The Next Day

The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French Gates (2025) 162 pages

Melinda French Gates, even if she had never been married to Bill Gates, is an amazing woman in her own right. Gate's book, part memoir, part advice, goes into her past, finding areas where changes were underway, and shares how she dealt with these transitions. 

Both of her parents were very engaged with their children, and her father‒who worked on the Apollo space program‒especially encouraged Melinda to aim high in her life's calling. One of her transition times was her entry into college at Duke University, where she majored in computer science and economics, and also got an MBA.

Melinda also reaches into her married life to show more transitions there: motherhood and marriage issues. I am impressed with her way of speaking about her marriage, and 27 years later, her divorce, from Bill Gates. She talks about the reason for the divorce without giving too much detail, which I thought also spoke to her character.

This book is a quick, informative, personal, and reassuring read.