Shelf Life: Melinda French Gates

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

Melinda French Gates’s 2019 debut book, The Moment of Lift, shared lessons she’d learned from empowered women around the globe. In her latest, The Next Day, the philanthropist, businesswoman, and advocate flips the lens, sharing the takeaways she’s accumulated from navigating major transitions in her own life—including becoming a parent; losing a friend to cancer; and leaving the Gates Foundation (formerly the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she co-founded in 2000) in 2024 to start a new chapter in her philanthropy. In 2015, she founded Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation firm focused on advancing social progress and women’s influence, and in 2021, she launched Moment of Lift Books, a Flatiron Books-affiliated imprint that, as ELLE first reported, is “dedicated exclusively to nonfiction about social issues faced by women and girls.”

The Dallas-born and -raised, Seattle-based self-described “recovering perfectionist” was valedictorian of her all-girls Catholic high school; received her first computer (an Apple II) from her NASA engineer dad; got her computer science and economics degree and MBA from Duke University; started at Microsoft in 1987 as the only woman in her new employee class; has, through Pivotal, committed more than $2 billion to advance women’s power and influence globally; gave a dozen leaders she admires—including former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix—their own $20 million charitable funds to distribute as they saw fit; went to Malawi in 2023 with Amal Clooney and Michelle Obama to advocate for an end to child marriage; is collaborating with MacKenzie Scott to revitalize Seattle waterfront parks; and has three kids and two grandchildren.

The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French Gates

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Likes: data; reading novels and poems; skiing; K.Jacques wedges; Mexican Coke; long walks with friends; The Tortured Poets Department; meditating.

Will always: Uplift women.

Would never: Run for office.

The books below get her vote.

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum. I love books in which women find ways to claim their power. This was an infuriating read at times—but also an inspirational one.

Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness by James Baraz and Shoshana Alexander. This book has taught me so much about finding joy and showing up for others even—and especially—when I am at my lowest.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. It’s a blast to watch Elizabeth Zott triumph by being unapologetically herself.

Factfulness by Hans Rosling. The late Hans Rosling is a hero of mine for showing all the ways the state of the world is better than we think.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. A courageous 18th century midwife, a snowy landscape, a mysterious death...I would absolutely binge this!

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. What a gift Kalanithi gave us by sharing—beautifully and bravely—his perspectives on mortality.

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Essential reading for anyone raising their kids to thrive in a world that doesn’t always value girls equally.

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant. We all grow smarter by questioning our own assumptions!

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. Coming from the competitive world of tech, I found it incredibly helpful to be reminded that vulnerability is not a weakness, but a form of strength.

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach. In my new book, I write about the lessons I’ve learned from life’s many transitions. A powerful one came from Tara Brach: See the pauses in your life as an opportunity to open yourself to new possibilities.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I’ve loved Kingsolver’s books for many years—and this one is fantastic.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. In hospitals, cars, workplaces, and just about everywhere else, women are harmed because their experiences are so often overlooked by those assessing problems and developing solutions.

However Long the Night: Molly Melching's Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph by Aimee Molloy. I’ve had the honor of meeting several entrepreneurial Senegalese women who lifted their families out of poverty thanks, in part, to Molly Melching’s work.

10 Minutes Till Bedtime by Peggy Rathmann. It’s such a joy to read books to my granddaughters that I used to read over and over again to their mother.

Seattle Arts & Lectures. SAL has been connecting people with stories and ideas in my home city for nearly 40 years. I have loved every SAL event I’ve been to.

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