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Elon Musk
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2023)From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.
At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.
It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.
For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.
At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.
It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.
For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?
688 pages, Hardcover
First published September 12, 2023
About the author
Walter Isaacson
100 books20.1k followersWalter Isaacson, a professor of history at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He is the author of 'Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu and on Twitter at @WalterIsaacson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,732 reviews
September 22, 2023
Walter Isaacson really is a fantastic biographer. It also helps that the material he is working with here is fascinating... there's no denying that Elon Musk has had a very interesting life and is himself quite unlike any other human. Though often not in a good way.
We start this book in his childhood in South Africa and follow him through his difficulties with his father, his move to the United States, and several tumultuous businesses and relationships. He certainly did not have his wealth and success handed to him, but earned it through a combination of being brilliant and being an asshole.
Isaacson is neither judgy, nor overly forgiving, and Elon Musk gets portrayed as the volatile idealogue he is. I do believe, after reading this book, that he is genuinely motivated by his own desire to better the planet and humanity, though his definition of bettering is suspect and he is not afraid to trample the little people to achieve his lofty goals. He's a genius, I guess. A savant. And a total dick. Thank goodness I can be fairly sure our paths will never cross.
Edit: After reading some of the comments, I wanted to add one more thing. Despite what some people seem to have assumed, Isaacson is far from uncritical of Musk. This is not propaganda written by a fanboy; Isaacson portrays Musk as chaotic, mean, immature and obsessive. He documents his childish outbursts and what he calls his "demon mode". Having read Isaacson before, I didn't expect any less.
We start this book in his childhood in South Africa and follow him through his difficulties with his father, his move to the United States, and several tumultuous businesses and relationships. He certainly did not have his wealth and success handed to him, but earned it through a combination of being brilliant and being an asshole.
Isaacson is neither judgy, nor overly forgiving, and Elon Musk gets portrayed as the volatile idealogue he is. I do believe, after reading this book, that he is genuinely motivated by his own desire to better the planet and humanity, though his definition of bettering is suspect and he is not afraid to trample the little people to achieve his lofty goals. He's a genius, I guess. A savant. And a total dick. Thank goodness I can be fairly sure our paths will never cross.
Edit: After reading some of the comments, I wanted to add one more thing. Despite what some people seem to have assumed, Isaacson is far from uncritical of Musk. This is not propaganda written by a fanboy; Isaacson portrays Musk as chaotic, mean, immature and obsessive. He documents his childish outbursts and what he calls his "demon mode". Having read Isaacson before, I didn't expect any less.
October 25, 2023
For a biography, this read like a series of vignettes written for Popular Mechanics and Vanity Fair at the same time, and submitted whilst the editor was taking a nap.
Isaacson’s reputation as a biographer preceded him, I had seen an interview he gave where he talked about this book extolling how much he worked to present a fair and balanced narrative about the life of controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk, saying he’d followed him for two years and set up a hard condition that he’d have access to everything so he could tell all the good, the bad, and the ugly without Musk having a say in the final published product. It seemed refreshingly honest, conveying an image of a spunky writer looking for the truth and willing to get down and dirty to show the life of a world-changing billionaire as is, no sugarcoating and no punches pulled. We’d finally see the true Musk without the mask of public performance on, as he truly is in private. Who could resist that promise of unvarnished honesty?
And instead, we got an author with a severe case of uncritical worshipping at the altar of Tech Bros, one of those techno-evangelicals that think technological advance will save humanity from ourselves and that don’t waste a chance to let us know it’s folks like Our Lord and Saviour Elon Musk, blessed be his cringey self, who take scientific progress by the throat and make it go forward kicking and screaming. They’re the saints of the Church of Innovation, who may be crazy, unethical, narcissistic, toxic arseholes, arrogant, selfish, abusive, mercurial, untrustworthy partners, horrible parents, and inveterate man-children with irreparably messed up personal lives, yes, but don’t you see The Innovations they bring about? So please forget the uncomfortable truths about them and please also forget the hard questions about ethics and morality in favour of focusing on The Innovations.
Because it’s The Innovations that matter. Walter Isaacson circumvents asking the hard questions and doesn’t dare challenge Elon in the least when he does or says something questionable. He asks one question, Elon answers with something vague, grandiose, often bullshitty, or downright laughable, and Isaacson merely relays it, often very repetitively, and never goes beyond the occasional comment in passing that timorously will offer a possible different reality than what Elon has said. And he also uses euphemisms and softened synonyms to describe Elon’s erratic moods and behaviour, like when he repeatedly uses “reality-bending” or “reality-defying” to describe Elon’s claims and demands instead of the harsher but also more truthful “lies” and “unreasonable.” He never questions it when Elon cheaps out on materials or blatantly says regulations are for stupid people and only suggestions until proven otherwise, preferring instead to breathlessly talk about how much Elon saves on costs and how innovative his “thinking outside the box” in defying regulations and norms is.
He never asks the questions he should about safety or the ethics of his ideas and experiments, let alone his companies’ practices. If you were hoping to see discussion of the realities of Tesla’s failures and Neuralink’s questionable ethics or Twitter’s changes since the disastrous takeover, you won’t find it here. Failures here are merely presented as obstacles that The Innovations’ favourite child-priest Elon will solve with his uncanny ability to see what nobody else does. When something goes wrong, like in the failed first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket, it’s going to be a poor hapless engineer’s fault for not doing this cog just like Elon said it should be, and never Elon’s fault. All credit to the boss, all the blame to the underlings, who, in the end, are the ones who do the hard work. Isaacson admits that Elon isn’t good at sharing power, but you won’t catch him admitting Elon isn’t good at sharing credit or giving others their due either. Long live the king, and if the kingdom goes to hell, the peasants are to blame, and please let’s not think too much of the aristocracy’s propensity to revolt against this particular king, shall we?
Granted, it is one thing to be cautious toward the hand that is feeding you, and no matter what Isaacson wants to believe about his own supposed neutrality, Elon’s was the hand feeding him these two years. His objectivity was compromised, to say nothing of his neutrality. The billionaire is, by Isaacson’s own account, very persuasive and charismatic in his erratic way, and he lived with this man for two years. How can you even pretend to be objective in this scenario?
But it’s another thing altogether to make excuses for Elon, and Isaacson does it here not just by omission. Whether deliberately or for lack of proper editing, the excuses made for Elon’s eyebrow-raising behaviour revolve around his claimed Asperger’s Syndrome. Is Elon emotionally abusive? Oh, ya see, he is autistic and can’t read the room. Is Elon an unreasonable arsehole that drives people sick with his gruelling work schedules and demands? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s and is “laser-focused” on the task. Is he a toxic drama llama that hurts his family and relationships? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s and his brain isn’t wired for empathy. Has Elon got himself ousted by his own partners and is hated by employees? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s and has no social and teamwork skills. Does Elon have a ridiculous talent for sticking his dick in crazy? Oh, ya see, he is “a fool for love” and also has Asperger’s. Has Elon stubbed his toe on a Tesla’s tire that day and now can't walk with a big sore toe? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s . . .
And the thing is, we don’t know he has Asperger’s or not, and neither does Elon. He was never diagnosed by a professional. It’s a self-diagnosis. And you know what’s worse? That everyone, Isaacson included, just took that self-diagnosis as gospel and repeats it to explain and justify everything insane, toxic, borderline illegal, and unreasonable Elon does. The amount of Elon acolytes that mindlessly say he has Asperger’s as if he’s been diagnosed by the best professional in the world and can’t be doubted is disturbing. Only Maye Musk, Elon’s mother, is the one that says here it is merely a self-diagnosis, and Isaacson dutifully notes it down and relays it in her words, to quickly forget it and repeat the Elonite crowd’s collective excusatory bleat that Elon is an Aspie and that explains his Elon-ness. Is this an attempt to deflect criticism by claiming a disability? If Elon is truly autistic (one of his sons is, so it’s not that improbable that he might be as well), then criticism of him carries the taint of ableism. And to be honest, I don’t get the impression that they use his supposed Asperger’s for anything but excusing him. Asperger’s for Elon has become a mantle of self-justification that his employees and friends have picked up without a second thought.
But, there’s another problem with this: Elon hasn’t stopped the self-diagnosis at autism. He has also self-diagnosed as Bipolar. He claimed he was Bipolar to explain what he describes as his most hellish year, 2018, when his love life was a poisonous brew of mutual abuse with Amber Heard and Tesla and SpaceX were having serious problems. This pattern says he’s prone to self-diagnosing without a basis, just grabs what looks plausible and claims it for himself.
I’ve seen some charitable souls trying to defend him saying maybe Elon did go to therapy incognito and never told. Ha! I’m sorry, but no. Elon very explicitly rejected going to psychotherapy when his concerned friend told him to, and when his first wife wanted him to go to couples therapy, he bailed out immediately. He has been asked to go to therapy when he was in hell in 2018 again, and he didn’t want to go. This isn’t a man who admits to having mental health issues to take care of them but one that is happy to claim mental health issues when it suits him. He’s like that kind of idle old lady that reads a book or magazine article about mental health issues and suddenly decides this is what she has and tells all and sundry about her poor, poor mental health self-diagnosis to get pity and validation and excuse her own shittiness. We all have known this type of self-diagnosed hypochondriacs at some point, so why is Elon given a pass with his made up self-diagnoses? Why does Isaacson not challenge him on this? These fake sufferers are a bad reflection on legitimate mental health sufferers, and Isaacson acts as an enabler here.
I don’t think Isaacson even wanted to write a biography as much as to write about the tech advances Elon’s companies pioneered. He’s not a good biographer at all, when you look closer. He doesn’t know how to handle the personal life of his subject, and it’s all the more noticeable when Elon’s early life is dealt with quickly and perfunctorily by 22% of the book, meaning that over two thirds of this book are about Elon’s companies, which is what Isaacson truly admires and wants to write about. For all that Elon’s supposed hard childhood in South Africa and the environment of violence he grew up in are used as explanations for why he’s a relentless fighter that doesn’t know the meaning of “no” and “risky,” this period of his life is hardly given a few chapters and the instances that supposedly were character-shaping for Elon aren’t analysed or even described at large. It’s terribly superficial, and I didn’t get the impression that Elon’s childhood was particularly hard at all. Oh, sure, he and his siblings keep saying it was and can’t shut up about what a bad man, very bad their father is, but when you want to know precise examples of why it was so hard, you are given examples like the bullying at school (that Elon seems to have provoked by calling the other boy names) and the “veldskool” camp that sounds like a rougher-sounding Boy Scouts with more violence than would be acceptable in the US. Is that the “hard childhood” he claims to have had? It seems more like bad and violent incidents than regular occurrences.
To me, it sounds like he had a regular childhood with bad times here and there mostly as a result of toxic masculinity than deprivation or abusiveness like you usually think of when you’re told someone has had a hard childhood. His father, however, was truly a piece of work, and Elon is more alike to him than anyone in his circle wants to admit.
The bits of adult Elon's life are also so very superficial and barely mentioned in passing in short paragraphs. The author doesn't seem to even want to discuss the comical evolution by Elon from bro! to bruh . . . much, because he doesn't delve into his progression from liberal techie that got his behind kissed by Obama to conservative hat-wearing cows-less faux Texas cowboy that's racked in a fanbase of Republicans that'd make Donald weep with envy. Just as he avoids the hard questions about his early life and his companies, Isaacson also doesn't like to give Elon's politics and ideological swings more onpage time than he can help.
Perhaps Isaacson should’ve stuck to writing about the tech companies and their innovations and not attempted a biography for which he’s clearly not prepared. Or willing. But even the overwhelming number of tech chapters (this book has 95 chapters and most of them about Musk’s tech dealings) isn’t done well. I already mentioned the issues with acting as a mere relayer of information that circumvents questioning, ethics, morality of tech practices, and so on, but an additional problem is the deficient editing. Seriously, where was the editor? This book is repetitive, isaacson uses the same phrases over and over, and sometimes even goes about the same thing in different chapters. That’s why I said it’s written like vignettes, all put together on the run, a collection of notes put together more or less coherently, and submitted for publication with . . . uh, I hesitate to say there was editing, because it doesn’t seem to me like there was any. And if there was, it is so poor it’s no wonder this book turned out to be a 700-page bloat.
There’s not much we can find new in those chapters either. At least, not if you don’t live under a rock and do read the news. There’s some new information here and there, mostly not quite relevant in the grand scheme of things as it pertains mostly to Elon’s private life, which is ultimately his to live as he pleases. But there is one bomb dropped here that is relevant: the revelation that Elon meddled in Ukraine’s defence strategy by turning off Starlink at a key point when they were going to attack the Russian fleet at Sevastopol in Crimea. Elon dropped this bomb on Isaacson by text, and Isaacson duly relayed it with zero criticism, not even a word of concern on the worrying fact that Elon had taken this decision after he was talked by the Russian ambassador into believing that this would escalate the war so much nukes would become a reality, and that after turning Starlink off on the Ukrainians, Elon again made sure to tell the Russian ambassador that he’d done this and that Starlink would not be used for military purposes. Isaacson knew this for a year, sat on it, and then relayed it in his book with no comment, no criticism, no nothing.
That alone would make me question his integrity, if there was nothing else. Sadly, the only time I can tell that Isaacson does question Musk’s official line is when he asked Elon about his motives for buying Twitter. True to his grandiose sense of messianic mission in life, Elon babbled a speech about truth, freedom, justice, reasonably-priced blue checks and a hard-boiled twittering bird’s egg, but this time at least Isaacson didn’t just let him talk, he managed to insert his own suspicion that the true motivations might also be as much fun as the desire to own the playground because as an awkward nerd with zero social skills and a shitty personality, he yearns to have the playground where the awkward nerds with zero social skills and shitty personalities can and do shine.
Is Elon a free speech champion as he claims? Mmm, let me copy Isaacson’s method for a bit and relay to you an incident between him and Bezos (bold is mine):
There it is. Goodreads users and other frequent readers and reviewers, how do you feel now knowing free speech champion Elon Musk stoops to gaming the system to promote content he wants popularised for his personal or his dependents' gain? He asked Bezos to order Amazon do reviews of his wifey’s book, so what’s to stop him now that he owns Twitter from doing this very thing with content there he wants promoted and made popular? People who want to game ratings through reviews to favour the book of the woman they’re sleeping with will also promote only content they agree with or that their circle/family/paying customers want seen.
I, personally, feel disgusted. If I loathe the ‘likes’-harvesters and book influencers that will do anything, even unethical stuff, for visibility for their reviews, why would I think differently of a man with the power to decide what is and isn’t relevant online?
By now, you’ll probably be wondering if this is a hagiography or merely a poorly edited and poorly laid out bonafide biography, and I’d say it’s both. You’d have, to use Isaacson’s much-favoured expression, to use reality-defying logic to do an obvious and open hagiography of someone like Elon given what he is like and the life he leads and the companies he runs, but it can be done low-key by omission and by justification, which is how it was done for this book. A better editor would’ve done much for the book’s presentation and layout as well, so it at least would’ve been a readable and entertaining biography. You don’t have to like the subject of a biography to like the biography itself, I didn’t come to this book as an Elon hater, I was very willing to read it out of curiosity and desire to learn more, so I expected something worth this author’s reputation. Yet I came out of reading this with a poor image of both subject and author. That the last paragraph is a risibly fanboyish “Sure, he’s crazy and toxic and cringey and a man-child, but . . . lookie there! Innovations!” just cinched it for me.
Isaacson’s reputation as a biographer preceded him, I had seen an interview he gave where he talked about this book extolling how much he worked to present a fair and balanced narrative about the life of controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk, saying he’d followed him for two years and set up a hard condition that he’d have access to everything so he could tell all the good, the bad, and the ugly without Musk having a say in the final published product. It seemed refreshingly honest, conveying an image of a spunky writer looking for the truth and willing to get down and dirty to show the life of a world-changing billionaire as is, no sugarcoating and no punches pulled. We’d finally see the true Musk without the mask of public performance on, as he truly is in private. Who could resist that promise of unvarnished honesty?
And instead, we got an author with a severe case of uncritical worshipping at the altar of Tech Bros, one of those techno-evangelicals that think technological advance will save humanity from ourselves and that don’t waste a chance to let us know it’s folks like Our Lord and Saviour Elon Musk, blessed be his cringey self, who take scientific progress by the throat and make it go forward kicking and screaming. They’re the saints of the Church of Innovation, who may be crazy, unethical, narcissistic, toxic arseholes, arrogant, selfish, abusive, mercurial, untrustworthy partners, horrible parents, and inveterate man-children with irreparably messed up personal lives, yes, but don’t you see The Innovations they bring about? So please forget the uncomfortable truths about them and please also forget the hard questions about ethics and morality in favour of focusing on The Innovations.
Because it’s The Innovations that matter. Walter Isaacson circumvents asking the hard questions and doesn’t dare challenge Elon in the least when he does or says something questionable. He asks one question, Elon answers with something vague, grandiose, often bullshitty, or downright laughable, and Isaacson merely relays it, often very repetitively, and never goes beyond the occasional comment in passing that timorously will offer a possible different reality than what Elon has said. And he also uses euphemisms and softened synonyms to describe Elon’s erratic moods and behaviour, like when he repeatedly uses “reality-bending” or “reality-defying” to describe Elon’s claims and demands instead of the harsher but also more truthful “lies” and “unreasonable.” He never questions it when Elon cheaps out on materials or blatantly says regulations are for stupid people and only suggestions until proven otherwise, preferring instead to breathlessly talk about how much Elon saves on costs and how innovative his “thinking outside the box” in defying regulations and norms is.
He never asks the questions he should about safety or the ethics of his ideas and experiments, let alone his companies’ practices. If you were hoping to see discussion of the realities of Tesla’s failures and Neuralink’s questionable ethics or Twitter’s changes since the disastrous takeover, you won’t find it here. Failures here are merely presented as obstacles that The Innovations’ favourite child-priest Elon will solve with his uncanny ability to see what nobody else does. When something goes wrong, like in the failed first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket, it’s going to be a poor hapless engineer’s fault for not doing this cog just like Elon said it should be, and never Elon’s fault. All credit to the boss, all the blame to the underlings, who, in the end, are the ones who do the hard work. Isaacson admits that Elon isn’t good at sharing power, but you won’t catch him admitting Elon isn’t good at sharing credit or giving others their due either. Long live the king, and if the kingdom goes to hell, the peasants are to blame, and please let’s not think too much of the aristocracy’s propensity to revolt against this particular king, shall we?
Granted, it is one thing to be cautious toward the hand that is feeding you, and no matter what Isaacson wants to believe about his own supposed neutrality, Elon’s was the hand feeding him these two years. His objectivity was compromised, to say nothing of his neutrality. The billionaire is, by Isaacson’s own account, very persuasive and charismatic in his erratic way, and he lived with this man for two years. How can you even pretend to be objective in this scenario?
