森·海特（Jonathan Haidt）著。这本书是今天任何抚养、与年轻人共事或教授年轻人的人的必读书籍。它让我反思了我的年轻岁月——那些时光我常常在外面跑来跑去，父母不在身边，有时还惹上麻烦——这些经历在多大程度上塑造了今天的我。海特解释了从以外出玩耍为主的童年到以手机为主的童年的转变，如何改变了孩子们产生和处理情感的方式。我很欣赏他不仅仅提出问题，而是提供了值得思考的真正解决方案。

《一目了然的工程（Engineering in Plain Sight）》，格雷迪·希尔豪斯（Grady Hillhouse）著。你是否曾经看着一根不寻常的管子伸出地面，然后想：“那到底是什么？”如果是的话，这本书正适合你。希尔豪斯将我们每天看到的所有神秘结构——从电缆盒到变压器，再到手机信号塔——一一解读，告诉你它们是什么以及是如何运作的。这是一本会让你的好奇心得到回报的书，它解答了你甚至不知道自己有的问题。

《浪潮将至（The Coming Wave）》，穆斯塔法·苏莱曼（Mustafa Suleyman）著。穆斯塔法对科学史有着深刻的理解，他提供了迄今为止我看到的最好的解释，讲述了人工智能——以及基因编辑等其他科学进展——如何准备重塑社会的方方面面。他阐述了我们需要准备应对的风险和需要克服的挑战，这样我们就能在没有危险的情况下从这些技术中获益。如果你想理解人工智能的崛起，这本书是最值得阅读的。

额外推荐一本：《费德勒（Federer）》，多丽丝·亨克尔（Doris Henkel）著。这本书并不适合所有人。它价格不菲，书本和一只小狗差不多重。但如果你——或你身边的某位亲朋——是费德勒的粉丝，那么《费德勒》是一本回顾他一生与职业生涯的精彩之作。我原以为自己对费德勒的网球生涯了如指掌，没想到还是学到了很多，尤其是他早年的经历。这本书还包含了许多我之前从未见过的照片。如果你身边有网球迷，这本书将是一个特别的礼物。

Books to keep you warm this holiday season

Happy holidays! I hope you and your loved ones are enjoying the coziest time of year—and that you are able to find time to enjoy some good books in between spending time with family. 

If you’re in the market for something new to read, I have put together a list of four books I enjoyed this year. All four are, in one way or another, about making sense of the world around you. This wasn’t an intentional theme, but I wasn’t surprised to see it emerge: It’s natural to try and wrap your head around things during times of rapid change, like we’re living through now. 

Two of the books on my list focus on the future and how the rise of artificial intelligence and huge technological advances are changing the ways we live, learn, and love. One looks to the past for answers—the lessons it offers about how leaders have tackled tough times before are both comforting and fascinating. And the fourth book on my list is all about the present. It will help you appreciate the amazing, invisible backbone of society that surrounds us every day. 

I’ve also thrown in one bonus pick, just in case you are looking for a gift for a tennis lover in your life. You can never have enough books, especially this time of year! 

An Unfinished Love Story, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I’m a huge fan of Doris’s books, but I didn’t know a lot about her personal life until I read her new autobiography. The book focuses on her life with her late husband, who served as a policy expert and speechwriter to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson during one of the most turbulent times in recent U.S. history. Doris is such a talented writer that the chapters about her love story are just as engaging and enlightening as the chapters about the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War.  

The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt. This book is a must-read for anyone raising, working with, or teaching young people today. It made me reflect on how much of my younger years—which were often spent running around outside without parental supervision, sometimes getting into trouble—helped shape who I am today. Haidt explains how the shift from play-based childhoods to phone-based childhoods is transforming how kids develop and process emotions. I appreciate that he doesn’t just lay out the problem—he offers real solutions that are worth considering. 

Engineering in Plain Sight, by Grady Hillhouse. Have you ever looked at an unusual pipe sticking out of the ground and thought, “What the hell is that?” If so, this is the perfect book for you. Hillhouse takes all of the mysterious structures we see every day, from cable boxes to transformers to cell phone towers, and explains what they are and how they work. It’s the kind of read that will reward your curiosity and answer questions you didn’t even know you had.  

The Coming Wave, by Mustafa Suleyman. Mustafa has a deep understanding of scientific history, and he offers the best explanation I’ve seen yet of how artificial intelligence—along with other scientific advances, like gene editing—is poised to reshape every aspect of society. He lays out the risks we need to prepare for and the challenges we need to overcome so we can reap the benefits of these technologies without the dangers. If you want to understand the rise of AI, this is the best book to read. 

A bonus read: Federer, by Doris Henkel. This book isn’t for everyone. It’s pretty expensive, and it weighs as much as a small dog. But if you—or someone you love—is a fan of Roger’s, Federer is a wonderful retrospective of his life and career. I thought I knew pretty much everything about Roger’s history with tennis, but I learned a ton, especially about his early years. It includes a lot of photographs I’d never seen before. This is a special treat for the tennis fan in your life.

来源｜比尔盖茨公众号

制作｜绢生

审核｜肖英 / 万顷

终审｜清欢