Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future

Great read, not really a nice guy but, fascinating; driven; revolutionary; visionary, definitely. His unusual upbringing gives some insight into his incredible capacity for risk taking. This book is well written and gives a good picture of Elon and his amazing life. I can recommend it unreservedly. Details: Interesting information on his early family life, how he made his first fortune and used it as a springboard for his incredibly bold plans to help humanity. Someone who wants to change the world for the better, but is hyper-competitive and hyper-logical. The stories behind Spacex and Tesla are also engrossing and thrilling. The information on his personal life revealing.

I knew almost nothing about Musk before picking this up on a kindle deal. Really enjoyed reading this and finding out about Elin Musk. His work ethic, his determination, drive, intelligence and vision come across in droves. As with many high achievers he is very harsh on many and lacks empathy in his work life. What was most interesting is that his "why" is not money making but solving problems like global warming or living on only one planet. He's clearly had fortunate breaks, but he is a fascinating character.

After reading just the first chapter of Ashlee Vance's 'Elon Musk', I couldn't put the book down. From the outset this is an engaging insight into the enigma who is Musk. Prior to reading the book, I thought that my knowledge of Musk was pretty good. However, I still found there was a new surprise on every page.Vance has done well to capture a story of the billionaire's background, from bullied schoolboy to minimum wage worker, right through to him becoming one of the most pioneering minds of a generation. It is an honest and fair portrayal of both his family and business life, a pleasure to read and delves just enough into the areas of interest in the subject's life. Anyone looking for some inspiration should definitely buy this book!

Great quality, communication and speed delivery

Great book about a great man and company, found it easy to read and not so technical I couldn't understand it

A mixed review from me on this one. In some places the author of this book really conveys the sense of drama such as the first few launches of the rocket engine yet in other parts the book can be really dull. We learn pretty early on in the book that if you are looking for praise from the boss then don’t bother working for Musk as you aren’t going to get it. So ok a couple of anecdotes / examples of his lack of any human interest for his staff and we should be done but the book goes on and on introducing different characters who then shortly after get fed up with being treated like slaves and leave his employment. The modus operandi of Musk are exactly the same and there are not even unique tales to go with each departure. Also from about 60% through the book the author seems to have ran out of anything interesting to say and just goes on about random employees that have worked at SpaceX which I found frankly boring. Shame because I really wanted to enjoy it but it kind of run out of steam. It would have been a much better book if more time had of been spent explaining some of the technology and less on describing the education and career history of some bit players that came and worked for Musk and then departed. As one of the other reviewers sated I thought the book (author) redeemed himself to an extent in the last two chapters. One thing I did learn is that Musk sound a truly dreadful character to work for. With him there is no carrot just a hell of a lot of stick! Certainly worth a read.

Picking up this book, I had feared to would only be a praise account of Elon Musk's not too incredible accomplishments but having come to the end (yes, I read the Acknowledgements at the end too 😁) I found a narration of a life lived in a dynamic, cruel, yet empowering world that we all share, yet Elon has thrived in. This book takes you on a concise yet anecdotally rich story of the life of Elon (includes accounts of his great grand parents too) painting the struggles of a child that morphed through different cycles into the person we think we know. It paints instances of his genius as well as extracts of his harsh and sweet sides too. Guess you don't change the world by being cookie-cutter nice. 😅 I especially enjoyed how Ashlee managed to rope in accounts of co-founders and their signifance in the companies for which Elon has become the poster child of, the economic and social considerations that influenced them, as well as how we got to have a new sided "Elon did everything" view of these companies in, and more. I have walked away with a great appreciation of the sacrifice Elon and the workmates that have laughed, cried, mourned, and exhibited a plethora of other emotions as Elon's "Unified Theory" has began to come to fruition. I am especially pleased to see the accounts of loyal employees who stay in the dark despite carrying most of the work but being motivated by the common goal. What a tale! It may be sad in some cases but to see that someone, who others would happily take on offering more praise and maybe more pay, stay on because they believe in the dream and goal; that to me makes working for Elon great and worth the pain. Hopefully I shall find out at some point too 😉 In short, I thoroughly recommend this book! Thank you Ashlee, thank you Elon Musk and Co.