But it’s another thing altogether to make excuses for Elon, and Isaacson does it here not just by omission. Whether deliberately or for lack of proper editing, the excuses made for Elon’s eyebrow-raising behaviour revolve around his claimed Asperger’s Syndrome. Is Elon emotionally abusive? Oh, ya see, he is autistic and can’t read the room. Is Elon an unreasonable arsehole that drives people sick with his gruelling work schedules and demands? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s and is “laser-focused” on the task. Is he a toxic drama llama that hurts his family and relationships? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s and his brain isn’t wired for empathy. Has Elon got himself ousted by his own partners and is hated by employees? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s and has no social and teamwork skills. Does Elon have a ridiculous talent for sticking his dick in crazy? Oh, ya see, he is “a fool for love” and also has Asperger’s. Has Elon stubbed his toe on a Tesla’s tire that day and now can't walk with a big sore toe? Oh, ya see, he has Asperger’s . . .
And the thing is, we don’t know he has Asperger’s or not, and neither does Elon. He was never diagnosed by a professional. It’s a self-diagnosis. And you know what’s worse? That everyone, Isaacson included, just took that self-diagnosis as gospel and repeats it to explain and justify everything insane, toxic, borderline illegal, and unreasonable Elon does. The amount of Elon acolytes that mindlessly say he has Asperger’s as if he’s been diagnosed by the best professional in the world and can’t be doubted is disturbing. Only Maye Musk, Elon’s mother, is the one that says here it is merely a self-diagnosis, and Isaacson dutifully notes it down and relays it in her words, to quickly forget it and repeat the Elonite crowd’s collective excusatory bleat that Elon is an Aspie and that explains his Elon-ness. Is this an attempt to deflect criticism by claiming a disability? If Elon is truly autistic (one of his sons is, so it’s not that improbable that he might be as well), then criticism of him carries the taint of ableism. And to be honest, I don’t get the impression that they use his supposed Asperger’s for anything but excusing him. Asperger’s for Elon has become a mantle of self-justification that his employees and friends have picked up without a second thought.
But, there’s another problem with this: Elon hasn’t stopped the self-diagnosis at autism. He has also self-diagnosed as Bipolar. He claimed he was Bipolar to explain what he describes as his most hellish year, 2018, when his love life was a poisonous brew of mutual abuse with Amber Heard and Tesla and SpaceX were having serious problems. This pattern says he’s prone to self-diagnosing without a basis, just grabs what looks plausible and claims it for himself.
I’ve seen some charitable souls trying to defend him saying maybe Elon did go to therapy incognito and never told. Ha! I’m sorry, but no. Elon very explicitly rejected going to psychotherapy when his concerned friend told him to, and when his first wife wanted him to go to couples therapy, he bailed out immediately. He has been asked to go to therapy when he was in hell in 2018 again, and he didn’t want to go. This isn’t a man who admits to having mental health issues to take care of them but one that is happy to claim mental health issues when it suits him. He’s like that kind of idle old lady that reads a book or magazine article about mental health issues and suddenly decides this is what she has and tells all and sundry about her poor, poor mental health self-diagnosis to get pity and validation and excuse her own shittiness. We all have known this type of self-diagnosed hypochondriacs at some point, so why is Elon given a pass with his made up self-diagnoses? Why does Isaacson not challenge him on this? These fake sufferers are a bad reflection on legitimate mental health sufferers, and Isaacson acts as an enabler here.
I don’t think Isaacson even wanted to write a biography as much as to write about the tech advances Elon’s companies pioneered. He’s not a good biographer at all, when you look closer. He doesn’t know how to handle the personal life of his subject, and it’s all the more noticeable when Elon’s early life is dealt with quickly and perfunctorily by 22% of the book, meaning that over two thirds of this book are about Elon’s companies, which is what Isaacson truly admires and wants to write about. For all that Elon’s supposed hard childhood in South Africa and the environment of violence he grew up in are used as explanations for why he’s a relentless fighter that doesn’t know the meaning of “no” and “risky,” this period of his life is hardly given a few chapters and the instances that supposedly were character-shaping for Elon aren’t analysed or even described at large. It’s terribly superficial, and I didn’t get the impression that Elon’s childhood was particularly hard at all. Oh, sure, he and his siblings keep saying it was and can’t shut up about what a bad man, very bad their father is, but when you want to know precise examples of why it was so hard, you are given examples like the bullying at school (that Elon seems to have provoked by calling the other boy names) and the “veldskool” camp that sounds like a rougher-sounding Boy Scouts with more violence than would be acceptable in the US. Is that the “hard childhood” he claims to have had? It seems more like bad and violent incidents than regular occurrences.
To me, it sounds like he had a regular childhood with bad times here and there mostly as a result of toxic masculinity than deprivation or abusiveness like you usually think of when you’re told someone has had a hard childhood. His father, however, was truly a piece of work, and Elon is more alike to him than anyone in his circle wants to admit.
The bits of adult Elon's life are also so very superficial and barely mentioned in passing in short paragraphs. The author doesn't seem to even want to discuss the comical evolution by Elon from bro! to bruh . . . much, because he doesn't delve into his progression from liberal techie that got his behind kissed by Obama to conservative hat-wearing cows-less faux Texas cowboy that's racked in a fanbase of Republicans that'd make Donald weep with envy. Just as he avoids the hard questions about his early life and his companies, Isaacson also doesn't like to give Elon's politics and ideological swings more onpage time than he can help.
Perhaps Isaacson should’ve stuck to writing about the tech companies and their innovations and not attempted a biography for which he’s clearly not prepared. Or willing. But even the overwhelming number of tech chapters (this book has 95 chapters and most of them about Musk’s tech dealings) isn’t done well. I already mentioned the issues with acting as a mere relayer of information that circumvents questioning, ethics, morality of tech practices, and so on, but an additional problem is the deficient editing. Seriously, where was the editor? This book is repetitive, isaacson uses the same phrases over and over, and sometimes even goes about the same thing in different chapters. That’s why I said it’s written like vignettes, all put together on the run, a collection of notes put together more or less coherently, and submitted for publication with . . . uh, I hesitate to say there was editing, because it doesn’t seem to me like there was any. And if there was, it is so poor it’s no wonder this book turned out to be a 700-page bloat.
There’s not much we can find new in those chapters either. At least, not if you don’t live under a rock and do read the news. There’s some new information here and there, mostly not quite relevant in the grand scheme of things as it pertains mostly to Elon’s private life, which is ultimately his to live as he pleases. But there is one bomb dropped here that is relevant: the revelation that Elon meddled in Ukraine’s defence strategy by turning off Starlink at a key point when they were going to attack the Russian fleet at Sevastopol in Crimea. Elon dropped this bomb on Isaacson by text, and Isaacson duly relayed it with zero criticism, not even a word of concern on the worrying fact that Elon had taken this decision after he was talked by the Russian ambassador into believing that this would escalate the war so much nukes would become a reality, and that after turning Starlink off on the Ukrainians, Elon again made sure to tell the Russian ambassador that he’d done this and that Starlink would not be used for military purposes. Isaacson knew this for a year, sat on it, and then relayed it in his book with no comment, no criticism, no nothing.
That alone would make me question his integrity, if there was nothing else. Sadly, the only time I can tell that Isaacson does question Musk’s official line is when he asked Elon about his motives for buying Twitter. True to his grandiose sense of messianic mission in life, Elon babbled a speech about truth, freedom, justice, reasonably-priced blue checks and a hard-boiled twittering bird’s egg, but this time at least Isaacson didn’t just let him talk, he managed to insert his own suspicion that the true motivations might also be as much fun as the desire to own the playground because as an awkward nerd with zero social skills and a shitty personality, he yearns to have the playground where the awkward nerds with zero social skills and shitty personalities can and do shine.
Is Elon a free speech champion as he claims? Mmm, let me copy Isaacson’s method for a bit and relay to you an incident between him and Bezos (bold is mine):
They met in 2004 when Bezos accepted Musk’s invitation to take a tour of SpaceX. Afterward, he was surprised to get a somewhat curt email from Musk expressing annoyance that Bezos had not reciprocated by inviting him to Seattle to see Blue Origin’s factory, so Bezos promptly did. Musk flew up with Justine, toured Blue Origin, then they had dinner with Bezos and his wife MacKenzie. Musk was filled with advice, expressed with his usual intensity. He warned Bezos that he was heading down the wrong path with one idea: “Dude, we tried that and that turned out to be really dumb, so I’m telling you don’t do the dumb thing we did.” Bezos recalls feeling that Musk was a bit too sure of himself, given that he had not yet successfully launched a rocket. The following year, Musk asked Bezos to have Amazon do a review of Justine’s new book, an urban horror thriller about demon-human hybrids. Bezos explained that he did not tell Amazon what to review, but said that he would personally post a customer review. Musk sent back a brusque reply, but Bezos posted a nice personal review anyway.
There it is. Goodreads users and other frequent readers and reviewers, how do you feel now knowing free speech champion Elon Musk stoops to gaming the system to promote content he wants popularised for his personal or his dependents' gain? He asked Bezos to order Amazon do reviews of his wifey’s book, so what’s to stop him now that he owns Twitter from doing this very thing with content there he wants promoted and made popular? People who want to game ratings through reviews to favour the book of the woman they’re sleeping with will also promote only content they agree with or that their circle/family/paying customers want seen.
I, personally, feel disgusted. If I loathe the ‘likes’-harvesters and book influencers that will do anything, even unethical stuff, for visibility for their reviews, why would I think differently of a man with the power to decide what is and isn’t relevant online?
By now, you’ll probably be wondering if this is a hagiography or merely a poorly edited and poorly laid out bonafide biography, and I’d say it’s both. You’d have, to use Isaacson’s much-favoured expression, to use reality-defying logic to do an obvious and open hagiography of someone like Elon given what he is like and the life he leads and the companies he runs, but it can be done low-key by omission and by justification, which is how it was done for this book. A better editor would’ve done much for the book’s presentation and layout as well, so it at least would’ve been a readable and entertaining biography. You don’t have to like the subject of a biography to like the biography itself, I didn’t come to this book as an Elon hater, I was very willing to read it out of curiosity and desire to learn more, so I expected something worth this author’s reputation. Yet I came out of reading this with a poor image of both subject and author. That the last paragraph is a risibly fanboyish “Sure, he’s crazy and toxic and cringey and a man-child, but . . . lookie there! Innovations!” just cinched it for me.
September 12, 2023
I am the translator of the Chinese edition of this book, and it is expected to be published simultaneously with the English edition. I am fortunate to have finished reading this work before 99.9999% of readers worldwide. I must say that this book is very thorough in its investigation, follow-up interviews, and information comparison, regarding a contemporary technology entrepreneur. Its depth of interviews is unparalleled in most successful entrepreneur biographies. Walter shadowed Elon for a staggering two years, interviewing not only Elon's mother, brother, colleagues, and friends who supported him, but also his father, ex-wife, ex-girlfriend, ex-colleagues, and former business partners who had conflicts, friction, arguments, disputes, and even coups with him. These individuals also agreed to be interviewed by Walter, and the total number of named interviewees reached 126. This is rare even in a single entrepreneur biography. Therefore, what you are about to read is not merely flattering words about Elon, but a more complete and objective account of significant events based on the collision of information from multiple sources. Moreover, Walter claims that Elon did not interfere with the creation of this book.
I believe this is the work that Walter has put the most effort into, possibly even more than his previous book, Steve Jobs. It may also be one of the most important biographies in the Chinese and English publishing world in the years around 2023.
-----------------------
Updated Sep 12th, 2023.
5 Questions You might want to know about this Musk’s 688-page new biography
Q: How does this Elon Musk compare to the previous Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future?
A: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future was published in 2015 and covers events up to 2014.
This Elon Musk was published in 2023 and covers events up to April 2023.
As it's widely known, the past ten years have been incredibly significant for Elon Musk's business, with many remarkable stories unfolding during this decade.
Let me give you an example. After Steve Jobs passed away, there were rumors that the most likely person to succeed him was Jony Ive, who was the Chief Design Officer at Apple and shared similar design philosophies with Jobs.
Similarly, at Tesla, there's someone who shares Elon Musk's vision, and his name is Franz von Holzhausen. He's the Chief Designer, and most of Tesla's design work happens under his leadership. So, if you find Tesla's industrial design appealing, don't forget this name.
In Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, this important figure appears for the first time after 75% of the book; while in Elon Musk, he first appears at the 30% mark of the book.
So, you can imagine how much more of the story about him and Musk working together to create Tesla products (including Cybertruck and autopilot system) is in the new book.
The early appearance of characters doesn't necessarily mean that the earlier content is superficial, or that Isaacson didn't delve deeply into Musk's early history. In fact, for writing this book, Isaacson interviewed many people, including Musk's former partners who orchestrated an internal coup at PayPal to oust him, as well as his fierce rivals at Tesla, ex-wives and girlfriends he had disputes with. This also includes Jeff Bezos, who competed fiercely with him in the aerospace industry, and Bill Gates, whom he vehemently criticized (Isaacson interviewed two former richest man to write about this richest man... quite impressive).
Previously, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future probably had only a few dozen hours of interviews with Musk himself, although it also interviewed people around him. In contrast, Isaacson shadowed Musk for 2 years, so there's no need to ask about interview duration and frequency. The follow-up interviews mainly took place from 2021 to 2023, up until the final chapter that covers the Starship launch test site, and beyond that, it doesn't touch on recent events like the showdown with Mark Zuckerberg.
Isaacson, to write about one person, managed to interview 126 people. As someone who also writes books, I'm quite envious of Isaacson's firsthand resources.
Q: Which chapters of the book are particularly exciting?
A: Personally, I find the chapters detailing the “surge” of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity to be the most exciting. As someone who is interested in the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries, I think Elon Musk's ability to drive cost reduction and efficiency improvement is astonishing. There's hardly another entrepreneur like him anywhere in the world.
Elon's experiences during several critical and challenging periods, such as those in 2008 and 2017, are also quite relatable and gripping.
Additionally, the chapter about Ukraine is particularly astonishing. Just a few days ago, it made headlines in the news carried spoilers from the book. The insider information provided in the book is exclusive and incredibly detailed. We owe Musk a debt of gratitude for helping us avoid a crisis that could have escalated into a major conflict between Russia and Ukraine (a super war), thanks to his timely and correct decisions.
Lastly, for those interested in the Twitter acquisition process, it occupies a significant portion of the final 1/4 of the book. The entire event unfolds in a rather chaotic manner (What a mess!), but Isaacson's narrative clears up the confusion and provides a well-organized account.
Q: What are the limitations of this book?
A: The limitations of the book lie in the fact that you have to rely on your imagination for certain aspects. For example, you'll have to imagine what Elon Musk's father was like or how much his siblings resemble him; these details might be more visually apparent in photos or videos.
I would recommend that everyone watch the documentary series, The Elon Musk Show in 2022. The content of the documentary closely mirrors the content of this book.
There's an old saying in English: "In me the tiger sniffs the rose." The book primarily presents his "tiger" side as he conducts his business activities, while the documentary, through the narration of his former wife Talulah Riley, showcases his "tender" side.
Readers may have a similar experience while reading the book.
Q: What are the differences between Elon Musk and American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer?
A: That’s an odd question. Considering the close proximity of Nolan's new movie release and the publication of Musk's book, both of which are biographies of prominent figures, we may take this opportunity to compare the writing styles of different authors.
Everyone would agree that Nolan is a master of manipulating the timeline of a story. American Prometheus is very much in line with his style of directing. Although the English version is over 700 pages, a little bit thicker than the Musk’s biography, there aren't many long, continuous narratives. Instead, it consists of many fragments interwoven together.
However, one complaint I have is that reading American Prometheus is a much more mentally taxing task than watching the 3-hour movie about Oppenheimer. It's not just because reading a book takes longer than watching a movie, but because the author has provided detailed descriptions of the lives and events of dozens or even hundreds of minor characters like Chevalier, Tatlock, Strauss, etc. When you first read it, you can get lost in the maze of these side stories and struggle to identify which biographical details of these characters are important for understanding Oppenheimer’s life.
Nolan filtered out those things, leaving behind their important intersecting stories, or story fragments strongly connected with Oppenheimer, and cleverly interwine them into a more complete biographical film. If you watch the movie first and then try to find a plot in the book, you'll discover that Nolan has essentially exhausted many of the plot fragments from the book, leaving no additional descriptions.
But Isaacson's Elon Musk is not like this. His descriptions of many story segments are more complete. If a director wants to adapt the biography into a movie in the future, they can almost take shortcuts because many scenes, details, and dialogues can be directly used to create complete story segments. This is thanks to Isaacson's extensive firsthand information resources. I can't help but speculate that, based on the storylines he has revealed, if he were to dig into his database and archives and write an 800-page or 1000-page biography still consistently focused on Musk without any digressions, it wouldn't be too difficult.
Isaacson's introduction of all the minor characters (supporting roles), I believe, is just right. He only introduces the stories that can help us understand Elon Musk. Even though there are hundreds of characters in the book, you won't be confused by these names. To put it bluntly, Isaacson is acutely aware in his writing: they are all "tools" to help us understand Elon.
Q: What is the underlying theme of this book?
A: The underlying theme of this book is that Elon Musk is a great boss but not necessarily a good person – still a little bit different from the theme of Steve Jobs.
The definition of a great boss is someone who can lead a team to achieve exceptional goals and create significant societal value, regardless of the means used to achieve those goals.
The essential characteristic of a good person is having empathy at or above the average level of ordinary people.
Can we expect someone with such remarkable business achievements to also be a universally likable and compassionate individual in their interactions with family, friends, and colleagues? Isaacson tends to believe it's not possible, and I share the same view.
A person's character is a holistic entity, and the aspects of their personality that surface in different social relationships are facets of that whole. We cannot demand that the parts of a person that make them unlikable in their personal life (such as their coldness, ruthlessness, or devilish traits) be completely "formatted" while retaining the aspects that dazzle us, like their impressive business accomplishments. This is something that cannot be achieved.
The above perspective provides a key to understanding Elon Musk as an individual and comprehending the essence of this book.
I believe this is the work that Walter has put the most effort into, possibly even more than his previous book, Steve Jobs. It may also be one of the most important biographies in the Chinese and English publishing world in the years around 2023.
-----------------------
Updated Sep 12th, 2023.
5 Questions You might want to know about this Musk’s 688-page new biography
Q: How does this Elon Musk compare to the previous Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future?
A: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future was published in 2015 and covers events up to 2014.
This Elon Musk was published in 2023 and covers events up to April 2023.
