SOURCE CODE My Beginnings

While Wil Wheaton is the principal narrator of this audiobook, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates offers a workmanlike delivery of his preface and epilogue. There's something just a bit banal yet cheerful and enthusiastic about Wheaton's performance. His vocal impressions are especially off-putting when he recounts President John F. Kennedy's early 1960s speech on America's technology imperatives. Regarding the seemingly routine process of maturing, it's all here: the "kitchen cabinet" of nerds in Gates's childhood and adolescence, as well as details of those involved in the founding of Micro-Soft, as it was initially named. Listeners who want to hear more about how Gates ultimately became such a creative, generous, and philanthropic icon can look forward to the next two installments in his planned trilogy. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2025]