Elon Musk, an ultra innovative engineer with enormous talent and even greater ambition, a man of Silicon Valley in its heyday, created ground breaking enterprises in four apparently diverse fields. His first achievement, before he was 22 years old, was breaking the rules of banking through application of the power of the emerging internet and creating a payment system,Paypal, that went global. He was forced out but with his first fortune in the bank. But as a visionary engineer he was fascinated by the transformational ability of the application of software and process control to machines. Musk pursued electric cars, rockets and solar power. He set about applying his software innovations to electric cars to overcome the fundamental constraints of limited battery power. In 2003, Musk, who had been mostly focused on using ultracapacitors for electric vehicles, met Straubel. Straubel had strung together lithium ion batteries to provide a car with one thousand miles potential. Musk, together with Struabel, Eberharhard and Tarpenning went on to develop and manufacture Tesla cars. He poured his newfound wealth into launching the all electric Tesla car in direct competition to the car giants of General Motors, Ford, Nissan and BMW. He bet his shirt on developing the technology, the manufacturing facilities and the battery service stations around the US. Simultaneously he took on the major players of Boeing and Lockheed in the space industry. Since the moon probes, space and rocketry had remained an extravagant, exceptionally high cost, state funded activity. Musk developed and launched safe rockets that, by their low cost, allowed the satellite industry that has revolutionised our lives. Space X became sufficiently safe and reliable and low cost to achieve huge US government and other international contracts for shuttling satellites and servicing the space stations. Musk was always looking for brainy engineers and when he found someone good, he was relentless in courting them. Bryan Gardner was fundamental in building Space X’s automated valve system and Branden Spikes, Space X’s IT chief developed the demanding software systems of the rockets. But what is really impressive is the confidence he had in his own abilities and his preparedness to bet his shirt on these developments. He stared disaster and bankruptcy in the face but was sufficiently plausible to get huge financial backing for two supremely expensive ventures simultaneously. This was at a time in which clean tech businesses had gone bust with alarming regularity. Following the success of Tesla Motors and Space X rockets he turned his attention to solar energy and launched Solar City now a major force in US solar energy. A true innovator and an inspiring book.

When I first started reading the book I thought that the author (who is clearly an Elon Musk fan) had a quite biased point of view which I found annoying but I thought to myself "I really want to know what's all this fuss about Elon Musk" so I continued to read and very rapidly I found myself not being able to put my Kindle down. Musk's story is very inspiring, and although I found his beginnings in South Africa and his relationship with his family very unclear (Elon Musk and his family apparently do not like to talk much about it but they all allude to the fact that it played a big role in making him who he is today), the description of his thinking process, of how he looks at situations like broken machines and instead of trying to fix them, starting all over from scratch is very thrilling. From the early days of Paypal all the way to Space X, when you see the amount of work and dedication a man can put into his ideas, it personally motivated me, as soon as I finished that book I started reviewing all my short and long term life goals. In a way, it is a feel good book, which makes you feel that whatever you thought is impossible is actually within your reach if you try hard enough and surround yourself with the right people.

Good

exactly as described

Elon Musk e uma lenda atualmente. entender sua história escrita de forma fascinante foi um experiencia mais do que emocionante

Although many books on Elon Musk have been already published, it might be the first time he cooperated an author in many ways. That enables this comprehensive biography to snapshot how he operates his daily tasks and how he collaborates with his brilliant coworkers. You can enjoy the roller coaster life of one of the most visionary entrepreneurs of our era although it might be wild enough to make you feel dizzy. イーロン・マスクに関する本は既に多数出版されていますが、本人が広く関与した本は初めてかもしれません。このため、彼がどのように仕事をこなし、どのように同僚と協業しているかをこの伝記で垣間見ることができます。 我々の時代で最も先見性がある起業家のひとりである彼のローラーコースターライフを楽しめる一冊です。激しすぎてフラフラするかもしれませんが。