As it's widely known, the past ten years have been incredibly significant for Elon Musk's business, with many remarkable stories unfolding during this decade.
Let me give you an example. After Steve Jobs passed away, there were rumors that the most likely person to succeed him was Jony Ive, who was the Chief Design Officer at Apple and shared similar design philosophies with Jobs.
Similarly, at Tesla, there's someone who shares Elon Musk's vision, and his name is Franz von Holzhausen. He's the Chief Designer, and most of Tesla's design work happens under his leadership. So, if you find Tesla's industrial design appealing, don't forget this name.
In Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, this important figure appears for the first time after 75% of the book; while in Elon Musk, he first appears at the 30% mark of the book.
So, you can imagine how much more of the story about him and Musk working together to create Tesla products (including Cybertruck and autopilot system) is in the new book.
The early appearance of characters doesn't necessarily mean that the earlier content is superficial, or that Isaacson didn't delve deeply into Musk's early history. In fact, for writing this book, Isaacson interviewed many people, including Musk's former partners who orchestrated an internal coup at PayPal to oust him, as well as his fierce rivals at Tesla, ex-wives and girlfriends he had disputes with. This also includes Jeff Bezos, who competed fiercely with him in the aerospace industry, and Bill Gates, whom he vehemently criticized (Isaacson interviewed two former richest man to write about this richest man... quite impressive).
Previously, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future probably had only a few dozen hours of interviews with Musk himself, although it also interviewed people around him. In contrast, Isaacson shadowed Musk for 2 years, so there's no need to ask about interview duration and frequency. The follow-up interviews mainly took place from 2021 to 2023, up until the final chapter that covers the Starship launch test site, and beyond that, it doesn't touch on recent events like the showdown with Mark Zuckerberg.
Isaacson, to write about one person, managed to interview 126 people. As someone who also writes books, I'm quite envious of Isaacson's firsthand resources.
Q: Which chapters of the book are particularly exciting?
A: Personally, I find the chapters detailing the “surge” of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity to be the most exciting. As someone who is interested in the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries, I think Elon Musk's ability to drive cost reduction and efficiency improvement is astonishing. There's hardly another entrepreneur like him anywhere in the world.
Elon's experiences during several critical and challenging periods, such as those in 2008 and 2017, are also quite relatable and gripping.
Additionally, the chapter about Ukraine is particularly astonishing. Just a few days ago, it made headlines in the news carried spoilers from the book. The insider information provided in the book is exclusive and incredibly detailed. We owe Musk a debt of gratitude for helping us avoid a crisis that could have escalated into a major conflict between Russia and Ukraine (a super war), thanks to his timely and correct decisions.
Lastly, for those interested in the Twitter acquisition process, it occupies a significant portion of the final 1/4 of the book. The entire event unfolds in a rather chaotic manner (What a mess!), but Isaacson's narrative clears up the confusion and provides a well-organized account.
Q: What are the limitations of this book?
A: The limitations of the book lie in the fact that you have to rely on your imagination for certain aspects. For example, you'll have to imagine what Elon Musk's father was like or how much his siblings resemble him; these details might be more visually apparent in photos or videos.
I would recommend that everyone watch the documentary series, The Elon Musk Show in 2022. The content of the documentary closely mirrors the content of this book.
There's an old saying in English: "In me the tiger sniffs the rose." The book primarily presents his "tiger" side as he conducts his business activities, while the documentary, through the narration of his former wife Talulah Riley, showcases his "tender" side.
Readers may have a similar experience while reading the book.
Q: What are the differences between Elon Musk and American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer?
A: That’s an odd question. Considering the close proximity of Nolan's new movie release and the publication of Musk's book, both of which are biographies of prominent figures, we may take this opportunity to compare the writing styles of different authors.
Everyone would agree that Nolan is a master of manipulating the timeline of a story. American Prometheus is very much in line with his style of directing. Although the English version is over 700 pages, a little bit thicker than the Musk’s biography, there aren't many long, continuous narratives. Instead, it consists of many fragments interwoven together.
However, one complaint I have is that reading American Prometheus is a much more mentally taxing task than watching the 3-hour movie about Oppenheimer. It's not just because reading a book takes longer than watching a movie, but because the author has provided detailed descriptions of the lives and events of dozens or even hundreds of minor characters like Chevalier, Tatlock, Strauss, etc. When you first read it, you can get lost in the maze of these side stories and struggle to identify which biographical details of these characters are important for understanding Oppenheimer’s life.
Nolan filtered out those things, leaving behind their important intersecting stories, or story fragments strongly connected with Oppenheimer, and cleverly interwine them into a more complete biographical film. If you watch the movie first and then try to find a plot in the book, you'll discover that Nolan has essentially exhausted many of the plot fragments from the book, leaving no additional descriptions.
But Isaacson's Elon Musk is not like this. His descriptions of many story segments are more complete. If a director wants to adapt the biography into a movie in the future, they can almost take shortcuts because many scenes, details, and dialogues can be directly used to create complete story segments. This is thanks to Isaacson's extensive firsthand information resources. I can't help but speculate that, based on the storylines he has revealed, if he were to dig into his database and archives and write an 800-page or 1000-page biography still consistently focused on Musk without any digressions, it wouldn't be too difficult.
Isaacson's introduction of all the minor characters (supporting roles), I believe, is just right. He only introduces the stories that can help us understand Elon Musk. Even though there are hundreds of characters in the book, you won't be confused by these names. To put it bluntly, Isaacson is acutely aware in his writing: they are all "tools" to help us understand Elon.
Q: What is the underlying theme of this book?
A: The underlying theme of this book is that Elon Musk is a great boss but not necessarily a good person – still a little bit different from the theme of Steve Jobs.
The definition of a great boss is someone who can lead a team to achieve exceptional goals and create significant societal value, regardless of the means used to achieve those goals.
The essential characteristic of a good person is having empathy at or above the average level of ordinary people.
Can we expect someone with such remarkable business achievements to also be a universally likable and compassionate individual in their interactions with family, friends, and colleagues? Isaacson tends to believe it's not possible, and I share the same view.
A person's character is a holistic entity, and the aspects of their personality that surface in different social relationships are facets of that whole. We cannot demand that the parts of a person that make them unlikable in their personal life (such as their coldness, ruthlessness, or devilish traits) be completely "formatted" while retaining the aspects that dazzle us, like their impressive business accomplishments. This is something that cannot be achieved.
The above perspective provides a key to understanding Elon Musk as an individual and comprehending the essence of this book.
October 22, 2023
I haven't read the book yet, and I am not a fan of Musk. But I find it strange that there are several 1-star ratings for a book which hasn't been published yet. A book by Walter Isaacson for goodness sakes.
November 15, 2023
Oh My God!!!
I'm finally done.
I don't like Elon Musk. I don't think that's a surprise, I'm Black, a Leftist and a woman so the feeling is mutual. I had never even heard of Elon Musk before he appeared on The Simpsons. I don't watch The Simpsons but I'm still aware of when big pop culture things happen on The Simpsons. I don't remember how many years ago it was but Elon's reputation was very different. At that time people were saying that this man would save humanity. He was the next Thomas Edison. The media loved this man. He could do no wrong....
Oh what difference a couple of years can make.
I don't use Twitter. I never have and I don't know anyone who uses Twitter that doesn't have to for their job. So when I heard Elon was going to buy Twitter I didn't care and I still don't. Twitter has always been a hellscape of racism, homophobia, transphobia and sexism....Elon has just made it worse.
I went into this biography hopeful that it would be an investigation into why Elon is the piece of shit we know today and while I did get an answer, it was not the answer I think the author was trying to convey. I've wanted to read several Walter Isaacson's biographies for years. His Steve Jobs biography, his Da Vinci biography but after reading this I'm good. I don't need to read anything by this man again. The way he spent 600+ pages sucking Elon's dick and balls makes me terrified to imagine what his book about infamous war criminal Henry Kissinger is like. Elon is described by the people who like him as: Authoritarian, mean, dark, cruel, ruthless, reckless, vicious, unhinged, toxic, a man child and cringeworthy. The author grazes over Elon's racism, transphobia( he has a Transgender daughter who doesn't speak to him) his inability to control his emotions. The author just moves right past anything that might paint Elon as anything but a genius of innovation. Elons father made his wealth in apartid South Africa and has said publicly that if all the white people left Africa, the Blacks would go back to living in trees. So I'm not surprised that Elon is a racist who believes in the White Replacement Theory. Several times the author talks about Elon's obsession with "birthrates" but he never mentions that Elon believes that "the wrong people" are having babies and that "the right people" should be having children.
I wonder who "the wrong people" are???
This book was overly long and I'd only recommend it to people who love them some Elon. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 star simply because I do feel bad that this man had to spend 3 years following Elon around. Elon Musk like all billionaires is a horrible person. It's immoral to be that rich. If Elon and people like him( Bezos, Tim Cook, Bill Gates) paid their fair share in taxes no one else would. That's right if you are reading this just know that simply forcing people making over 5 million dollars to pay the taxes would eliminate taxes for everyone else.
Billionaires are the scum of the Earth.
I'm finally done.
I don't like Elon Musk. I don't think that's a surprise, I'm Black, a Leftist and a woman so the feeling is mutual. I had never even heard of Elon Musk before he appeared on The Simpsons. I don't watch The Simpsons but I'm still aware of when big pop culture things happen on The Simpsons. I don't remember how many years ago it was but Elon's reputation was very different. At that time people were saying that this man would save humanity. He was the next Thomas Edison. The media loved this man. He could do no wrong....
Oh what difference a couple of years can make.
I don't use Twitter. I never have and I don't know anyone who uses Twitter that doesn't have to for their job. So when I heard Elon was going to buy Twitter I didn't care and I still don't. Twitter has always been a hellscape of racism, homophobia, transphobia and sexism....Elon has just made it worse.
I went into this biography hopeful that it would be an investigation into why Elon is the piece of shit we know today and while I did get an answer, it was not the answer I think the author was trying to convey. I've wanted to read several Walter Isaacson's biographies for years. His Steve Jobs biography, his Da Vinci biography but after reading this I'm good. I don't need to read anything by this man again. The way he spent 600+ pages sucking Elon's dick and balls makes me terrified to imagine what his book about infamous war criminal Henry Kissinger is like. Elon is described by the people who like him as: Authoritarian, mean, dark, cruel, ruthless, reckless, vicious, unhinged, toxic, a man child and cringeworthy. The author grazes over Elon's racism, transphobia( he has a Transgender daughter who doesn't speak to him) his inability to control his emotions. The author just moves right past anything that might paint Elon as anything but a genius of innovation. Elons father made his wealth in apartid South Africa and has said publicly that if all the white people left Africa, the Blacks would go back to living in trees. So I'm not surprised that Elon is a racist who believes in the White Replacement Theory. Several times the author talks about Elon's obsession with "birthrates" but he never mentions that Elon believes that "the wrong people" are having babies and that "the right people" should be having children.
I wonder who "the wrong people" are???
This book was overly long and I'd only recommend it to people who love them some Elon. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 star simply because I do feel bad that this man had to spend 3 years following Elon around. Elon Musk like all billionaires is a horrible person. It's immoral to be that rich. If Elon and people like him( Bezos, Tim Cook, Bill Gates) paid their fair share in taxes no one else would. That's right if you are reading this just know that simply forcing people making over 5 million dollars to pay the taxes would eliminate taxes for everyone else.
Billionaires are the scum of the Earth.
October 5, 2023
Walter Isaacson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, spent two years shadowing Elon Musk and conducted interviews with hundreds of people who know Musk, including family members, friends, employees, and competitors.
Elon Musk was a bookworm as a child. He read a lot of science fiction books.
He likes to play strategy games such as Civilization, Warcraft, Humans, and Polytopia. I like to play Civilization too. 😉
He is running six companies: Tesla, SpaceX and its Starlink unit, Twitter, The Boring Company, Neuralink and X.AI.
His ambitious plans include colonizing Mars, developing sustainable energy sources, and creating artificial intelligence that will benefit humanity.
Overall, I highly recommend Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson to anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating entrepreneur and his vision for the future.
Elon Musk was a bookworm as a child. He read a lot of science fiction books.
He likes to play strategy games such as Civilization, Warcraft, Humans, and Polytopia. I like to play Civilization too. 😉
He is running six companies: Tesla, SpaceX and its Starlink unit, Twitter, The Boring Company, Neuralink and X.AI.
His ambitious plans include colonizing Mars, developing sustainable energy sources, and creating artificial intelligence that will benefit humanity.
Overall, I highly recommend Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson to anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating entrepreneur and his vision for the future.
Currently reading
October 27, 2023My hatred for Elon Musk is great, but not greater than my love for gossip
January 4, 2024
Originally I thought I would start this review by saying I wasn’t a huge fan of Elon Musk - not that he’ll lose any sleep over that of course - but that I was interested in reading a biography of one of the most influential people in the world. I was about a third of the way through the book when Musk publicly endorsed a tweet promoting a horrible antisemitic conspiracy theory. He later apologised and said that it was “the dumbest thing he ever posted”. The incident was however typical of Musk’s tendency to blurt out whatever thoughts happen to cross his mind at a particular moment.
One of my reasons for choosing this book was that I had read the author’s biography of Steve Jobs, and had been hugely impressed. The earlier book was though written at the end of Jobs’ life. Musk is aged 52 and shows no signs of slowing down. This book takes us to April 2023, but the subsequent seven months have already provided plenty more material.
Musk’s business achievements have been extraordinary, almost incredible really, especially in respect of Tesla and Space X. Both companies were initially derided as impossible pipe-dreams by “experts”. The book also covers Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and there’s an interesting aside on his provision of Starlink to Ukraine in the early months of the war with Russia, something described as having been of vital importance. He initially refused however, to provide Starlink cover for the Ukrainians to use on offensive operations in Crimea, because he worries that a reconquest of Crimea might trigger a worldwide nuclear conflict.
That fear is characteristic of Musk, who seems to have a preoccupation with threats to the future of humanity. Tesla was created in response to climate change, and as is well-known, his ultimate aim with Space X is to get humanity to Mars, which he sees as a future refuge from an apocalypse on Earth. He has expressed fears about a future demographic crash, and of course about what he sees as the threat from AI. As Isaacson points out, he has “a tendency to want to ride to the rescue”. I’m not knocking that though. Musk has probably done more than any living individual to promote both energy conservation and space travel.
Musk is multi-faceted character. I suppose we all are, but with him everything seems exaggerated. He has incredible vision, self-belief, energy and resilience, and he’s an extreme risk-taker - one might say he is reckless. He also behaves with total callousness to most of those around him, especially in the workplace. It’s typical of him to give his senior executives insane targets and then to fire anyone who doesn’t meet them, or indeed to fire anyone who disagrees with him. He doesn’t care about intimidating or bullying others as long as he drives them to achieve the goals he has set. He argues that a small team of maniacally driven people can achieve more than a much larger number of moderately committed staff. To some extent his arguments have been vindicated by what his companies have achieved, but don’t work for Musk if you value work-life balance.
One of the questions posed in the book is whether it’s possible to have alpha-achievers like Musk (or Steve Jobs) without the unpleasant aspects to their personalities. As Musk famously said of himself “I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you also think I was going to be a chill, normal dude?”
The last part of the book covers the changes in Musk’s political views, from being a Democrat voter concerned about climate change to now having a much more right wing viewpoint. Isaacson highlights that in our hyper-polarised world, views of Musk vary from fanboyish adoration to fevered hostility. Presenting a balanced assessment of such a divisive character is a difficult assignment. I think Isaacson has succeeded.
One of my reasons for choosing this book was that I had read the author’s biography of Steve Jobs, and had been hugely impressed. The earlier book was though written at the end of Jobs’ life. Musk is aged 52 and shows no signs of slowing down. This book takes us to April 2023, but the subsequent seven months have already provided plenty more material.
Musk’s business achievements have been extraordinary, almost incredible really, especially in respect of Tesla and Space X. Both companies were initially derided as impossible pipe-dreams by “experts”. The book also covers Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and there’s an interesting aside on his provision of Starlink to Ukraine in the early months of the war with Russia, something described as having been of vital importance. He initially refused however, to provide Starlink cover for the Ukrainians to use on offensive operations in Crimea, because he worries that a reconquest of Crimea might trigger a worldwide nuclear conflict.
That fear is characteristic of Musk, who seems to have a preoccupation with threats to the future of humanity. Tesla was created in response to climate change, and as is well-known, his ultimate aim with Space X is to get humanity to Mars, which he sees as a future refuge from an apocalypse on Earth. He has expressed fears about a future demographic crash, and of course about what he sees as the threat from AI. As Isaacson points out, he has “a tendency to want to ride to the rescue”. I’m not knocking that though. Musk has probably done more than any living individual to promote both energy conservation and space travel.
Musk is multi-faceted character. I suppose we all are, but with him everything seems exaggerated. He has incredible vision, self-belief, energy and resilience, and he’s an extreme risk-taker - one might say he is reckless. He also behaves with total callousness to most of those around him, especially in the workplace. It’s typical of him to give his senior executives insane targets and then to fire anyone who doesn’t meet them, or indeed to fire anyone who disagrees with him. He doesn’t care about intimidating or bullying others as long as he drives them to achieve the goals he has set. He argues that a small team of maniacally driven people can achieve more than a much larger number of moderately committed staff. To some extent his arguments have been vindicated by what his companies have achieved, but don’t work for Musk if you value work-life balance.
One of the questions posed in the book is whether it’s possible to have alpha-achievers like Musk (or Steve Jobs) without the unpleasant aspects to their personalities. As Musk famously said of himself “I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you also think I was going to be a chill, normal dude?”
The last part of the book covers the changes in Musk’s political views, from being a Democrat voter concerned about climate change to now having a much more right wing viewpoint. Isaacson highlights that in our hyper-polarised world, views of Musk vary from fanboyish adoration to fevered hostility. Presenting a balanced assessment of such a divisive character is a difficult assignment. I think Isaacson has succeeded.
September 14, 2023
As someone who immensely enjoyed Walter Isaacson's biographies on Leonardo da Vinci, Jennifer Doudna, Jobs, Kissinger, Franklin, I was eager to dive into his latest work on Elon Musk. Isaacson's capability to produce such in-depth accounts back-to-back, especially in the wake of a global pandemic, is truly commendable. This biography isn't just another account of a tech mogul's journey; it provides an intimate, unfiltered look into the mind of one of the most polarizing figures of our time, even for readers like me who aren't ardent Elon Musk fans.
Isaacson's storytelling prowess shines through as he logically structures the narrative into two distinct yet intertwined facets: an updated account of Musk's life and a close-up look into his daily activities and decision-making processes. The first 60% of the book provides an updated account of Musk's life and accomplishments, seamlessly picking up where Ashlee Vance's book left off. However, it's in the latter 40% where Isaacson truly shines: after following Musk around for two years, he offers readers unprecedented access to Musk's daily life and even his private communications.
