Satya Nadella
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s new book, “Hit Refresh,” was released Tuesday. (GeekWire / HarperCollins Photos)

Plenty of interested readers outside of Microsoft will pick up CEO Satya Nadella’s new book, “Hit Refresh,” to gain some insight into how the tech giant functions and what Nadella has learned in his time at the top. Two guys who know full well what that might entail have already weighed in and praised the book.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shared a photo of himself with Nadella, and said that when he heard his former co-worker was working on a book he couldn’t wait to read it. Now that he has, Gates said he hopes others will enjoy it as much as he did.

Gates also tweeted a link to his Gates Notes blog, which republished the foreword Gates wrote for the book. And he and Nadella sat down for a rare joint interview with the WSJ. Magazine.

Steve Ballmer, who served as Microsoft CEO for 14 years, tweeted at his successor on Tuesday morning, praising not only “Hit Refresh” but Nadella’s efforts at Microsoft as well.

It came just a week after Nadella spoke of Ballmer’s “contagious ability to create energy in everything he does, the passion with which he approaches all of his work” during the Global Innovation Exchange announcement that it was naming a building after Ballmer.

GeekWire’s Todd Bishop reviewed the book on Monday and said that candid moments within are the highlights of Nadella’s first effort as an author. Bishop said the book works on multiple levels: as a compelling life story; a window into modern Microsoft; a blueprint to understand Nadella’s management style; and a glimpse of the future of technology.

Nadella, who will headline this year’s GeekWire Summit in October, said in his own tweet on Tuesday that he hopes “Hit Refresh” starts a “meaningful dialogue.”

Here are some others who are tweeting about the book:

Satya Nadella will discuss his book in an interview on stage at the upcoming GeekWire Summit in Seattle. The Microsoft CEO is donating all proceeds from “Hit Refresh” to Microsoft Philanthropies.

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