Gates had spent idyllic childhood summers along the evergreen-
lined shores of Hood Canal, southwest of Seattle. It made
complete sense to him that he would retreat to the rustic family
compound to do his Thoreau-cum-Adam-Smith thinking.
Here, in an upstairs study with a portrait of Victor Hugo on the
wall, was where he was most comfortable and could concentrate
without distraction on the biggest picture. "I really wanted to be
alone, just reading," he told me in an hourlong look back in the
spring of 2012. "I don't eat breakfast, so the kitchen staff would
bring me a lunch and a dinner. The chefs were very good, so in
no sense was I deprived. That was my human contact during
Think Week, except talking to my wife on the phone after I was
married. That was my sole human contact." (When his wife,
Melinda, was pregnant one year, Gates did a Think Week at a
hotel closer to Seattle, in case he had to rush back.) Diet Orange
Crush sustained him during marathon 18-hour stretches. He
kept a small refrigerator in the study so that he didn't have to
waste time making the journey downstairs to the kitchen. If he
needed a break, he might play bridge online.