Isaacson's fearless approach, evident in his earlier works, is on full display here. The book wasn't vetted by Musk, and it shows. From multiple episodes of Musk yelling at staff to him dismissing loyal employees for seemingly trivial reasons, Isaacson presents a balanced, uncensored portrayal.
One of the most captivating elements of the book is its deep dive into Musk's unique decision-making processes. This resonated strongly with me, as someone who often questions the status quo at work. It's an eye-opening look at the mindset that has disrupted multiple industries.
The biography also dives deep into Musk's more controversial decisions, such as his involvement in geopolitical events like the Ukraine crisis. These insights, much like his previous works, offer readers a nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in such decisions.
Isaacson doesn't shy away from exploring the evolution of Musk's public persona, particularly his transformation on Twitter. It's a fascinating look at how one man can leverage, or mishandle, the power of social media platforms.
While I may not agree with all of Elon Musk's decisions or methods, this biography reaffirms one thing: the man is a genius. Isaacson's ability to dissect complex personalities has never been clearer. After devouring his works on Leonardo da Vinci and The Code Breaker, I can confidently say that this book is a worthy addition to Isaacson's impressive portfolio.
Another must-read from Isaacson, essential for anyone interested in technology, business, and the intricate tapestry of genius.
Isaacson's storytelling prowess shines through as he logically structures the narrative into two distinct yet intertwined facets: an updated account of Musk's life and a close-up look into his daily activities and decision-making processes. The first 60% of the book provides an updated account of Musk's life and accomplishments, seamlessly picking up where Ashlee Vance's book left off. However, it's in the latter 40% where Isaacson truly shines: after following Musk around for two years, he offers readers unprecedented access to Musk's daily life and even his private communications.
Isaacson's fearless approach, evident in his earlier works, is on full display here. The book wasn't vetted by Musk, and it shows. From multiple episodes of Musk yelling at staff to him dismissing loyal employees for seemingly trivial reasons, Isaacson presents a balanced, uncensored portrayal.
One of the most captivating elements of the book is its deep dive into Musk's unique decision-making processes. This resonated strongly with me, as someone who often questions the status quo at work. It's an eye-opening look at the mindset that has disrupted multiple industries.
The biography also dives deep into Musk's more controversial decisions, such as his involvement in geopolitical events like the Ukraine crisis. These insights, much like his previous works, offer readers a nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in such decisions.
Isaacson doesn't shy away from exploring the evolution of Musk's public persona, particularly his transformation on Twitter. It's a fascinating look at how one man can leverage, or mishandle, the power of social media platforms.
While I may not agree with all of Elon Musk's decisions or methods, this biography reaffirms one thing: the man is a genius. Isaacson's ability to dissect complex personalities has never been clearer. After devouring his works on Leonardo da Vinci and The Code Breaker, I can confidently say that this book is a worthy addition to Isaacson's impressive portfolio.
Another must-read from Isaacson, essential for anyone interested in technology, business, and the intricate tapestry of genius.
February 11, 2024
I am torn how to rate this book. It's a four star read for writing and research and decidedly less for how much I connected with the subject matter. Musk is an interesting guy, no doubt, in many aspects, he is likely a genius, who has the potential to change the world in profound ways. Yet he has not grasped that with power comes responsibility and that is where the problems arise. I won't go into too much detail, but I will say, that while his impact may be substantial, it is his motivation I found a little frustrating. He is not greedy in the traditional sense. He doesn't seem to do it for the money or to live a lavish lifestyle. He does it because he loves a challenge. My impression was that his desire to solve problems, to expand his reach and improve the world, comes not from a place of compassion and a desire to make the lives of his fellow humans better, but rather from a place of wanting to prove to himself that he can do it, to prove that he is the master of innovation and unafraid of any manner of risk (even if it costs his family or coworkers dearly). Maybe it doesn't matter what his motivation is, as long as the results benefit the world, but as the subject of such a long book, I found it more than a little off-putting. I had hoped to read this and feel as though I could see the more human side of this undoubtedly complex man, however, I find I do not. He seems proud of being unlikable, because he thinks it somehow elevates him above all those who do not understand him, which makes it very difficult to connect with him. Of course, I felt for him and his siblings and mother, when Isaacson detailed his problematic and abusive father or difficult childhood. But empathizing with someone's situation doesn't mean liking them. All in all, I am glad I read it, but I also think you could save yourself a lot of time and read Musk's Wikipedia page to get a similar, if less detailed overview.
November 18, 2023
Where do I begin to add some thoughts about the latest book, Elon Musk, by one of our most renowned biographers, Walter Isaacson, but with his words in the Acknowledgements of his book as follows:
Having written interesting and riveting biographies of Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Steve Jobs and Jennifer Doudna to name a few, perhaps Walter Isaacson was the perfect person to attempt to write the compelling story of one of our most brilliant innovators and engineers that has transformed the world, particularly in the realm of space exploration, mass production of electric cars designed to combat adverse changes in our earth caused by climate change, and in the field of artificial intelligence. This brilliant man-child, prone to mood changes which would immediately
change the characterization of moment, and described as his demon-mode eruptions that left rubble in its wake. But then Walter Isaacson asks in the last page of this book whether a restrained Musk could accomplish as much as a Musk unbound? Once again, Isaacson's words:
The biography of Elon Musk begins with the prescient words of Steve Jobs: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. It is apparent in this book that Elon Musk developed a siege mentality that included an attraction for storm and drama. Musk thrived on crises, deadlines, and wild surges of work. I was so struck when Musk was determined that he was going to increase the production of Tesla automobiles and was working intricately with others to change certain design elements that would eliminate slow-downs in the production cycle, often using toy cars to resolve issues in the design. And during this critical time over a three-day period, Elon Musk stayed on the production line catching a few hours sleep on the floor when he could. Needless to say, his wild goal of the production of 5000 Tesla automobiles per week was accomplished. It is that kind of drive that is seen in Musk throughout this book, and he expects no less from those around him.
Another big part of Musk's story for me was how he led the world in space exploration. It was 2010 when Barack Obama met Elon Musk at Cape Canaveral to determine what SpaceX was accomplishing in the space program. It was Musk's chance to prove that he wasn't nuts when in June 2010 when the Falcon 9, the first unmanned test voyage was successfully launched into orbit. The launch went perfectly and Elon Musk joined his jubilant team at an all-night party on a Coco Beach pier. Elon Musk called it a "vindication of what the president had proposed. It was also a vindication of Space X." The next big test, scheduled for later in 2010, was to show that Space X could not only launch an unmanned capsule into orbit but also return it to earth safely.
And I'm going to end with the portion of the book when he was nominated by Time magazine as Person of the Year in 2021.
Addendum: It is now November 17, 2023 and I feel that I must amend my review to reflect the anti-Semitic views that are now being put forward by X and Elon Musk. I am horrified at the hatred and racism that has been espoused on this platform by Elon Musk. And I stand by Israel.
"Elon Musk allowed me to shadow him for two years, invited me to sit in on his meetings, indulged scores of interviews and late-night conversations, provided emails and texts, and encouraged his friends, colleagues, family members, adversaries and ex-wives to talk to me. He did not ask, nor did he, read this book before it was published, and he exercised no control over it."
Having written interesting and riveting biographies of Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Steve Jobs and Jennifer Doudna to name a few, perhaps Walter Isaacson was the perfect person to attempt to write the compelling story of one of our most brilliant innovators and engineers that has transformed the world, particularly in the realm of space exploration, mass production of electric cars designed to combat adverse changes in our earth caused by climate change, and in the field of artificial intelligence. This brilliant man-child, prone to mood changes which would immediately
change the characterization of moment, and described as his demon-mode eruptions that left rubble in its wake. But then Walter Isaacson asks in the last page of this book whether a restrained Musk could accomplish as much as a Musk unbound? Once again, Isaacson's words:
"But would a restrained Musk accomplish as much as a Musk unbound? Is being unfiltered and untethered integral to who he is? Could you get the rockets to orbit or the transition to electric vehicles without accepting all aspects of him, hinged and unhinged? Sometimes great innovators are risk-seeking man-children who resist potty training. They can be reckless, cringeworthy, sometimes even toxic. They can also be crazy. Crazy enough to think they can change the world."
The biography of Elon Musk begins with the prescient words of Steve Jobs: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. It is apparent in this book that Elon Musk developed a siege mentality that included an attraction for storm and drama. Musk thrived on crises, deadlines, and wild surges of work. I was so struck when Musk was determined that he was going to increase the production of Tesla automobiles and was working intricately with others to change certain design elements that would eliminate slow-downs in the production cycle, often using toy cars to resolve issues in the design. And during this critical time over a three-day period, Elon Musk stayed on the production line catching a few hours sleep on the floor when he could. Needless to say, his wild goal of the production of 5000 Tesla automobiles per week was accomplished. It is that kind of drive that is seen in Musk throughout this book, and he expects no less from those around him.
"He had never been a captain of a sports team or the leader of a gang of friends, and he lacked an instinct for camaraderie. Like Steve Jobs, he genuinely did not care if he offended or intimidated the people he worked with, as long as he drove them to accomplish feats they thought were impossible."
Another big part of Musk's story for me was how he led the world in space exploration. It was 2010 when Barack Obama met Elon Musk at Cape Canaveral to determine what SpaceX was accomplishing in the space program. It was Musk's chance to prove that he wasn't nuts when in June 2010 when the Falcon 9, the first unmanned test voyage was successfully launched into orbit. The launch went perfectly and Elon Musk joined his jubilant team at an all-night party on a Coco Beach pier. Elon Musk called it a "vindication of what the president had proposed. It was also a vindication of Space X." The next big test, scheduled for later in 2010, was to show that Space X could not only launch an unmanned capsule into orbit but also return it to earth safely.
"As awesome as it was, Musk had a sobering realization. The Mercury program had accomplished similar feats fifty years earlier, before either he or Obama had been born. America was just catching up with its older self."
And I'm going to end with the portion of the book when he was nominated by Time magazine as Person of the Year in 2021.
"The magazine's accolade marked a peak in his popularity. In 2021, he became the richest person in the world, SpaceX became the first private company to send a civilian crew into orbit, and Tesla reached a trillion-dollar market value by leading the world's auto industry in a historic shift into the era of electric vehicles. 'Few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth, too,' Time's editor Ed Felsenthal wrote. The 'Financial Times' also named him Person of the Year, stating 'Musk is staking a claim to be the most genuinely innovative entrepreneur of his generation.'"
Addendum: It is now November 17, 2023 and I feel that I must amend my review to reflect the anti-Semitic views that are now being put forward by X and Elon Musk. I am horrified at the hatred and racism that has been espoused on this platform by Elon Musk. And I stand by Israel.
September 18, 2024
Real analysis is sparse in this book, and we get more and more used to almost template like outbursts and behaviour described without really understanding more who Elon Musk really is
Elon Musk himself as a subject and serial entrepreneur is fascinating enough, but I just feel that the book, and Walter Isaacson as an author, describe much too much while eschewing at least attempts to help the reader understand the main subject. You understand the formula (or algorithm in Musk speak) and apparently acceleration always needs to be coupled to insane deadlines and testosterone fueled “feats” which are remarkable not well thought through. There is a constant search for drama and definitely a troubled childhood and a self proclaimed Asperger diagnosis but I felt, even though reading 700 pages that Isaacson could have given more true insight.
Erol, an angry father and a lot of violence in South Africa who has the same birthday as Elon at the start of the book is definitely interesting. The family is fractured and both his mother and father kind of abandon their kids. Videogame addiction and programming in basic come back early on in Elon's life, as do his mood swings. At 18 he immigrates to Canada to pursue a degree, while also obsessively playing Civilisation and asking girls on dates if they think of electric cars.
In the Dot.com bubble his first company is sold for USD 307m to Compaq, leaving Elon with 22 million dollar and a McLaren of 1 million (I bet you have seen this cringe worthy video of the delivery of the supercar before: https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Ds...).
He in general seems to have an aversion against contentment, both in his business and private life. He founds X.com, funded by Sequioa, to set up a financial services firm for the internet age, and as an opening offer to PayPal offers them 10% equity in a merger between the two companies. in the end this multiplies his fortunes with a pay off of USD 250m.
The rest of the book follows the many ventures, including the Boring Company, SpaceX, Tesla (not founded by Elon btw) and off course Twitter/X. There are a lot of inconsistencies in Elon his behaviour and his professed beliefs. Including billions of government contracts and stimulus credits to Tesla and SpaceX. Not to say that the acceleration he achieved based on engineering knowledge and defying the status quo at those companies is not impressive, and exceeds what large established companies could not pull off in their complacent or bureaucratic manner. The focus on holistic, design oriented thinking is fascinating and a good reminder to remain critical on regulation and entrenched status quo impossibilities.
The whole spiral into conspiracy theories and alternative reality building is hardly explored in my view, which is a shame. Many times he comes across as callous and insensitive. Isaacson describes this all, and in a way seems to perpetuate a myth of the "Great Man", that only in such a manner revolutionary progress can be made, which is harmful without further investigation and challenge. Even though he himself is super hardcore and sleeps at the office and stuff, his sacrifices lead to him being a multi billionaire, something his staff can hardly say. Many promises are not met in the end, including the self driving car concept, but the deadlines and goals he set are often so extreme it is a miracle the teams sometimes come close at all.
In the end this book is comparable to Musk himself, full of contrasts and frustratingly hard to really understand. I expected more critical engagement from Isaacson, who not for nothing is one of the worlds most renowned biographers, but learned a lot of the private life that shaped Musk.
Dutch quotes and notes, this was a long book!
Aversie tegen tevredenheid
Storm en drama, drama aantrekken is het thema van zijn leven
Asperger, May zijn moeder die een model en diëtist was
Kinderverwaarlozing vanuit zowel vader en moeder
Videogame addiction en het programmeren van spellen in basic
Enorme veranderlijkheid in stemmingen al als kind
Voor zijn 18e emigreren naar Canada
Civilisation verslaving op de universiteit
Vragen aan een meisje of ze denkt aan elektrische auto’s
Werkte niet graag voor anderen en had geen respect voor managers en geen gevoel dat anderen meer kennis dan hij zou kun hebben
Wist Elon maar een beetje beter hoe hij gelukkig kon zijn
Na 4 jaar zijn eerste bedrijf Zip2 verkocht voor $307m aan Compaq, met Elon zijn opbrengst $22m
McLaren van $1m
X.com, een website gesteund door Sequoia om alle financiële diensten aan te kunnen bieden en een openingsbod van 90%/10% in de fusie met PayPal, waarbij hij zijn huwelijksreis afzegt gedurende die periode
PayPal wat de eerste Catchpa ontwierp
Waarheid verdraaien
$250m opbrengst van de verkoop van PayPal, waar hij ruzie met Peter Thiel en de board krijgt. Hij sterft bijna aan malaria terwijl hij nog een levensverzekering van $100m heeft op naam van PayPal, waar hij een keyman is
Eerste kind overleden aan wiegendood
SpaceX die met gestoorde deadlines en het negeren van voorschriften en vereisten voor prototypes snel raketten kon itereren. NASA aanklagen nadat een contract onderhands gegund was.
Tesla oorspronkelijk niet door Elon opgericht maar $6.4m gefund nadat hij in het prototype, nog op loodzuur batterijen, een ritje gemaakt had.
70% van de eigen onderdelen maken bij SpaceX
Maar dat had geduld vereist, een deugd die hem ontbrak
Het ontwerpen van een auto is makkelijk, de productie is het probleem
3 CEOs van Tesla in één jaar, voordat Elon de CEO wordt
3e lancering in 2008 van SpaceX mislukt, met daarin de as van Scottie en twee satellieten
Paypal founders die in 2008 cruciale funding gaven aan SpaceX
$1.6b contract met NASA na de succesvolle lancering van de vierde Falcon 1
Daimler elektrische Smart lening in 2009 voor $50m equity stake
OpenAI in 2012, and quarrels with Larry Page of Google, including a bidding war for DeepMind. In 2018 Altman and Musk fell out.
Wat is er zo moeilijk te begrijpen aan ik haat dit klote product - over SolarCity zonnedaken/panelen
Het overkoepelend belang van design en holistisch nadenken over geïntegreerde productie om producten continue te verbeteren
The Boring company
Elon Musk die met Amber Heard date na haar break-up van Johnny Depp
Creëeren van een eigen werkelijkheid
Erol die zijn c. 30 jaar jongere stiefdochter bezwangerd
2017: het jaar van de productie hel bij Tesla, met de ingebruikname van de gigafactory en de massaproductie van Model 3. Weg met robots om maximaal efficient te presteren.
Assembleren in een tent op het parkeerterrein van Tesla, om maar de deadline van 5.000 Model 3s te kunnen behalen
Managers moeten 20% van hun tijd in ieder geval operationeel (programmeren, het dak op, aan de assemblagelijn) bezig zijn.
Radicale versimpeling en redesign van producten, met een grote dosis schijt aan vereisten
Elon die foto’s van keizersnede van Grimes aan zijn vrienden stuurt
Allegedly simpeler willen leven en je huizen verkopen als kritiek op Bezos maar wel een huis van 750m2 in Austin van $60m proberen te kopen
Radical process and product redesign, starting from a challenge to all conventional wisdoms and requirements. SpaceX managers inviting Tesla people to get perspectives on how car manufacturing (much lower cost) components could be used in rockets. Use of steel instead of expensive compounds.
Neuralink, creating a direct interface between humans and computers.
Tesla seems like the least innovative of his many companies in a sense, even though it’s the most successful from a traditional perspective
Anti-wokeness by a son going into transition and becoming a communist
2011 to 2021 he tweeted 19.000 times
Addiction to Polytopia
Dependency on Starlink of Ukraine
How does all government support which enabled the business get not mentioned at all?
GigaTexas factory could host 193 million hamsters
Using the private island of Hawaii of Larry Elison of Oracle, who would later invest $1b in buying Twitter
Gaming on Eldenring all night before launching the offer to buy Twitter
Twitter kopen voor $44b als het beheersen van de wereldwijde versie van de speelplaats uit zijn jeugd
SBF offering $5b via Morgan Stanley to invest in Twitter if he would be allowed to perform a blockchain update to the platform
Je kind technomechanicus noemen, roepnaam Tau
Norman Foster inhuren voor het bouwen van een huis in Austin
Waarom bouwt hij geen space elevator? Qua economics moet dat toch nog een veel grotere stap voorwaarts zijn?
