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Elon Musk cover art

Elon Musk

By: Walter Isaacson
Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb,Walter Isaacson
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Publisher's Summary

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 question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

©2023 Walter Isaacson (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic Reviews

"One of the greatest biographers in America has written a massive book about the richest man in the world. This fast-paced biography, based on more than a hundred interviews ... [is] a head-spinning tale about a vain, brilliant, sometimes cruel figure whose ambitions are actively shaping the future of human life." (Ron Charles on CBS Sunday Morning)

What listeners say about Elon Musk

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Peeling the onion on the most interesting person alive

Walter Isaacson is a unbiased and detailed writer who did another great job on the book.

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5 people found this helpful

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Damn way more open and real than I expected

I am a massive, self-confessed Elon fandoy, and to some extend, I expected the author to take a someone fanboy outlook of this boy.
wow, was I wrong, this book also shows multiple perspectives of those around the billionaire who are trying to navigate, moods, wings, and demon mode..
I am still a massive fan of Elon, and what he has achieved for this planet, but also see there is much, much more to him now.

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So that’s what happens if you look fear in the eye and call its bluff

I recall reading the biography authored by Ashlee Vance in 2015 and at first having serious FOMO about what I was doing with my life at age 28. The further I read that book more I realised I didn’t want to be like Elon given the path of destruction he left with his relationships. This biography is more balanced. Or perhaps at 36 I’m more mature, able to see his life through the lens of my own, appreciating the ups and downs, and draw the conclusion that sure, Aspergers explains a lot, but at times he and those he loves are simply a victim of his own brilliance. Without doubt the most brilliant man of our time

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Arguably, THE most incredible story ever told

We bought a model 3 in Australia in 2019. We’d never invested overseas but decided to go with $100k because we realised from out experience that this was the future. Now that’s $500k but barely started IMHO with FSD, Robo Taxis, DOJO, Grid scale Energy, licensing Tesla’s FSD IP to save legacy auto, and Robots for thousands of applications that are barely even recognised yet. Isaacson’s book is riveting and fills many gaps beyond what we already knew.

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Hyperbolic and factually incorrect

Much of the book is misleading (particularly re Bezos rockets) and hyperbolic. R felt like I was listening to a gossip site like TMZ, equating every day conversations with the same drastic purport as massive rocket explosions. Whilst interesting, it was Stressful and not enjoyable to listen to.

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Very well written as always.

Another well written biography by Walter Isaacson the story is very insightful, and much better than the last biography written about Elon.

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An insightful look into history in the making

Thoroughly enjoyable and well written. A timely insight into our rapidly changing times and a candid and remarkably personal view of Elon's genius, shortcomings and incredible drive.

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Smarter and harder worker than anyone else but a tortured soul

Great read about such a different human. Love that the book shows all the bad and all the good.

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My dog could narrate this story with more emotion

5 Star story. I have a Tesla and shares so It was excellent to learn about Elon and the amazing journey for Tesla and spaceX.

1 star narrator. The problem is you cannot connect with the narrator on any level. I wasn't sure if it was an AI programmed to read the audio book or if it was actually a person. Often found I was being put to sleep by the snoozefest narration and had to snap myself out of the trance regularly. Why not pay for a great narrator to deliver this with some spice & passion?

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Epic

Another fantastic biography from Walter Isaacson only took me 4 days to get through it

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  • Mark M
  • 11-10-2023

Brilliant

Wonderfull insight into the greatest contributor to human development and progress in centuries Elon Musk

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  • Arvid Almstrom
  • 30-09-2023

Very interesting and current

Got a very thorough in site into Elon’s left and a good explanation to how he is wired and the reasons and events that has shaped/made this most extraordinary man.
Five stars from me.

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  • Ellis H.
  • 25-09-2023

Very inspiring, very humanising.

This book makes no attempt to cast musk as a perfect hero figure. It’s a neutral recollection of the events that made musk who he is - which is of course a massively inspiring story. Worth the read.

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  • James P.
  • 22-09-2023

Many amazing insights.

The first part doesn’t have much new compared to Ashlee Vance’s biography of Musk, and seemed less exciting this time. That more recent insights from roughly 2016 though are very good. It makes it seem that is really when Musk hits his stride.

Overall a great read. Thank you Walter Isaacson.

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