Author: Ashlee Vance
Published in 2015
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 400
The Washington Post wrote that the book is a tremendous look into arguably the world’s most important entrepreneur. Vance paints an unforgettable picture of Musk’s unique personality, insatiable drive and ability to thrive through hardship.
Elon Reeve Musk FRS is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in space company SpaceX and automotive company Tesla, Inc. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X, and his role in the founding of The Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink and Open AI. 28 June 1971 (age 53 years), Pretoria, South Africa
Children: Vivian Jenna Wilson, Tau Techno Mechanicus Musk,
Net worth: 222 billion USD (2024) Forbes
Spouse: Talulah Riley (m. 2013–2016), Talulah Riley (m. 2010–2012), Justine Musk (m. 2000–2008)
Dwight Garner, writing in The New York Times, wrote, “Mr. Vance delivers a well-calibrated portrait of Mr. Musk, so that we comprehend both his friends and his enemies.”
It’s a book with many ancillary pleasures. Mr. Vance brings us up to date on the states of green energy and space launches. He also veers away from his subject just often enough, offering profiles of the frequently brilliant people who work alongside Mr. Musk. The best thing Mr. Vance does in this book, though, is telling Mr. Musk’s story simply and well.’’ The book traces Elon Musk’s life from his childhood up to the time he spent at Zip2 and PayPal, and then onto SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. In the book, Vance interviews Musk, those close to him, and those who were with him at the most important points of his life.
The book portrays Elon’s background in the early years and how he has been exceptionally intelligent with a photographic memory since childhood. Even after so many ups and downs, he doesn’t give up on dreams. Later he also made his mark through Tesla and SolarCity.
Elon Musk spotlights the technology and vision of Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, who sold one of his Internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius’s life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits.
Vance uses Musk’s story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the nation of inventors and creators who led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition? He argues that Musk—one of the most unusual and striking figures in American business history—is a contemporary, visionary amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs. More than any other entrepreneur today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as the visionaries of the golden age of science-fiction fantasy.
Thorough and insightful, Elon Musk brings to life a technology industry that is rapidly and dramatically changing by examining the life of one of its most powerful and influential titans.It tells the story of Elon from his childhood to the successful figure he is today. He devoured encyclopaedias and had already written a video-game code when he was 12 years old. But he was bullied too and thus was a loner. This book was great in the sense that it not only explains the success of Musk but also about the remarkable people in the background who have made SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and SolarCity happen.
A few of the many things that I learned from this book:
Musk aims to create a colony on Mars and turn humans into an interplanetary species. How exciting!
– The Model S sedan developed by Tesla Motors is made of lightweight aluminium and achieved the highest safety rating in history! These electric cars can be recharged for free alongside the major highways in the US, Europe, and Asia. Apparently, it takes only about 20 minutes to charge. These stations are solar-powered and Tesla owners pay nothing to refuel! This will change the energy equation and I am so much looking forward to seeing that world!
If the owners of the car complain about problems such as door handles not popping out correctly or some trouble with windshield wipers, then Tesla engineers can tap into the car via an internet connection and download software updates to fix the problems!
Some of my Kindle highlights
“I think there are probably too many smart people pursuing Internet stuff, finance, and law,” Musk said on the way. “That is part of the reason why we haven’t seen as much innovation.”
Tesla Motors changes everything about transportation. It’s a computer on wheels
“Elon Musk has built the automotive equivalent of the iPhone.”
An exceptional account of Musk’s personality and business history.
By the final pages, it is made overly clear that the author has sided with Musk in almost all controversial events of his life, yet ample detail is provided to support the contrarian views. It strikes me as more of a hagiography than a condemnation, but the essence of the ambivalence Musk brings out in people is not lost on the reader.
Read also: Elon Musk reclaims title of world’s richest person with $209bn net worth
Musk is clearly portrayed as a one-of-a-kind genius in conception and execution, but it is striking how several of his successes seem to have hung in the balance of one tragic error or one amazing coincidence. It seems that he has been both single-mindedly focused on his goals and impressively lucky in the circumstances that solidified his success, which demonstrates that a “genius” status is not enough in the business world.
The report on his various commercial endeavours goes well beyond a standard business case study; the author goes into deep technical details and chronicles the minor milestones that heralded and enabled the big-picture achievements — things like improvements on battery efficiency, specifics of building spacecrafts and rockets, like valve technology or the mechanics of stamping metal sheets into body frames, or basic propulsion physics. The technical explanations are often given as direct quotes by engineers who invented the ideas in the first place, which is a wonderful insight into the minds of the people responsible for the amazing feats of Musk Co.
Overall, I found the book incredibly inspiring and uplifting. It leaves you hopeful for the future and convinced to take on the world to make your own ideas come to life.
By the time this book reaches your hands, […] Musk could have formally declared war on the artificial intelligence machines coming to life inside of Google’s data centres. Who knows?
At many instances we figure out that He fails to be empathetic towards his employees. I felt Ashlee Vance tried to white wash Elon’s image after portraying much of his dark side.
And actually I can’t stop myself from imagining Elon to have put his terms and conditions on this too..as he always likes to take control of how people perceive him and justify things when they are not going in his favour.
Overall a good and interesting read about a very complex man and his accomplishments.
“He does what he wants, and he is relentless about it. It will be Elon’s world and we all will be living in it! “