Vriendschap met Kanye
Bruiloften tijdens het Cannes filmfestival en vakantiewoningen van miljardairs in Spanje en Mykonos, constante vluchten met privéjets
Snap niet waarom hij niet OnlyFans overgenomen heeft als monetazation key is
Find out who wrote more than 100 lines of code and fire all other Twitter engineers
2.500 engineers bij Twitter, terwijl er bij autopilot van Tesla 150 man werken. Wat leidt tot een verzoek om 90% van het personeel te ontslaan
Neuralink jaagt er ook veel proefdieren doorheen
Granting $700.000 bonus to his nephew for implementing a crazy transport of Twitter servers via a dodgy moving company to a cheaper location during the Christmas break
The Musketeers, all white male engineers who do Elon’s wishes without question and without seemingly keeping to any safety protocols
Fascinating flow of data from Tesla autopilot cameras and the construction of Dojo chips that should rival Nvidia’s offering in AI, but then focused on dimensional processing instead of text driven LLMs
Elon Musk himself as a subject and serial entrepreneur is fascinating enough, but I just feel that the book, and Walter Isaacson as an author, describe much too much while eschewing at least attempts to help the reader understand the main subject. You understand the formula (or algorithm in Musk speak) and apparently acceleration always needs to be coupled to insane deadlines and testosterone fueled “feats” which are remarkable not well thought through. There is a constant search for drama and definitely a troubled childhood and a self proclaimed Asperger diagnosis but I felt, even though reading 700 pages that Isaacson could have given more true insight.
Erol, an angry father and a lot of violence in South Africa who has the same birthday as Elon at the start of the book is definitely interesting. The family is fractured and both his mother and father kind of abandon their kids. Videogame addiction and programming in basic come back early on in Elon's life, as do his mood swings. At 18 he immigrates to Canada to pursue a degree, while also obsessively playing Civilisation and asking girls on dates if they think of electric cars.
In the Dot.com bubble his first company is sold for USD 307m to Compaq, leaving Elon with 22 million dollar and a McLaren of 1 million (I bet you have seen this cringe worthy video of the delivery of the supercar before: https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Ds...).
He in general seems to have an aversion against contentment, both in his business and private life. He founds X.com, funded by Sequioa, to set up a financial services firm for the internet age, and as an opening offer to PayPal offers them 10% equity in a merger between the two companies. in the end this multiplies his fortunes with a pay off of USD 250m.
The rest of the book follows the many ventures, including the Boring Company, SpaceX, Tesla (not founded by Elon btw) and off course Twitter/X. There are a lot of inconsistencies in Elon his behaviour and his professed beliefs. Including billions of government contracts and stimulus credits to Tesla and SpaceX. Not to say that the acceleration he achieved based on engineering knowledge and defying the status quo at those companies is not impressive, and exceeds what large established companies could not pull off in their complacent or bureaucratic manner. The focus on holistic, design oriented thinking is fascinating and a good reminder to remain critical on regulation and entrenched status quo impossibilities.
The whole spiral into conspiracy theories and alternative reality building is hardly explored in my view, which is a shame. Many times he comes across as callous and insensitive. Isaacson describes this all, and in a way seems to perpetuate a myth of the "Great Man", that only in such a manner revolutionary progress can be made, which is harmful without further investigation and challenge. Even though he himself is super hardcore and sleeps at the office and stuff, his sacrifices lead to him being a multi billionaire, something his staff can hardly say. Many promises are not met in the end, including the self driving car concept, but the deadlines and goals he set are often so extreme it is a miracle the teams sometimes come close at all.
In the end this book is comparable to Musk himself, full of contrasts and frustratingly hard to really understand. I expected more critical engagement from Isaacson, who not for nothing is one of the worlds most renowned biographers, but learned a lot of the private life that shaped Musk.
Dutch quotes and notes, this was a long book!
Aversie tegen tevredenheid
Storm en drama, drama aantrekken is het thema van zijn leven
Asperger, May zijn moeder die een model en diëtist was
Kinderverwaarlozing vanuit zowel vader en moeder
Videogame addiction en het programmeren van spellen in basic
Enorme veranderlijkheid in stemmingen al als kind
Voor zijn 18e emigreren naar Canada
Civilisation verslaving op de universiteit
Vragen aan een meisje of ze denkt aan elektrische auto’s
Werkte niet graag voor anderen en had geen respect voor managers en geen gevoel dat anderen meer kennis dan hij zou kun hebben
Wist Elon maar een beetje beter hoe hij gelukkig kon zijn
Na 4 jaar zijn eerste bedrijf Zip2 verkocht voor $307m aan Compaq, met Elon zijn opbrengst $22m
McLaren van $1m
X.com, een website gesteund door Sequoia om alle financiële diensten aan te kunnen bieden en een openingsbod van 90%/10% in de fusie met PayPal, waarbij hij zijn huwelijksreis afzegt gedurende die periode
PayPal wat de eerste Catchpa ontwierp
Waarheid verdraaien
$250m opbrengst van de verkoop van PayPal, waar hij ruzie met Peter Thiel en de board krijgt. Hij sterft bijna aan malaria terwijl hij nog een levensverzekering van $100m heeft op naam van PayPal, waar hij een keyman is
Eerste kind overleden aan wiegendood
SpaceX die met gestoorde deadlines en het negeren van voorschriften en vereisten voor prototypes snel raketten kon itereren. NASA aanklagen nadat een contract onderhands gegund was.
Tesla oorspronkelijk niet door Elon opgericht maar $6.4m gefund nadat hij in het prototype, nog op loodzuur batterijen, een ritje gemaakt had.
70% van de eigen onderdelen maken bij SpaceX
Maar dat had geduld vereist, een deugd die hem ontbrak
Het ontwerpen van een auto is makkelijk, de productie is het probleem
3 CEOs van Tesla in één jaar, voordat Elon de CEO wordt
3e lancering in 2008 van SpaceX mislukt, met daarin de as van Scottie en twee satellieten
Paypal founders die in 2008 cruciale funding gaven aan SpaceX
$1.6b contract met NASA na de succesvolle lancering van de vierde Falcon 1
Daimler elektrische Smart lening in 2009 voor $50m equity stake
OpenAI in 2012, and quarrels with Larry Page of Google, including a bidding war for DeepMind. In 2018 Altman and Musk fell out.
Wat is er zo moeilijk te begrijpen aan ik haat dit klote product - over SolarCity zonnedaken/panelen
Het overkoepelend belang van design en holistisch nadenken over geïntegreerde productie om producten continue te verbeteren
The Boring company
Elon Musk die met Amber Heard date na haar break-up van Johnny Depp
Creëeren van een eigen werkelijkheid
Erol die zijn c. 30 jaar jongere stiefdochter bezwangerd
2017: het jaar van de productie hel bij Tesla, met de ingebruikname van de gigafactory en de massaproductie van Model 3. Weg met robots om maximaal efficient te presteren.
Assembleren in een tent op het parkeerterrein van Tesla, om maar de deadline van 5.000 Model 3s te kunnen behalen
Managers moeten 20% van hun tijd in ieder geval operationeel (programmeren, het dak op, aan de assemblagelijn) bezig zijn.
Radicale versimpeling en redesign van producten, met een grote dosis schijt aan vereisten
Elon die foto’s van keizersnede van Grimes aan zijn vrienden stuurt
Allegedly simpeler willen leven en je huizen verkopen als kritiek op Bezos maar wel een huis van 750m2 in Austin van $60m proberen te kopen
Radical process and product redesign, starting from a challenge to all conventional wisdoms and requirements. SpaceX managers inviting Tesla people to get perspectives on how car manufacturing (much lower cost) components could be used in rockets. Use of steel instead of expensive compounds.
Neuralink, creating a direct interface between humans and computers.
Tesla seems like the least innovative of his many companies in a sense, even though it’s the most successful from a traditional perspective
Anti-wokeness by a son going into transition and becoming a communist
2011 to 2021 he tweeted 19.000 times
Addiction to Polytopia
Dependency on Starlink of Ukraine
How does all government support which enabled the business get not mentioned at all?
GigaTexas factory could host 193 million hamsters
Using the private island of Hawaii of Larry Elison of Oracle, who would later invest $1b in buying Twitter
Gaming on Eldenring all night before launching the offer to buy Twitter
Twitter kopen voor $44b als het beheersen van de wereldwijde versie van de speelplaats uit zijn jeugd
SBF offering $5b via Morgan Stanley to invest in Twitter if he would be allowed to perform a blockchain update to the platform
Je kind technomechanicus noemen, roepnaam Tau
Norman Foster inhuren voor het bouwen van een huis in Austin
Waarom bouwt hij geen space elevator? Qua economics moet dat toch nog een veel grotere stap voorwaarts zijn?
Vriendschap met Kanye
Bruiloften tijdens het Cannes filmfestival en vakantiewoningen van miljardairs in Spanje en Mykonos, constante vluchten met privéjets
Snap niet waarom hij niet OnlyFans overgenomen heeft als monetazation key is
Find out who wrote more than 100 lines of code and fire all other Twitter engineers
2.500 engineers bij Twitter, terwijl er bij autopilot van Tesla 150 man werken. Wat leidt tot een verzoek om 90% van het personeel te ontslaan
Neuralink jaagt er ook veel proefdieren doorheen
Granting $700.000 bonus to his nephew for implementing a crazy transport of Twitter servers via a dodgy moving company to a cheaper location during the Christmas break
The Musketeers, all white male engineers who do Elon’s wishes without question and without seemingly keeping to any safety protocols
Fascinating flow of data from Tesla autopilot cameras and the construction of Dojo chips that should rival Nvidia’s offering in AI, but then focused on dimensional processing instead of text driven LLMs
October 11, 2023
There were many reasons NOT to read this book:
1. it's a biography (I don't like biographies)
2. it's not the closed story - Elon is alive & kickin'
3. I've already read one book about him, the one by Ashlee Vance
So why did I bother? The answer is short: Walter Isaacson, 'nuf said.
What kind of book is that? I bet my answer will surprise you: one reads it like a thriller. No, I'm not BSing you - the intensity is immense. There's no farting sweet, no stroking of the heads - the event chases yet another event, there's always some drama, there's always some target ahead & (of course) Elon, multiplying the sense of urgency. I wasn't bored for a single second here. Well, paradoxically, the only part where I was only 95% engaged was the one about the Twitter takeover - as I was already quite familiar with details (that have leaked out online before).
So, what did I like here most?
- Musk's personality is reflected in detail, without sugar-coating, without erecting him a monument; there are shining parts, but there are also gloomy shadows
- many people close to Musk were actually interviewed for this book: they bring in MAAANY details I've seen for the very first time
- I enjoyed reading about EM's interactions with other tech moguls - they bring a lot to the table (even if some of them were already published)
- surprisingly, this book does VERY well when it comes to revealing the reasons behind Musk's success; it not only depicts his "algorithm", but also shows how it's being every day "implemented" in his businesses
What didn't I like? Mostly two things:
1. There's really a lot about the greater good, and grand sense of mission (survival of the human race, bringing in renewable energy sources, etc.) - I'm not really buying that. It sounds like the founder's selling pitch (even to his own people to play with their intrinsic motivations). I have an impression WI fell for that because of not being critical enough / not filtering BS enough.
2. There's one element that is 99% missing here - crypto. It's mentioned once or twice in a critical context ("Elon is not a fan"), but the truth is that Elon has been cynically using his position & popularity to play people off by triggering market trends (yes, I mean dogecoin as well). It creates an impression the book was at least partially censored.
Someone has said recently that this book is very good, not even as Musk's biography, but as a business book. I tend to agree - it shows moves that appear crazy, but there's always something behind them. the algorithm. The specific modus operandi aimed for effectiveness. Some may not like it, some may disagree with it, but facts prove that it has been consistently successful in absolutely bonkers conditions, so ...
Highly recommended. I've enjoyed reading it A LOT.
1. it's a biography (I don't like biographies)
2. it's not the closed story - Elon is alive & kickin'
3. I've already read one book about him, the one by Ashlee Vance
So why did I bother? The answer is short: Walter Isaacson, 'nuf said.
What kind of book is that? I bet my answer will surprise you: one reads it like a thriller. No, I'm not BSing you - the intensity is immense. There's no farting sweet, no stroking of the heads - the event chases yet another event, there's always some drama, there's always some target ahead & (of course) Elon, multiplying the sense of urgency. I wasn't bored for a single second here. Well, paradoxically, the only part where I was only 95% engaged was the one about the Twitter takeover - as I was already quite familiar with details (that have leaked out online before).
So, what did I like here most?
- Musk's personality is reflected in detail, without sugar-coating, without erecting him a monument; there are shining parts, but there are also gloomy shadows
- many people close to Musk were actually interviewed for this book: they bring in MAAANY details I've seen for the very first time
- I enjoyed reading about EM's interactions with other tech moguls - they bring a lot to the table (even if some of them were already published)
- surprisingly, this book does VERY well when it comes to revealing the reasons behind Musk's success; it not only depicts his "algorithm", but also shows how it's being every day "implemented" in his businesses
What didn't I like? Mostly two things:
1. There's really a lot about the greater good, and grand sense of mission (survival of the human race, bringing in renewable energy sources, etc.) - I'm not really buying that. It sounds like the founder's selling pitch (even to his own people to play with their intrinsic motivations). I have an impression WI fell for that because of not being critical enough / not filtering BS enough.
2. There's one element that is 99% missing here - crypto. It's mentioned once or twice in a critical context ("Elon is not a fan"), but the truth is that Elon has been cynically using his position & popularity to play people off by triggering market trends (yes, I mean dogecoin as well). It creates an impression the book was at least partially censored.
Someone has said recently that this book is very good, not even as Musk's biography, but as a business book. I tend to agree - it shows moves that appear crazy, but there's always something behind them. the algorithm. The specific modus operandi aimed for effectiveness. Some may not like it, some may disagree with it, but facts prove that it has been consistently successful in absolutely bonkers conditions, so ...
Highly recommended. I've enjoyed reading it A LOT.
October 2, 2023
This book presents Musk as a difficult genius, basically as a bear who's really a bit of a teddy bear. A lot of his worst moments publicly either aren't mentioned (hyperloop, Haraldur Thorleifsson) or are glossed over super quickly without the worst aspects being addressed. As a result this feels like a really surface level account of Musk's affairs. I don't really feel like I learned a ton. I wish there was way more detail, even if it's the less spicy stuff. Like how on earth does Elon run six businesses at once? Tell me, I want to know. Can I see a schedule? I'm so curious.
This book keeps telling you Musk is a genius, but it doesn't do a lot to prove that's true. He just seems like a geek with fuck you money and a really intense drive to get things done at all costs. And sure, yes, he gets things done no one else ever has, but it seems like it's because he's one of the few people who can. Like I can see that bureaucracy is stupid too, but if I just ignored it because it's dumb I'd go to jail. I'd drown in fines. I'd fail to reach the person who could help me make the red tape disappear. It's not because I'm stupid, I'm just not a billionaire. Recognizing that something is stupid and using your considerable wealth and power to change it doesn't make you a genius. I think the author confuses results with brains. Maybe it would be more accurate to say he's fearless. I wouldn't really argue with that.
I also hate how Elon's ugliest side is framed, by both the author and people close to Elon, as Elon being in "demon mode" as if he's being possessed by someone else. It makes it seem like he's not responsible for his actions, like he's just as much a hostage as the rest of us. As if he's a werewolf and you just have to wait for the full moon to pass. I'm like dude, go to therapy. Do the entirety of humanity a favor and deal with your shit. There's literally no reason not to, you're the richest man on earth and you have ALL THE RESOURCES. Use them. Apply your break things fast mentality to your bullshit. Become the CEO of sanity. Go full Vulcan. Whatever. Just do it. The idea that shitty Elon is necessary to have the Elon who gets things done is pure stupidity. That's just not how it works. Elon wont stop being Elon just because he's less terrible. There's no reason it has to be like this. None.
I don't know. This just felt like a bit too much of a puff piece. Like this book doesn't ignore all the controversy and drama, but it definitely polishes it up quite a bit. (Edit: And it unquestioningly presents Musk as a man who's main drive is to help humanity.) Not that I would expect that anyone hard hitting would be able to get this close so I get why it's so generous, but it feel like a surface level rehashing of what we all already know.
But it was easy to read, and there was some new information in here.
This book keeps telling you Musk is a genius, but it doesn't do a lot to prove that's true. He just seems like a geek with fuck you money and a really intense drive to get things done at all costs. And sure, yes, he gets things done no one else ever has, but it seems like it's because he's one of the few people who can. Like I can see that bureaucracy is stupid too, but if I just ignored it because it's dumb I'd go to jail. I'd drown in fines. I'd fail to reach the person who could help me make the red tape disappear. It's not because I'm stupid, I'm just not a billionaire. Recognizing that something is stupid and using your considerable wealth and power to change it doesn't make you a genius. I think the author confuses results with brains. Maybe it would be more accurate to say he's fearless. I wouldn't really argue with that.
I also hate how Elon's ugliest side is framed, by both the author and people close to Elon, as Elon being in "demon mode" as if he's being possessed by someone else. It makes it seem like he's not responsible for his actions, like he's just as much a hostage as the rest of us. As if he's a werewolf and you just have to wait for the full moon to pass. I'm like dude, go to therapy. Do the entirety of humanity a favor and deal with your shit. There's literally no reason not to, you're the richest man on earth and you have ALL THE RESOURCES. Use them. Apply your break things fast mentality to your bullshit. Become the CEO of sanity. Go full Vulcan. Whatever. Just do it. The idea that shitty Elon is necessary to have the Elon who gets things done is pure stupidity. That's just not how it works. Elon wont stop being Elon just because he's less terrible. There's no reason it has to be like this. None.
I don't know. This just felt like a bit too much of a puff piece. Like this book doesn't ignore all the controversy and drama, but it definitely polishes it up quite a bit. (Edit: And it unquestioningly presents Musk as a man who's main drive is to help humanity.) Not that I would expect that anyone hard hitting would be able to get this close so I get why it's so generous, but it feel like a surface level rehashing of what we all already know.
But it was easy to read, and there was some new information in here.
September 21, 2023
It’s pretty good. I really like Isaacson as a writer, he does a good job of keeping this reasonable. I think the limits of this book are due to the nature of the subject, and the sort of shifting sand on which it was written.
If you cringe at the thought of musk and his hype factory of drama, give it a miss. Seriously don’t put yourself through that. You can get the most salacious bits in one of the many rehashed think pieces that have been emerging.
Speaking to the biography and less to the biographized, overall I found it a mostly well done book. It’s subject is a moving target as musk’s story is not over and as such it’s a challenge to get a whole picture of a complex person. It seems likely, should Musk survive another 20 years, there will be some really surreal moments that will be glaringly missed. But Isaacson does the best with what we have, and the book is not blindly worshiping at the altar of some engineering brainiac, and it’s not a purely critical takedown the worlds richest person. The book ends up somewhere inbetween, which seems reasonable.
