假日好书，好课和好歌 | 盖茨书单
At the end of the year, it’s always fun to look back on some of the best books I read. For 2023, three came to mind right away, each of them deeply informative and well written. I’ve also included economics courses by a phenomenal lecturer that I watched more than a decade ago but am still recommending to friends and family today. Just for fun, I threw in a playlist of great holiday songs from past and present, and from the U.S. and around the world.
年终时，回顾一些读过的好书总是有趣的。对于2023年，我脑子里立刻想到了三本书，每一本都内容丰富，文笔优美。此外，我还收录了一位杰出讲师的经济学课程，我十多年前就听过他的课，至今仍向亲朋好友推荐。为了好玩，我还创建了一份歌单，收录了过去和现在、涵盖美国和世界各地的好听节日歌曲。
I didn’t have time to write it up a full review, but I should mention that I just watched the series All the Light We Cannot See on Netflix. I had read the book, which is amazing, sometimes an adaptation of a book you love can be disappointing. That’s not the case here—the series is just as good. The actor who plays von Rumpel, a Nazi gem hunter and the villain in the story, is especially memorable.
我没有时间写一篇完整的影评，但我想提一下，我刚刚在网飞（Netflix）上观看了电视剧《所有我们看不见的光》。我读过原著，原著非常棒。有时候，改编自你喜欢的书的作品会让人失望。但这部剧并非如此，它同样出色。剧中饰演故事中的大反派、纳粹宝石猎人von Rumpel的演员尤其令人印象深刻。
I hope you find something fun here to read, watch, or listen to. And happy holidays!
我希望你能从这篇文章中找到一些有趣的内容来阅读、观看或聆听。假日快乐！
Books
书籍
The Song of the Cell
《细胞之歌》（中文名暂译）
By Siddhartha Mukherjee | 悉达多·穆克吉 著
The Song of the Cell, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. All of us will get sick at some point. All of us will have loved ones who get sick. To understand what’s happening in those moments—and to feel optimistic that things will get better—it helps to know something about cells, the building blocks of life. Mukherjee’s latest book will give you that knowledge. He starts by explaining how life evolved from single-celled organisms, and then he shows how every human illness or consequence of aging comes down to something going wrong with the body’s cells. Mukherjee, who’s both an oncologist and a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, brings all of his skills to bear in this fantastic book.
《细胞之歌》（中文名暂译）
作者：悉达多·穆克吉
我们每个人都有生病的时候。我们每个人都会有亲人生病。要了解在这些时刻发生了什么，并且乐观地相信事情会好转——了解细胞——生命的组成元素是很有帮助的。穆克吉的新书将告诉你这些知识。他首先解释了生命是如何从单细胞生物进化而来的，然后他展示了人类的每一种疾病或衰老的后果都可以溯源至身体内细胞的问题。穆克吉既是肿瘤学家，也是普利策奖得主，在这本精彩的书中，他将所有技巧都发挥得淋漓尽致。
Not the End of the World
《不是世界末日》（中文名暂译）
By Hannah Ritchie | 汉娜·里奇 著
Not the End of the World, by Hannah Ritchie. Hannah Ritchie used to believe—as many environmental activists do—that she was “living through humanity’s most tragic period.” But when she started looking at the data, she realized that’s not the case. Things are bad, and they’re worse than they were in the distant past, but on virtually every measure, they’re getting better. Ritchie is now lead researcher at Our World in Data, and in Not the End of the World, she uses data to tell a counterintuitive story that contradicts the doomsday scenarios on climate and other environmental topics without glossing over the challenges. Everyone who wants to have an informed conversation about climate change should read this book.
《不是世界末日》（中文名暂译）
作者：汉娜·里奇
汉娜·里奇曾经认为——就像许多环保主义者一样——她“正经历着人类最悲惨的时期”。但当她开始查看数据时，她意识到情况并非如此。情况是很糟糕，而且比很久以前更糟，但实际上每一项指标都在好转。里奇现在是Our World in Data的首席研究员，在《不是世界末日》一书中，她用数据讲述了一个反直觉的故事，与有关气候和其他环境话题的末日预言相矛盾，同时又不掩饰所面临的挑战。每个想要就气候变化进行深入对话的人都应该读一读这本书。
Invention and Innovation
《发明与创新》（中文名暂译）
By Vaclav Smil | 瓦茨拉夫·斯米尔 著
Invention and Innovation, by Vaclav Smil. Are we living in the most innovative era of human history? A lot of people would say so, but Smil argues otherwise. In fact, he writes, the current era shows “unmistakable signs of technical stagnation and slowing advances.” I don’t agree, but that’s not surprising—having read all 44 of his books and spoken with him several times, I know he’s not as optimistic as I am about the prospects of innovation. But even though we don’t see the future the same way, nobody is better than Smil at explaining the past. If you want to know how human ingenuity brought us to this moment in time, I highly recommend Invention and Innovation.
《发明与创新》（中文名暂译）
作者：瓦茨拉夫·斯米尔
我们生活在人类历史上最具创新精神的时代吗？很多人会这么说，但斯米尔不这么认为。事实上，他写道，当前时代显示出“技术停滞和进步放缓的明显迹象”。我不同意他的观点，但这也不奇怪——我读过他所有的44本书，也和他聊过几次，我知道他对创新的前景不像我那么乐观。尽管我们对未来的看法不尽相同，但没有人比斯米尔更善于阐释过去。如果你想知道人类的智慧是如何把我们带到这个时代的，我强烈推荐《发明与创新》这本书。
Online Courses
在线课程
Online economics lectures
在线经济学讲座
Online economics lectures by Timothy Taylor. I’ve watched a lot of lecture series online, and Taylor is one of my favorite professors. All three of his series on Wondrium are fantastic. The New Global Economy teaches you about the basic economic history of different regions and how markets work. Economics is best suited for people who want to understand the principles of economics in a deep way. Unexpected Economics probably has the broadest audience, because Taylor applies those principles to things in everyday life, including gift-giving, traffic, natural disasters, sports, and more. You can’t go wrong with any of Taylor’s lectures.
蒂莫西·泰勒的在线经济学讲座。我在网上看过很多系列讲座，泰勒是我最喜欢的教授之一。他在Wondrium上的三个系列都非常精彩。《新全球经济》（意译）教你了解不同地区的基本经济史以及市场是如何运作的。《经济学》（意译）最适合想要深入了解经济学原理的人。《意想不到的经济学》（意译）可能拥有最广泛的读者群，因为泰勒将这些原理应用到日常生活中，包括送礼、交通、自然灾害和体育等。泰勒的任何讲座都不会让你失望。
A holiday playlist
一份假日歌单
Spotify playlist
Spotify歌单
A holiday playlist. This one doesn’t need much explanation. I love holiday music and have put together a list of some favorites—classics and modern tunes, from the U.S. and around the world.
一份假日歌单。这个不需要过多解释。我喜欢节日音乐，并整理了一张歌单——来自美国和世界各地的经典和现代音乐。