How Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and others unwind after a long day
By Rachel Sugar
The moments before sleep can provide a rare retreat from a jam-packed day for highly successful people.
For many CEOs, execs, and other high achievers, the day begins extremely early and is crammed with emails, meetings, and events. But the evenings can be a time to unwind with a good book. Or a magazine. Or newspaper. Some of them even curl up with their email.
From paperbacks to tweets, here's what 17 super successful people read before calling it a night.
Alison Griswold contributed to a previous version of this article.
The moments before sleep can provide a rare retreat from a jam-packed day for highly successful people.
For many CEOs, execs, and other high achievers, the day begins extremely early and is crammed with emails, meetings, and events. But the evenings can be a time to unwind with a good book. Or a magazine. Or newspaper. Some of them even curl up with their email.
From paperbacks to tweets, here's what 17 super successful people read before calling it a night.
Alison Griswold contributed to a previous version of this article.
Bill Gates has said he reads for an hour every night, even when he gets home late.
1/17
He loves good books (here's his 2015 summer reading list) and his reading topics range from public health to the history of shipping containers. Gates considers himself a very fast reader, despite never taking a speed-reading course.
John Carney mulls great thinkers as he falls asleep.
2/17
"I'm
somewhat obsessed with ancient philosophy, mostly Plato, Socrates, and
Xenophon," the Wall Street Journal writer told The Wire in 2013. He said
he does most of this type of reading before going to bed. "Unless it's
Sunday night," he added, "in which case I'm watching 'The Walking Dead'
or 'Homeland.'"
Arianna Huffington unwinds with only 'real' books before going to sleep.
3/17
The Huffington Post founder recommends banning electronic devices like iPads, Kindles, and laptops from the bedroom and says she only reads the old-fashioned way, with print books.
Rob Delaney looks for humor on his Twitter feed.
4/17
His feeds are the last thing that he scrolls through before going to bed, though he admitted that he's mostly looking for entertainment at that point. "I'm more interested in diversion before bed, so hopefully I'm reading fart jokes," he said.