What emerges is a portrait of a somewhat broken and flawed man, who works excessively hard, demands a lot of others around him, and has created some really impressive things. Someone who engags in hyperbolic rhetoric at times out of a sort of misplaced immaturity. Someone who struggles with interpersonal relationships and family. Who cares about that same family but is also willing to neglect them to work, sleep, eat and breathe the projects that he wholeheartedly throws himself into.
I wish the book had spent more time on Musks early years, family background, and childhood even. That’s the part that you get from this book I don’t think you get from salacious news articles or other sources. At one point I was 1/2 of the way in and realized were up till like 2019, and so the second half of the book is just the last five years or so. Isaacson chooses to spend a lot of time on sort of the 2019 to 2023 period of time. Disproportionately describing every event that occurred around the acquisition of Twitter, in my thought to the detriment of the book. It’s probably because that’s when Issacson had access to Musk and was able to follow him around. Doesn’t mean I have to love it.
The book also misses a chance to contextualize the fact that many of the decisions musk has made about what he views as “the most important things” have actually imposed a lot of externalities on the world. It’s taken at face value that things like electric vehicles and trying to get to Mars are reasonable. but one of the common threads is that musk is pushing so hard and sacrificing for what he views as the betterment of humanity, it seemed a little absent to not ask the question; is his perception correct? EVs need lithium, lithium mines are atrocious for the environment. What’s up with launching so many rockets when satellites already litter the upper atmosphere. Should we be focused on those domains?
I also think, as with many biographies of living people, it’s challenging to have a portrait of a person without giving time the chance to settle their legacy. And as such, this probably is not the definitive biography. But my takeaways as of September 2023 is that it’s a really good portrait and draws together a lot of very strange and odd threads into a cohesive narrative about what I found to be an interesting person.
If you cringe at the thought of musk and his hype factory of drama, give it a miss. Seriously don’t put yourself through that. You can get the most salacious bits in one of the many rehashed think pieces that have been emerging.
Speaking to the biography and less to the biographized, overall I found it a mostly well done book. It’s subject is a moving target as musk’s story is not over and as such it’s a challenge to get a whole picture of a complex person. It seems likely, should Musk survive another 20 years, there will be some really surreal moments that will be glaringly missed. But Isaacson does the best with what we have, and the book is not blindly worshiping at the altar of some engineering brainiac, and it’s not a purely critical takedown the worlds richest person. The book ends up somewhere inbetween, which seems reasonable.
What emerges is a portrait of a somewhat broken and flawed man, who works excessively hard, demands a lot of others around him, and has created some really impressive things. Someone who engags in hyperbolic rhetoric at times out of a sort of misplaced immaturity. Someone who struggles with interpersonal relationships and family. Who cares about that same family but is also willing to neglect them to work, sleep, eat and breathe the projects that he wholeheartedly throws himself into.
I wish the book had spent more time on Musks early years, family background, and childhood even. That’s the part that you get from this book I don’t think you get from salacious news articles or other sources. At one point I was 1/2 of the way in and realized were up till like 2019, and so the second half of the book is just the last five years or so. Isaacson chooses to spend a lot of time on sort of the 2019 to 2023 period of time. Disproportionately describing every event that occurred around the acquisition of Twitter, in my thought to the detriment of the book. It’s probably because that’s when Issacson had access to Musk and was able to follow him around. Doesn’t mean I have to love it.
The book also misses a chance to contextualize the fact that many of the decisions musk has made about what he views as “the most important things” have actually imposed a lot of externalities on the world. It’s taken at face value that things like electric vehicles and trying to get to Mars are reasonable. but one of the common threads is that musk is pushing so hard and sacrificing for what he views as the betterment of humanity, it seemed a little absent to not ask the question; is his perception correct? EVs need lithium, lithium mines are atrocious for the environment. What’s up with launching so many rockets when satellites already litter the upper atmosphere. Should we be focused on those domains?
I also think, as with many biographies of living people, it’s challenging to have a portrait of a person without giving time the chance to settle their legacy. And as such, this probably is not the definitive biography. But my takeaways as of September 2023 is that it’s a really good portrait and draws together a lot of very strange and odd threads into a cohesive narrative about what I found to be an interesting person.
September 17, 2023
https://wp.me/p4dW55-1jR
"Elon Musk" is Walter Isaacson's long-anticipated biography of the mercurial entrepreneur behind SpaceX, Tesla and, most recently, the website formerly known as Twitter. Isaacson is an author, journalist and professor at Tulane University who has written popular biographies of Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci.
Despite my bias against biographies of people whose lives are still unfolding, Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk's life proved irresistibly tempting. I was lured by my experience with two of his previous books, the prospect of gaining insight into Musk's entrepreneurial magic and by the possibility of understanding what makes this volatile visionary tick.
But for all the potential this biography seems to offer - the world's richest man allowed Isaacson to shadow him for more than two years - the 615-page narrative leaves me feeling deeply ambivalent. The fact this is not a "traditional" biography is not surprising. Nor is Isaacson's attraction to a controversial figure like Musk. But the fact this biography often reads like a breezy, over-simplified exposè is decidedly disappointing.
Readers hoping to encounter a dispassionate examination of Musk's strengths and weaknesses will be disappointed. Rather than exploring his subject's most notorious flaws within the context of his trailblazing successes, Isaacson seems to have lost himself in the hyper-reality bubble surrounding Musk. A biographer is normally expected to be an impartial observer reporting history without leaving footprints, but Isaacson's role here seems to have evolved into part-time friend, confidante and therapist.
While guiding the reader through Musk's various achievements, near-misses and interpersonal schisms, Isaacson often refers back to one of his earlier biographical subjects: Steve Jobs. These comparisons, along with accounts of Musk's relationships with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and other successful entrepreneurs and investors, are quite interesting. But Isaacson avoids the real work of digging deeply to determine whether Musk's frequently callous treatment of people is a requirement for his success...or an unfortunate byproduct of his process for creative disruption.
And while Isaacson diligently documents much of the individual damage resulting from Musk's impetuous behavior, he almost completely ignores alleged larger-scale issues such as an apparent disregard for highway traffic safety laws, widespread allegations of consumer fraud, a tolerance of toxic behavior on his social networking site and a disregard for laws designed to ensure financial market transparency and fairness.
Finally, Isaacson's writing style is unusually informal and lacks an eloquent literary voice. His narrative is essentially a stitched-together collection of reminiscences, clichés and revealing fly-on-the-wall observations which seems to have been designed for fast, effortless consumption by the reader.
But despite its flaws, there is much to enjoy in this dissection of Musks's conspicuously captivating life. Isaacson does a nice job reviewing Musk's troubled childhood, his turbulent relationship with his father (whose own list of foibles is remarkable) and his inability to foster healthy long-term relationships. And the list of people Isaacson managed to interview "on the record" is impressive.
Musk's persistent desire to challenge conventional wisdom in the face of long odds and entrenched interests is a recurring theme and Isaacson never misses an opportunity to demonstrate Musk's intuitive sense for when and where to test boundaries and spark long-needed change. This window into Musk's relentless drive, particularly in the electric vehicle and space industries, may be the most compelling aspect of the book.
In addition, although the narrative proves far too casual and carefree for literary connoisseurs, one of its strengths is undoubtedly its accessibility. No reader will get lost in a maze of confusing engineering syntax, complex financial jargon or tedious corporate history. Isaacson clearly intended this book to provide its audience with an easy, uncluttered reading experience. And one thing is certain: "Elon Musk" is never dull.
Overall, Walter Isaacson's hot-off-the-press biography provides readers with a fast-paced, interesting and marvelously revealing look at Elon Musk - the genius and the jerk. Nevertheless, the book's shortcomings are both conspicuous and unfortunate. And Isaacson's and willingness to rationalize or excuse his subject's most profound flaws limits this book's efficacy as a biography.
Overall rating: 3 stars
"Elon Musk" is Walter Isaacson's long-anticipated biography of the mercurial entrepreneur behind SpaceX, Tesla and, most recently, the website formerly known as Twitter. Isaacson is an author, journalist and professor at Tulane University who has written popular biographies of Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci.
Despite my bias against biographies of people whose lives are still unfolding, Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk's life proved irresistibly tempting. I was lured by my experience with two of his previous books, the prospect of gaining insight into Musk's entrepreneurial magic and by the possibility of understanding what makes this volatile visionary tick.
But for all the potential this biography seems to offer - the world's richest man allowed Isaacson to shadow him for more than two years - the 615-page narrative leaves me feeling deeply ambivalent. The fact this is not a "traditional" biography is not surprising. Nor is Isaacson's attraction to a controversial figure like Musk. But the fact this biography often reads like a breezy, over-simplified exposè is decidedly disappointing.
Readers hoping to encounter a dispassionate examination of Musk's strengths and weaknesses will be disappointed. Rather than exploring his subject's most notorious flaws within the context of his trailblazing successes, Isaacson seems to have lost himself in the hyper-reality bubble surrounding Musk. A biographer is normally expected to be an impartial observer reporting history without leaving footprints, but Isaacson's role here seems to have evolved into part-time friend, confidante and therapist.
While guiding the reader through Musk's various achievements, near-misses and interpersonal schisms, Isaacson often refers back to one of his earlier biographical subjects: Steve Jobs. These comparisons, along with accounts of Musk's relationships with Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and other successful entrepreneurs and investors, are quite interesting. But Isaacson avoids the real work of digging deeply to determine whether Musk's frequently callous treatment of people is a requirement for his success...or an unfortunate byproduct of his process for creative disruption.
And while Isaacson diligently documents much of the individual damage resulting from Musk's impetuous behavior, he almost completely ignores alleged larger-scale issues such as an apparent disregard for highway traffic safety laws, widespread allegations of consumer fraud, a tolerance of toxic behavior on his social networking site and a disregard for laws designed to ensure financial market transparency and fairness.
Finally, Isaacson's writing style is unusually informal and lacks an eloquent literary voice. His narrative is essentially a stitched-together collection of reminiscences, clichés and revealing fly-on-the-wall observations which seems to have been designed for fast, effortless consumption by the reader.
But despite its flaws, there is much to enjoy in this dissection of Musks's conspicuously captivating life. Isaacson does a nice job reviewing Musk's troubled childhood, his turbulent relationship with his father (whose own list of foibles is remarkable) and his inability to foster healthy long-term relationships. And the list of people Isaacson managed to interview "on the record" is impressive.
Musk's persistent desire to challenge conventional wisdom in the face of long odds and entrenched interests is a recurring theme and Isaacson never misses an opportunity to demonstrate Musk's intuitive sense for when and where to test boundaries and spark long-needed change. This window into Musk's relentless drive, particularly in the electric vehicle and space industries, may be the most compelling aspect of the book.
In addition, although the narrative proves far too casual and carefree for literary connoisseurs, one of its strengths is undoubtedly its accessibility. No reader will get lost in a maze of confusing engineering syntax, complex financial jargon or tedious corporate history. Isaacson clearly intended this book to provide its audience with an easy, uncluttered reading experience. And one thing is certain: "Elon Musk" is never dull.
Overall, Walter Isaacson's hot-off-the-press biography provides readers with a fast-paced, interesting and marvelously revealing look at Elon Musk - the genius and the jerk. Nevertheless, the book's shortcomings are both conspicuous and unfortunate. And Isaacson's and willingness to rationalize or excuse his subject's most profound flaws limits this book's efficacy as a biography.
Overall rating: 3 stars
October 19, 2023
amazing biography. i wouldnt consider myself a fan of elon, but this biography was way better than the ashlee vance one
September 21, 2023
Extremely tedious in my opinion: reads like an overview of the desk calendar of a borderline sociopath. It’s puzzling to me that society gives a pass to a rich man who self-diagnoses himself with Aspergers as a cover for abusive and controlling behavior towards everyone in his orbit. After learning of the deliberate cruelty against the monkeys tortured for Neuralink to test its implants, it’s clear to me that there’s a subset of the population who doesn’t care at all about the ramifications of their self-aggrandizement. Unfortunately too many of them are powerful enough and wealthy enough (or have enough employees to browbeat into utterly appalling behavior. Too bad there’s not a person with massive wealth and political influence who cares about REALLY improving the planet’s health instead of this Mars bull$hit. I wonder if he breeds so much so he can put his kids in his Mars mission vehicles in the future and I wonder how they will feel about that🫥
September 16, 2023
2 stars. The tedious story of a unchecked egomaniac. Upon completion of this 688-page biography, I am utterly baffled as to how this guy is permitted to be a government contractor—given the highly erratic behavior described within.
Biographer Walter Isaacson worships at the alter of “innovation.” His earlier book on Steve Jobs was far too easy on the mercurial tech giant, and the same tendency is repeated here. Isaacson presents exhausting chapters on SpaceX while barely giving a paragraph to the massive boondoggle that is Musk’s Las Vegas hyperloop. However, even Isaacson, a “hardcore” devotee of the C-suite, has his limits, and a reader can sense the biographer’s growing discomfort.
In sum: this is a dull, overly-long book that fails to ask the hard questions of its subject.
Biographer Walter Isaacson worships at the alter of “innovation.” His earlier book on Steve Jobs was far too easy on the mercurial tech giant, and the same tendency is repeated here. Isaacson presents exhausting chapters on SpaceX while barely giving a paragraph to the massive boondoggle that is Musk’s Las Vegas hyperloop. However, even Isaacson, a “hardcore” devotee of the C-suite, has his limits, and a reader can sense the biographer’s growing discomfort.
In sum: this is a dull, overly-long book that fails to ask the hard questions of its subject.
March 15, 2024
When looking for a stellar biography of a person who piques my interest, I turn to Walter Isaacson. Never once have I been disappointed with Isaacson at the helm, as the author ensures each of his books is both highly entertaining and full of educational moments. Such was the case yet again with this biography of Elon Musk, the man who sought to push the limits and strive far beyond the stars so that he might reshape the future and impact the world. Isaacson delves deeply, yet effectively, to show how complex Musk has been and explores many of the choices made by the man whose money speaks and who seeks to make a difference for many. My eyes are open and respect has been gain for Elon Musk, as well as what he’s done for technology!
As a child growing up in South Africa, Elon Musk regularly found himself on the losing end of a bully’s fists. He would often have witty retorts when challenged in the playground and the young Elon refused to stand down, as though it were a badge of honour. Elon may have left blood on the ground and scars on his body, but the true bully in his life awaited him at home, where his father, an engineer and man whose expectations were as high as the heavens, sought to knock him down in the emotions ring.
The impact on this emotional barrage helped shape the man that Elon Musk became. Not only was there an odd emergence of two personalities—playful at times and highly strict in other situations— but also a divorcing from others at times to protect himself. As Isaacson also posits, this was also where Musk’s Aspergers became even more prevalent, a removal from the signs of how others around him would perceive actions. Musk did not let the emotional stunting diminish the fire inside him to make a difference.
Isaacson discusses the tough veneer that Elon Musk developed and how, after leaving South Africa for Canada, Musk became hungry to challenge all that he saw and those around him. No challenge was too monumental and no one could stand in his way, ass long ad Musk saw an issue, the solution was simply one that he had yet to devise.
Isaacson uses much of the novel exploring that various interests of Musk, from rocket development with SpaceX, the creation of a fully electric and self-driving vehicle at Tesla, and many of his other endeavours, eventually including the world of X (Twitter’s newest permutation). At no point was Elon Musk satisfied with what was taking place, he always wanted a little more. There were times when Musk failed absolutely, but he never left it all on the ground and walked away. Instead, he sought to better himself and the issue at hand with repeated redevelopments and ideas to make things even better. As Isaacson describes, this was Musk’s way of striving for perfection and a way to get under the skin of others.
Musk’s personal life was just as topsides-turvy as his business ventures. Musk found himself with a gaggle of children, all through IVF or surrogacy, creating a large entourage that would follow him. While never a hands-on parent, Musk appeared to love his children. This might have been a reaction to the lack of love his father offered him, Isaacson surmises, but there was a definitely disconnect between Musk and the first number of children, to the point that one disowned him for his views on society and political ideology.
Never fully feeling as though he had accomplished much, Elon Musk always sought to define himself as seeking more. He would push for more in all his companies, though it appeared to be less about the spotlight and ore in hopes of pending new doors for the world to experience. Elon Musk continues to push for new and exciting ideas, though some have vilified him as being too concerned with his own image, I was one of those people, but Walter Isaacson helped me see a new and exciting side of to the man whose ideas have helped push society further and to strive for more. Be it a vehicle that could travel on its own across the United States, a rocket that could take people well into the atmosphere, or eve harvesting solar power to make a difference with a carbon footprint, Elon Musk will never be satisfied until it all makes sense and comes together seamlessly.
One cannot call this review complete without touching on Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and turning it into X. Isaacson depicts this thoroughly and with great intrigue through the latter portion of the book. Exploring issues of free speech, how to keep the platform relevant, and showing how Musk sought to make it his own, Isaacson explores the fight to gain control of Twitter and then turning it on its head to ensure that the smooth transition to create a platform for true free speech took front and centre in Musk’s life, adding more fires to his already busy business lifestyle and yet Musk did not blink at making a difference once more.
The stunning depictions in this biography will surely surprise many, though I am quite well-versed when it comes to Walter Isaacson and his writing that it is almost expected. Delving deeply into the life and times of his subject, Isaacson ekes out great stories and anecdotes to fully explain the person on offer, while never being completely satisfied until all the rocks have been turned over and every interview complete. Isaacson develops his story in strong chapters that lead the reader along, though it is impossible to do so in an entirely linear fashion. Rather, Walter Isaacson keeps the reader on a short leash and keeps the story flowing, with new and exciting information at every turn. Another winning biography for Walter Isaacson and yet again I have been shocked to learn so much about a person whose life I knew so minutely. This is definitely a piece well worth my time and effort.
Kudos, Mr. Isaacson, for a great piece of writing that helped me better understand the life and times of a truly complex man.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
As a child growing up in South Africa, Elon Musk regularly found himself on the losing end of a bully’s fists. He would often have witty retorts when challenged in the playground and the young Elon refused to stand down, as though it were a badge of honour. Elon may have left blood on the ground and scars on his body, but the true bully in his life awaited him at home, where his father, an engineer and man whose expectations were as high as the heavens, sought to knock him down in the emotions ring.
The impact on this emotional barrage helped shape the man that Elon Musk became. Not only was there an odd emergence of two personalities—playful at times and highly strict in other situations— but also a divorcing from others at times to protect himself. As Isaacson also posits, this was also where Musk’s Aspergers became even more prevalent, a removal from the signs of how others around him would perceive actions. Musk did not let the emotional stunting diminish the fire inside him to make a difference.
