Book: Elon Musk – How the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is shaping our future
Author: Ashlee Vance
Elon Musk is the biography of a genius and an innovator, who started successful ventures such as PayPal, Tesla, Space X, and Solar City. He is the real-life Tony Stark for some people and the present-day Steve jobs for some. No doubt his life is full of adventures. Through this biography, we get to know about a highly optimistic man on a great mission to save the planet and send people to Mars. Owing to his best entrepreneurial abilities, budding entrepreneurs strive to be like Elon Musk.
How it started:
Many journalists had asked Elon Musk to help them with a book before but Ashlee was the only one who continued with his efforts even after Musk’s initial rejections. Finally, he got a chance to write an inspiring tale of a man who made the biggest impact on the world. While sharing his experience about writing this book, Ashlee Vance writes, “Musk respects people who continue after being told no”. When Ashlee Vance informed Musk about his plans of writing a book about him, Musk was reticent first but he committed fully once he said “Okay”.
Summary:
The biography starts with Elon Musk’s early childhood days in South Africa to his student days in Canada followed by his career in the US. He was a bright child who understood things quicker than other kids of his age. Elon would go in trance many times. This habit of Elon bothered his parents so much that they thought he was deaf. But later, they got familiarized with his genius nature. His mother mentions that “you could yell at him or do jumping jacks beside him and he would not even notice. His different way of thinking didn’t endear his peers”. His nature of often correcting children alienated him from his friends. He got bullied many times in his school. To find solace, he would visualize things in his mind and dedicate all his concentration to a single task, and eventually, he mastered this art of visualization. As a young boy, Elon got immersed himself in books and became an avid reader. He would read continuously for up to 10 hours a day and on weekends he would finish two books in a day. In his 3rd or 4th grade itself, he finished reading all the books of his school library and the neighboring library as well, and then he read Encyclopedia Britannica.
The story of Elon Musk also covers details of Zip2, his first startup company formed with his brother. when eBay bought PayPal, Elon made $165 million and he put a large amount of his money into SpaceX. His friends considered him insane. He went ahead and invested in the electric car-making company, Tesla. In 2006, he invested in SolarCity and became chairman of the company. His risk taking abilities and immense optimism has made him a successful businessman today. The author also covers the struggles and hardships during the initial years of Space X and Tesla. It is interesting to read the inside story of Space X and Tesla. The perseverance of the people involved in making these companies a huge success is worth reading. Along with his team, Elon Musk gets thoroughly involved in every aspect of a product. The author has also mentioned how Elon hires people. He is described as a brutal boss for his team but he knows how to inspire people to achieve impossible things.
Why to read this book
Ashlee Vance has crafted a detailed and motivational story of Elon Musk, the adventurous businessman of Silicon Valley. The story of Elon Musk will stimulate you and take you to a different world. The book is about 317 pages including 11 chapters. You can also go through the epilogue and appendix for more content. If you love reading biographies and memoirs then you shouldn’t miss this book. This book inspires you to work hard even in a worse situation to achieve your goal.
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” ― Elon Musk