Isaacson discusses the tough veneer that Elon Musk developed and how, after leaving South Africa for Canada, Musk became hungry to challenge all that he saw and those around him. No challenge was too monumental and no one could stand in his way, ass long ad Musk saw an issue, the solution was simply one that he had yet to devise.
Isaacson uses much of the novel exploring that various interests of Musk, from rocket development with SpaceX, the creation of a fully electric and self-driving vehicle at Tesla, and many of his other endeavours, eventually including the world of X (Twitter’s newest permutation). At no point was Elon Musk satisfied with what was taking place, he always wanted a little more. There were times when Musk failed absolutely, but he never left it all on the ground and walked away. Instead, he sought to better himself and the issue at hand with repeated redevelopments and ideas to make things even better. As Isaacson describes, this was Musk’s way of striving for perfection and a way to get under the skin of others.
Musk’s personal life was just as topsides-turvy as his business ventures. Musk found himself with a gaggle of children, all through IVF or surrogacy, creating a large entourage that would follow him. While never a hands-on parent, Musk appeared to love his children. This might have been a reaction to the lack of love his father offered him, Isaacson surmises, but there was a definitely disconnect between Musk and the first number of children, to the point that one disowned him for his views on society and political ideology.
Never fully feeling as though he had accomplished much, Elon Musk always sought to define himself as seeking more. He would push for more in all his companies, though it appeared to be less about the spotlight and ore in hopes of pending new doors for the world to experience. Elon Musk continues to push for new and exciting ideas, though some have vilified him as being too concerned with his own image, I was one of those people, but Walter Isaacson helped me see a new and exciting side of to the man whose ideas have helped push society further and to strive for more. Be it a vehicle that could travel on its own across the United States, a rocket that could take people well into the atmosphere, or eve harvesting solar power to make a difference with a carbon footprint, Elon Musk will never be satisfied until it all makes sense and comes together seamlessly.
One cannot call this review complete without touching on Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and turning it into X. Isaacson depicts this thoroughly and with great intrigue through the latter portion of the book. Exploring issues of free speech, how to keep the platform relevant, and showing how Musk sought to make it his own, Isaacson explores the fight to gain control of Twitter and then turning it on its head to ensure that the smooth transition to create a platform for true free speech took front and centre in Musk’s life, adding more fires to his already busy business lifestyle and yet Musk did not blink at making a difference once more.
The stunning depictions in this biography will surely surprise many, though I am quite well-versed when it comes to Walter Isaacson and his writing that it is almost expected. Delving deeply into the life and times of his subject, Isaacson ekes out great stories and anecdotes to fully explain the person on offer, while never being completely satisfied until all the rocks have been turned over and every interview complete. Isaacson develops his story in strong chapters that lead the reader along, though it is impossible to do so in an entirely linear fashion. Rather, Walter Isaacson keeps the reader on a short leash and keeps the story flowing, with new and exciting information at every turn. Another winning biography for Walter Isaacson and yet again I have been shocked to learn so much about a person whose life I knew so minutely. This is definitely a piece well worth my time and effort.
Kudos, Mr. Isaacson, for a great piece of writing that helped me better understand the life and times of a truly complex man.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
October 14, 2024
UPDATE (09/14/24):
Something about this review never sat well with me, I felt like I was not able to articulate a particular aspect of Musk's views. I wanted to update the review because I think I put my finger on what I was trying to communicate to readers. In the mid section of this review, I talk about how Musk is different from past robber barons. My reasoning was as followed: Musk states his esoteric goals such as going to Mars, combating climate change, and advancing human civilization.In the late 2000's and early 2010's these types of goals make him appear more genuine because building electric cars, making space travel possible and curbing the impact of AI on humanity are dissimilar to past robber barons because there business was solely around exploiting a monopoly. For example, Gates forcing microsoft products on all operating systems, Rockefeller creating a monopoly in standard oil and Carnegie creating the steel monopoly. Musk created industries that at the time did not exist, so his success is not predicated on building a monopoly and making sure competitors can't compete (at this time). Plus, past robber barons retire early to a life of luxury because the business was always a means to gather power and wealth not advance society.
Here is where I got it wrong: Just because Musk holds esoteric goals that revolve around portraying himself as a savior or messianic character does not disqualify him of portraying similar robber baron behavior. Musk, is reportedly giving 500 million to Trump's campaign. In return, he will get a rollback of worker provisions won through the Biden administration. One of the few good things the Biden administration did was strengthen the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). NLRB gives workers the right to organize and unionize. This allowed workers to unionize and garner higher wages, better workplace treatment and benefits during the last 4 years.
Why is this important? When labor shares a greater % of the wealth generated from corporations, it reduces the balance of power between the managerial class and the working class. This is important because if the workers, are unable to live on their wages, it leads to corporations delivering the burden of paying their workers onto the taxpayers in the form of subsidies or welfare. This means the workers live pay check to pay check on starvation wages while the managerial class sucks up the wealth and then redeploys that wealth into political donations to further influence public policy to rewrite laws that further solidify their economic power, creating a vicious cycle. Not only that having a large section of the population working full time but living pay check to pay check creates political instability as they become more prone to radicalization from the psychological stresses of living so close to poverty.
Musk is suing the NLRB as unconstitutional, what Musk wants to do is make sure that he can control the balance of power between him and his workers, so he can pay them starvation wages while sucking up all the wealth and then deploying it again to political donations. This is robber baron behavior. Not only that Musk, will lobby for Trump to fire Lina Khan as this is also an impediment to his businesses if they actually do become monopolies in the future. Musk seems to present himself as anti-establishment, pro free speech and a man of the people. However, Musk gets billions in subsidies from the government in terms of contracts and loans. Musk, has positioned himself as an outsider while being the biggest insider. Donating 500 million to political causes that benefit him economically, not to mention Musk is supporting a candidate that has called climate change a hoax, calling to question his true motivations. Musk, is supporting a candidate that has sued people for telling jokes but yet claims to be a "free speech absolutist". Not to mention Musk has banned a journalist from twitter who published leaked documents on the Trump campaign by request of the campaign.
Musk is in fact a robber baron capitalist ghoul that will use his wealth to crush workers and advance his own position. I was wrong about this at the time and I feel like I needed to correct it.
Original Review:
"When things are calm he seeks out storms"
This is an incredibly hard book to review. Partly because Musk (Through his own doing) has become a polarizing figure in a country that is increasingly becoming more culturally tribal, more divided and more vicious when disagreements arise. Nothing about Musk fits into neat categories where you can effectively understand and process. He is unpredictable, enthusiastic, impulsive, explosive, contradictory, charismatic and demonic. Musk is quite literally a category 5 hurricane. He is self destructive and I would not be surprised if he eventually implodes due to the battles he picks, the mindsets he enters and the risks he chugs. You do not leave this book thinking Musk is a kind and endearing man. You leave this book thinking that Musk is definitely an asshole but an asshole on a mission that differs from men who reach the apex of wealth in their generation. (We will get back to this later). I have been following Musk since I was 18, curious about his small electric car company. I remember there was a time when seeing a Tesla was a rare occasion. People used to think Tesla owners were idiots because they bought a car from a company that was destined to go bust any minute. Fast forward 10 years, on my Sunday walk, I saw 7 Teslas in the span of a minute. Times have changed and so has Musk but before we get into that..
I have seen a lot of bad takes about this book, some implying that Isaacson covers for Musk in some way or form. Which is weird because Isaacson throughout the 600 page book describes one of Musk's moods as "Demon mode". Nevertheless, the book is fascinating but we need to separate the book from the person. Giving 5 stars to the book should not imply that I agree with everything Elon Musk says and does. It reminds me of when Wolf of Wall Street came out and people worried about what kind of people would enjoy the movie and what it would say about them if they also enjoyed the movie. They talked about the glorification of debauchery and accused the movie of glorifying a number of unmoral behaviors. When in reality the movie shows you a tremendous rise and equally tremendous crash. Not everything literally needs to be said for someone to understand, you don't tell the audience the theme of the movie, you show them. This book relates to that phenomenon. After reading this book, 0% of me wants to be Elon Musk. With that said, lets get started.
The book touches on Musk's childhood. It goes in depth about how fucked up his father is. For example his father has 2 children with his step daughter. Musk's demons are said to stem from his abusive father. Musk was also bullied as a child that may or may not impact him today. I don't want to get into psychobable and tie together some weird psychoanalytic argument. Just know that he's extremely reactive to criticism and sensitive. He can be prone to bouts of anger or flashes of rage. Especially when you're his employee. He would move from South Africa to Canada, his mother was fairly poor. He lived in tight quarters with family. Had very little financial support, Musk was industrious as a child. He might be the definition of a child prodigy. Coding at age 11, designing games he would actually win some prize for, hacking arcades so he never had to pay to play, playing with chemicals, running materials experiment's and staying up all night reading books often.
The book goes throughout his Silicon Valley journey, the companies he starts, the way he operates those companies are always the same. Everything is chaotic, he pulls all nighters regularly, he sleeps at the office all the time. He berates people who can't answer his questions, he fires people on the shortest whim and he will barrel through any rule, regulation or human being. Musk is notorious for asking extremely detailed questions that fire one after another like an AK-47. He does not do anything conventional. In fact he does have a nice quote that I am going to paraphrase "If thinking in conventional ways means the idea is impossible to accomplish than it is necessary to think in unconventional ways.". This is the embodiment of the core of Musk's philosophy. Accept no rule, tradition or orthodoxy that does not break the law of physics.
One thing that strikes me from Musk's ideology. He is not a man that cares solely about money. He could have gone right to wall street after he graduated from Penn and could have made a ton of money but he wanted to make sure that he did something that contributed to the human race. Normally I would say that is complete bullshit but Musk at SpaceX and Tesla would expect employees to stay all night to accomplish tasks. He would have meetings at 12am, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am etc. He would expect people to work from Monday to Sunday. Non stop because he himself was working these hours. Musk, the richest person in the world would spend days sleeping in his office to accomplish tasks. Would work on the factory line, inspecting why things were taking long for such and such part, he had his hands in every single facet of the company in all of his companies. He is driven by the mission of creating energy sustainability and becoming a multi planetary species at the cost of berating everything around him, Musk would fire entire teams at once because they did not deliver to some insane deadline that he gave them, Musk pushes himself and everyone around him to the brink of a psychological breakdown.
Remember, he has stock options so he gains the most from throwing his life into the company while most of the people he pushes do not have the same incentive. Many people have families, they want to have social lives, they want to maintain that balance. At one of Musk's companies, that is not an option. You either sacrifice or you're fired. Musk can be fucking brutal to everyone on the corporate totem pole. He lacks any empathy in these settings and often times does not even remember when he is an asshole to people. This is the catch Elon fans should realize is that he pushes everyone to achieve more than they could have but at the expense of immense pressure, pain, and the loss of everything outside of work. Musk would be cool to work for if you're 22 and want to gain as much experience you could as a young engineer. You do that for a few years and you leave for a less stressful job otherwise you will work around the clock.
Think about the billionaires from different time periods, the Rockefeller's, Carnegie's, JP.Morgan's, Gates's. All of these people are the richest people of their generation for a long time.They were all individuals who had monopolies on an item or items we all needed. They are all mostly robber barons. Driven by greed and power.
Lets look at the wealthiest people in history from past generations after they reach the apex of wealth:
Rockefeller: Retired and built a golf course at his house
J.P Morgan: Yacht owner
Gates: Yacht
Bezos: Retires to a yacht
Google co founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin: Retired to their own private islands
The list goes on. I think this is an important distinction to make. Musk has been the worlds richest man for 2 plus years and yet sleeps at Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter HQ's. You could say "but he's a narcissist who loves the spot light and attention. Driven by a messiah like savior complex". I would not disagree. You could say " but he's becoming insanely rich and using these wholesome goals as a means to reach these heights". I still would not disagree. All I am saying here lies a contradiction when juxtaposed to past mega rich behavior. Its not simply that he is a robber baron capitalist ghoul which I think is what creates Musk's sort of rabid fan base.
Think about this, after selling Paypal his stake was 250 million. He could have retired and become a VC investor and 5x that doing nothing. Instead he throws all of his money into two companies with industries that do not fucking exist. Rockets and electric cars,. Think about that for a moment, think about how insane that is. Both companies would come on the verge of collapsing in 2008. It's a miracle that both did not go bust. he was driven to build these companies not from greed but from a messiah like complex that he holds which is terrifying but I don't think that puts him in the same league as the others I have mentioned. Musk has been in crisis mode for so long that it became his default setting. He does not seem to know how to shut it off, he is described by those around him as a someone who creates drama and is self destructive. He creates a sense of urgency even where there is no reason to be urgent. There are countless examples of Musk creating a timeline of deadlines that made no sense but only as a ploy to get himself motivated. He is addicted to living on the edge and those risks have serious side effects through the course of years and accumulated stress. Which brings us to the Twitter stage.
If you were following the story in real time, it seemed like he bought a 44 billion $ company on an impulse and then immediately tried to back out. The book very much confirms this, Musk often waffling back and fourth. He played video games all night before making some offer. I get the sense Musk loves the engineering challenges that Twitter provides and this is some sort of fucking game to him, like things were going to well for him at the time. Tesla breaking records in terms of sales and SpaceX delivering payload after payload to space stations. Yet this calmness period, this lack of crises pushes him to another challenge in Twitter. Musk even admits that his problem is bitting off more than he can chew. In this regard it is perfectly true. This is why I stated that Musk does not know how to live a good life. He is jumping from one crises to another. He loves the limelight, he loves to be praised, there are narcissistic tendencies displayed. I don't envy Musk, I think his heroic persona of himself is sometimes used as a tool to accomplish tasks that he personally believes is important at a complete disregard for those around him including family, friends and employees.
To be incredibly rich and wise is something I rarely see. In Musk, I don't see a wise person, I see a wide eyed over caffeinated engineer who is looking for his next rush, his next challenge and possibly his next meltdown. I do have a respect for him as an engineer. Musk himself has acknowledged to tweeting right wing conspiracies and then deleting it when he realized he was duped. His cultural views are beginning to overpower his engineering feats and that is something which his squarely his own doing. He is without a doubt inspiring to many generations and generations to come. I have been following him since I was 18 like I said earlier, I have read books on all of his companies but it is sad to see him devolve into these maniacal meltdown states the book captures but he brings it onto himself, he will continue to be volatile. If we just look at his engineering acumen, creating rocket and electric car companies. Creating industries when neither industry existed in the first place is a spectacular feat. I wonder what will happen to Musk, I would not be surprised if he just dropped dead from a heart attack from pulling all nighters, the extreme pressure of running so many companies and also having 11 kids. Today his ex girlfriend just sued him for custody of his three children, he has 11 fucking kids. Think about the epic battle these kids will undergo for his fortune in the upcoming decades. It will be a fucking blood bath.
A fascinating book, I loved reading about his story. I am making space on my shelf of the actual copy soon enough. 5 stars.
Something about this review never sat well with me, I felt like I was not able to articulate a particular aspect of Musk's views. I wanted to update the review because I think I put my finger on what I was trying to communicate to readers. In the mid section of this review, I talk about how Musk is different from past robber barons. My reasoning was as followed: Musk states his esoteric goals such as going to Mars, combating climate change, and advancing human civilization.In the late 2000's and early 2010's these types of goals make him appear more genuine because building electric cars, making space travel possible and curbing the impact of AI on humanity are dissimilar to past robber barons because there business was solely around exploiting a monopoly. For example, Gates forcing microsoft products on all operating systems, Rockefeller creating a monopoly in standard oil and Carnegie creating the steel monopoly. Musk created industries that at the time did not exist, so his success is not predicated on building a monopoly and making sure competitors can't compete (at this time). Plus, past robber barons retire early to a life of luxury because the business was always a means to gather power and wealth not advance society.
Here is where I got it wrong: Just because Musk holds esoteric goals that revolve around portraying himself as a savior or messianic character does not disqualify him of portraying similar robber baron behavior. Musk, is reportedly giving 500 million to Trump's campaign. In return, he will get a rollback of worker provisions won through the Biden administration. One of the few good things the Biden administration did was strengthen the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). NLRB gives workers the right to organize and unionize. This allowed workers to unionize and garner higher wages, better workplace treatment and benefits during the last 4 years.
Why is this important? When labor shares a greater % of the wealth generated from corporations, it reduces the balance of power between the managerial class and the working class. This is important because if the workers, are unable to live on their wages, it leads to corporations delivering the burden of paying their workers onto the taxpayers in the form of subsidies or welfare. This means the workers live pay check to pay check on starvation wages while the managerial class sucks up the wealth and then redeploys that wealth into political donations to further influence public policy to rewrite laws that further solidify their economic power, creating a vicious cycle. Not only that having a large section of the population working full time but living pay check to pay check creates political instability as they become more prone to radicalization from the psychological stresses of living so close to poverty.
Musk is suing the NLRB as unconstitutional, what Musk wants to do is make sure that he can control the balance of power between him and his workers, so he can pay them starvation wages while sucking up all the wealth and then deploying it again to political donations. This is robber baron behavior. Not only that Musk, will lobby for Trump to fire Lina Khan as this is also an impediment to his businesses if they actually do become monopolies in the future. Musk seems to present himself as anti-establishment, pro free speech and a man of the people. However, Musk gets billions in subsidies from the government in terms of contracts and loans. Musk, has positioned himself as an outsider while being the biggest insider. Donating 500 million to political causes that benefit him economically, not to mention Musk is supporting a candidate that has called climate change a hoax, calling to question his true motivations. Musk, is supporting a candidate that has sued people for telling jokes but yet claims to be a "free speech absolutist". Not to mention Musk has banned a journalist from twitter who published leaked documents on the Trump campaign by request of the campaign.
Musk is in fact a robber baron capitalist ghoul that will use his wealth to crush workers and advance his own position. I was wrong about this at the time and I feel like I needed to correct it.
Original Review:
"When things are calm he seeks out storms"
This is an incredibly hard book to review. Partly because Musk (Through his own doing) has become a polarizing figure in a country that is increasingly becoming more culturally tribal, more divided and more vicious when disagreements arise. Nothing about Musk fits into neat categories where you can effectively understand and process. He is unpredictable, enthusiastic, impulsive, explosive, contradictory, charismatic and demonic. Musk is quite literally a category 5 hurricane. He is self destructive and I would not be surprised if he eventually implodes due to the battles he picks, the mindsets he enters and the risks he chugs. You do not leave this book thinking Musk is a kind and endearing man. You leave this book thinking that Musk is definitely an asshole but an asshole on a mission that differs from men who reach the apex of wealth in their generation. (We will get back to this later). I have been following Musk since I was 18, curious about his small electric car company. I remember there was a time when seeing a Tesla was a rare occasion. People used to think Tesla owners were idiots because they bought a car from a company that was destined to go bust any minute. Fast forward 10 years, on my Sunday walk, I saw 7 Teslas in the span of a minute. Times have changed and so has Musk but before we get into that..
I have seen a lot of bad takes about this book, some implying that Isaacson covers for Musk in some way or form. Which is weird because Isaacson throughout the 600 page book describes one of Musk's moods as "Demon mode". Nevertheless, the book is fascinating but we need to separate the book from the person. Giving 5 stars to the book should not imply that I agree with everything Elon Musk says and does. It reminds me of when Wolf of Wall Street came out and people worried about what kind of people would enjoy the movie and what it would say about them if they also enjoyed the movie. They talked about the glorification of debauchery and accused the movie of glorifying a number of unmoral behaviors. When in reality the movie shows you a tremendous rise and equally tremendous crash. Not everything literally needs to be said for someone to understand, you don't tell the audience the theme of the movie, you show them. This book relates to that phenomenon. After reading this book, 0% of me wants to be Elon Musk. With that said, lets get started.
The book touches on Musk's childhood. It goes in depth about how fucked up his father is. For example his father has 2 children with his step daughter. Musk's demons are said to stem from his abusive father. Musk was also bullied as a child that may or may not impact him today. I don't want to get into psychobable and tie together some weird psychoanalytic argument. Just know that he's extremely reactive to criticism and sensitive. He can be prone to bouts of anger or flashes of rage. Especially when you're his employee. He would move from South Africa to Canada, his mother was fairly poor. He lived in tight quarters with family. Had very little financial support, Musk was industrious as a child. He might be the definition of a child prodigy. Coding at age 11, designing games he would actually win some prize for, hacking arcades so he never had to pay to play, playing with chemicals, running materials experiment's and staying up all night reading books often.
The book goes throughout his Silicon Valley journey, the companies he starts, the way he operates those companies are always the same. Everything is chaotic, he pulls all nighters regularly, he sleeps at the office all the time. He berates people who can't answer his questions, he fires people on the shortest whim and he will barrel through any rule, regulation or human being. Musk is notorious for asking extremely detailed questions that fire one after another like an AK-47. He does not do anything conventional. In fact he does have a nice quote that I am going to paraphrase "If thinking in conventional ways means the idea is impossible to accomplish than it is necessary to think in unconventional ways.". This is the embodiment of the core of Musk's philosophy. Accept no rule, tradition or orthodoxy that does not break the law of physics.
One thing that strikes me from Musk's ideology. He is not a man that cares solely about money. He could have gone right to wall street after he graduated from Penn and could have made a ton of money but he wanted to make sure that he did something that contributed to the human race. Normally I would say that is complete bullshit but Musk at SpaceX and Tesla would expect employees to stay all night to accomplish tasks. He would have meetings at 12am, 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am etc. He would expect people to work from Monday to Sunday. Non stop because he himself was working these hours. Musk, the richest person in the world would spend days sleeping in his office to accomplish tasks. Would work on the factory line, inspecting why things were taking long for such and such part, he had his hands in every single facet of the company in all of his companies. He is driven by the mission of creating energy sustainability and becoming a multi planetary species at the cost of berating everything around him, Musk would fire entire teams at once because they did not deliver to some insane deadline that he gave them, Musk pushes himself and everyone around him to the brink of a psychological breakdown.
Remember, he has stock options so he gains the most from throwing his life into the company while most of the people he pushes do not have the same incentive. Many people have families, they want to have social lives, they want to maintain that balance. At one of Musk's companies, that is not an option. You either sacrifice or you're fired. Musk can be fucking brutal to everyone on the corporate totem pole. He lacks any empathy in these settings and often times does not even remember when he is an asshole to people. This is the catch Elon fans should realize is that he pushes everyone to achieve more than they could have but at the expense of immense pressure, pain, and the loss of everything outside of work. Musk would be cool to work for if you're 22 and want to gain as much experience you could as a young engineer. You do that for a few years and you leave for a less stressful job otherwise you will work around the clock.
Think about the billionaires from different time periods, the Rockefeller's, Carnegie's, JP.Morgan's, Gates's. All of these people are the richest people of their generation for a long time.They were all individuals who had monopolies on an item or items we all needed. They are all mostly robber barons. Driven by greed and power.
Lets look at the wealthiest people in history from past generations after they reach the apex of wealth:
Rockefeller: Retired and built a golf course at his house
J.P Morgan: Yacht owner
Gates: Yacht
Bezos: Retires to a yacht
Google co founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin: Retired to their own private islands
The list goes on. I think this is an important distinction to make. Musk has been the worlds richest man for 2 plus years and yet sleeps at Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter HQ's. You could say "but he's a narcissist who loves the spot light and attention. Driven by a messiah like savior complex". I would not disagree. You could say " but he's becoming insanely rich and using these wholesome goals as a means to reach these heights". I still would not disagree. All I am saying here lies a contradiction when juxtaposed to past mega rich behavior. Its not simply that he is a robber baron capitalist ghoul which I think is what creates Musk's sort of rabid fan base.
Think about this, after selling Paypal his stake was 250 million. He could have retired and become a VC investor and 5x that doing nothing. Instead he throws all of his money into two companies with industries that do not fucking exist. Rockets and electric cars,. Think about that for a moment, think about how insane that is. Both companies would come on the verge of collapsing in 2008. It's a miracle that both did not go bust. he was driven to build these companies not from greed but from a messiah like complex that he holds which is terrifying but I don't think that puts him in the same league as the others I have mentioned. Musk has been in crisis mode for so long that it became his default setting. He does not seem to know how to shut it off, he is described by those around him as a someone who creates drama and is self destructive. He creates a sense of urgency even where there is no reason to be urgent. There are countless examples of Musk creating a timeline of deadlines that made no sense but only as a ploy to get himself motivated. He is addicted to living on the edge and those risks have serious side effects through the course of years and accumulated stress. Which brings us to the Twitter stage.
If you were following the story in real time, it seemed like he bought a 44 billion $ company on an impulse and then immediately tried to back out. The book very much confirms this, Musk often waffling back and fourth. He played video games all night before making some offer. I get the sense Musk loves the engineering challenges that Twitter provides and this is some sort of fucking game to him, like things were going to well for him at the time. Tesla breaking records in terms of sales and SpaceX delivering payload after payload to space stations. Yet this calmness period, this lack of crises pushes him to another challenge in Twitter. Musk even admits that his problem is bitting off more than he can chew. In this regard it is perfectly true. This is why I stated that Musk does not know how to live a good life. He is jumping from one crises to another. He loves the limelight, he loves to be praised, there are narcissistic tendencies displayed. I don't envy Musk, I think his heroic persona of himself is sometimes used as a tool to accomplish tasks that he personally believes is important at a complete disregard for those around him including family, friends and employees.
To be incredibly rich and wise is something I rarely see. In Musk, I don't see a wise person, I see a wide eyed over caffeinated engineer who is looking for his next rush, his next challenge and possibly his next meltdown. I do have a respect for him as an engineer. Musk himself has acknowledged to tweeting right wing conspiracies and then deleting it when he realized he was duped. His cultural views are beginning to overpower his engineering feats and that is something which his squarely his own doing. He is without a doubt inspiring to many generations and generations to come. I have been following him since I was 18 like I said earlier, I have read books on all of his companies but it is sad to see him devolve into these maniacal meltdown states the book captures but he brings it onto himself, he will continue to be volatile. If we just look at his engineering acumen, creating rocket and electric car companies. Creating industries when neither industry existed in the first place is a spectacular feat. I wonder what will happen to Musk, I would not be surprised if he just dropped dead from a heart attack from pulling all nighters, the extreme pressure of running so many companies and also having 11 kids. Today his ex girlfriend just sued him for custody of his three children, he has 11 fucking kids. Think about the epic battle these kids will undergo for his fortune in the upcoming decades. It will be a fucking blood bath.
A fascinating book, I loved reading about his story. I am making space on my shelf of the actual copy soon enough. 5 stars.
September 28, 2023
Though it is interesting to learn more about Musk's life and details of how he runs his companies, Isaacson's own input becomes tiring throughout the book. He constantly brings every little event back to his opinion that Musk is a battle commander or addicted to drama. Though it is in part true, it becomes incredibly repetitive by the end of the book and feels fundamentally shallow form of analysis. Disappointing, considering how highly rated his other biographies are.
November 14, 2023
This should be good. Looking forward to it.
Update: it was good.
Update: it was good.
September 26, 2023
On behalf of South Africa I personally apologise for Elon Musk to the world at large.
falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus
falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus
May 21, 2024
Another very good biography from Walter Isaacson.
So what is Elon Musk like? A few things stood out.
I was struck by how much of his decision making is based on intuition. His own intuition, without relying on or often even listening to dissenting opinions. That’s not to say his intuitions were without a strong foundation; as it turned out he was usually right. It was just interesting to me how many key decisions, often involving billions of dollars, thousands of workers, or a complete change in strategy, were made quickly and autocratically by Musk. My own experience in corporate America makes it hard for me to imagine decisions being made this quickly. But besides usually being right, Musk has one other characteristic that made this strategy work: when it turns out he is wrong, and is shown strong evidence of this, he is quick to reverse course. He doesn’t usually double-down on bad decisions. He just admits he was wrong and moves on.
Musk would work insanely long hours and would demand his entire team do the same. And they did, often while putting up with verbal abuse and unreasonable demands. Why did this approach work? I think much of it is because Musk sold them on his vision of how important the work was. Musk himself isn’t primarily driven by making money, he’s driven by a desire to quite literally save the world. And he could be persuasive at convincing his team they could do the same. But also, he recruited very driven people who he knew could accept such treatment, paid them handsomely, and didn’t care if they liked him. He was usually able to squeeze everything he could out of his people.
One of Musk’s key philosophies that the book repeatedly hits on is his belief that a small team of insanely driven and smart people would outperform a very large team that wasn’t as driven. Musk was maniacal about cutting staff as much as humanly possible. Twitter’s staff was cut by 75%, and Musk was right that (after some early hurdles) Twitter could be run as effectively with this smaller staff.
Some of the above might be qualities you would expect from a highly successful business titan, but here’s one quality that is less common: his impulsivity. While the quick, autocratic decisions he made were usually after a calculated risk assessment, sometimes they were emotional and impulsive. I’m thinking most specifically of some tweets he sent out that made him look dumb, gullible, and in one case, antisemitic. But also, some of his business decisions were too hasty and emotional. Though as I mentioned, he is usually good at course-correcting before too much damage is done.
The passages about his romantic relationships, his ten children (one of which does not speak to him), and his troubled father were interesting. Musk is a polarizing figure. If you dislike him because you don’t think he’s actually that smart or talented, I think the book shows why that’s wrong. But if you just don’t find him likeable, the book isn’t going to give you much reason to change your mind. Other than to his children (Some of them anyways. He seems to most favor little X.), there is a lot of insensitivity and immaturity, and there isn’t a lot of warmth.
So what is Elon Musk like? A few things stood out.
I was struck by how much of his decision making is based on intuition. His own intuition, without relying on or often even listening to dissenting opinions. That’s not to say his intuitions were without a strong foundation; as it turned out he was usually right. It was just interesting to me how many key decisions, often involving billions of dollars, thousands of workers, or a complete change in strategy, were made quickly and autocratically by Musk. My own experience in corporate America makes it hard for me to imagine decisions being made this quickly. But besides usually being right, Musk has one other characteristic that made this strategy work: when it turns out he is wrong, and is shown strong evidence of this, he is quick to reverse course. He doesn’t usually double-down on bad decisions. He just admits he was wrong and moves on.
Musk would work insanely long hours and would demand his entire team do the same. And they did, often while putting up with verbal abuse and unreasonable demands. Why did this approach work? I think much of it is because Musk sold them on his vision of how important the work was. Musk himself isn’t primarily driven by making money, he’s driven by a desire to quite literally save the world. And he could be persuasive at convincing his team they could do the same. But also, he recruited very driven people who he knew could accept such treatment, paid them handsomely, and didn’t care if they liked him. He was usually able to squeeze everything he could out of his people.
One of Musk’s key philosophies that the book repeatedly hits on is his belief that a small team of insanely driven and smart people would outperform a very large team that wasn’t as driven. Musk was maniacal about cutting staff as much as humanly possible. Twitter’s staff was cut by 75%, and Musk was right that (after some early hurdles) Twitter could be run as effectively with this smaller staff.
Some of the above might be qualities you would expect from a highly successful business titan, but here’s one quality that is less common: his impulsivity. While the quick, autocratic decisions he made were usually after a calculated risk assessment, sometimes they were emotional and impulsive. I’m thinking most specifically of some tweets he sent out that made him look dumb, gullible, and in one case, antisemitic. But also, some of his business decisions were too hasty and emotional. Though as I mentioned, he is usually good at course-correcting before too much damage is done.
The passages about his romantic relationships, his ten children (one of which does not speak to him), and his troubled father were interesting. Musk is a polarizing figure. If you dislike him because you don’t think he’s actually that smart or talented, I think the book shows why that’s wrong. But if you just don’t find him likeable, the book isn’t going to give you much reason to change your mind. Other than to his children (Some of them anyways. He seems to most favor little X.), there is a lot of insensitivity and immaturity, and there isn’t a lot of warmth.
July 12, 2024
For many, Elon Musk is a man people love to hate but love anyway despite his grating personality. Emerging from a very tough and unusual childhood in South Africa, where he was routinely pummeled at the school his father sent him to get toughened up, he wound up first at university in Toronto, then at Penn in the United States.
But education was not to be his destination. Stanford accepted him for a Masters/PhD track, but he deferred enrollment, hoping to take advantage of the Internet wave breaking across the world. His entrepreneurial spirit won over the academic. He never returned for an advanced degree.
Though he never focused exclusively on money, early in his career he knew he would either be very rich or very poor. His talents and dogged persistence did make him rich. His mission was his enduring goal: to change the direction of humanity by building an electric car that would dramatically reduce emissions and manufacture rockets that would ultimately take humanity to Mars, making humanity a multi-planetary civilization. He thought if humanity remained earthbound, the logical end would be the end of humanity.
The trials and tribulations of his numerous ventures, especially Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter are so fantastic they seem unreal. If there is one billionaire who deserves every dollar he earns, then Musk is that person: sleeping in his factories, working with employees on the factory floor, operating on a schedule that started at sunrise and often ended in the middle of the night. Every task was important and no task, no costs, no part or process escaped his attention.
Driving down costs while improving quality was his indefatigable mission. The man was relentless as he was agitating. His Asperger’s diminished his ability to read people, a huge managerial problem. He tossed employees out of his companies routinely while attracting others who wanted to be a part of his amazing trek.
What may be the best advice for running any organization, derives from his dedication to simplicity. The author outlines Musk’s process for eliminating functionless rules, regulations, and requirements. Musk demands that when finding a requirement that doesn’t seem to fit, find the person that owns it – not a department, not a federal agency, the specific person and find out the reason for the requirement. His summary advice is to delete more requirements than you think is necessary and add any back that were cut but actually really were needed.
Whether you like this man or not, this is a book for all readers. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Musk’s story provides numerous examples of how to operate and how not to operate a startup.
Musk’s personality is much like Steve Jobs’s and Thomas Edison’s: grating and unnerving. Despite these shortcomings, and maybe because of them, they have changed the world, and it is wonderful to have these people on the American team and not our enemies. - Tom L.
But education was not to be his destination. Stanford accepted him for a Masters/PhD track, but he deferred enrollment, hoping to take advantage of the Internet wave breaking across the world. His entrepreneurial spirit won over the academic. He never returned for an advanced degree.
Though he never focused exclusively on money, early in his career he knew he would either be very rich or very poor. His talents and dogged persistence did make him rich. His mission was his enduring goal: to change the direction of humanity by building an electric car that would dramatically reduce emissions and manufacture rockets that would ultimately take humanity to Mars, making humanity a multi-planetary civilization. He thought if humanity remained earthbound, the logical end would be the end of humanity.
The trials and tribulations of his numerous ventures, especially Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter are so fantastic they seem unreal. If there is one billionaire who deserves every dollar he earns, then Musk is that person: sleeping in his factories, working with employees on the factory floor, operating on a schedule that started at sunrise and often ended in the middle of the night. Every task was important and no task, no costs, no part or process escaped his attention.
Driving down costs while improving quality was his indefatigable mission. The man was relentless as he was agitating. His Asperger’s diminished his ability to read people, a huge managerial problem. He tossed employees out of his companies routinely while attracting others who wanted to be a part of his amazing trek.
What may be the best advice for running any organization, derives from his dedication to simplicity. The author outlines Musk’s process for eliminating functionless rules, regulations, and requirements. Musk demands that when finding a requirement that doesn’t seem to fit, find the person that owns it – not a department, not a federal agency, the specific person and find out the reason for the requirement. His summary advice is to delete more requirements than you think is necessary and add any back that were cut but actually really were needed.
Whether you like this man or not, this is a book for all readers. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Musk’s story provides numerous examples of how to operate and how not to operate a startup.
Musk’s personality is much like Steve Jobs’s and Thomas Edison’s: grating and unnerving. Despite these shortcomings, and maybe because of them, they have changed the world, and it is wonderful to have these people on the American team and not our enemies. - Tom L.
November 20, 2023
Such an interesting read & my 2nd of Walter Isaacson’s. I have a bunch of notes I’ll post later but overall, the most interesting biography I’ve read. Of course, Elon is a polarizing figure & many don’t agree with him; he is honest & fascinating. I enjoyed reading and listening to this one
October 12, 2023
I am no Musk fanboy, but wow. I can’t say this book made me like him more, but I think I understand him better now. And maybe it did make me like him more. I liked that he’s not opulent, that he cares about children, that he works hard. He’s an asshole. He’s tortured. Certainly some mental/social/emotional issues. I would not want to work with him or be in his life. But if there is one thing I learned about him in this book, it is that he gets shit done. The author killed it. I can’t remember a biography I’ve read that had me staying up til midnight to finish. All in all, I think he kinda sucks as a human, but the rest of us need him. I just wish he wasn’t wasting his important energy on twitter, and I think he realizes he shouldn’t be either
September 13, 2023
This is a deliciously snarky and highly revealing biography of one of the most sinister tyrants presently disrupting our world. I'm left with the sense of why so many are willing to put up with volatile idealism (even Yoel Roth! see his revealing quote on Page 544). Because it is clear from this book that Elon Musk is a highly dangerous man -- on the level of Trump in the madness he has unleashed, far from a genius, and arguably kept in his perch by his fawning acolytes and the money men who keep him annointed there.
I've made a four minute TikTok review outlining more:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j69TLp/
I've made a four minute TikTok review outlining more:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8j69TLp/
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