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Elon Musk cover art

Elon Musk

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

#1 New York Times bestseller

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

What listeners say about Elon Musk

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Fascinating look at Someone who changes the world

I throughly enjoyed this biography of someone who lives Apple’s “Think different” Ad. “While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do”

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Did not disappoint

Isaacson does it again, in this often-harsh tell-all on the world’s most influential human. Make time for this book. You won’t be disappointed.

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Thoroughly captivating!

I was surprised how entertaining this reading was despite that I am not a tech person. I might even read it again!

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AMAZING AMAZING

An amazing inside scoop of how the brilliant world changing character Elon musk came to be and what motivates his actions. A great listen.

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better understanding of Musk

An easy listen. It's incredible how his brain works. highly recommend. The person reading it is engaging. Perfect read for an everyday commute.

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Insightful

Another incredible biography by the talented Walter Isaacson! A great recount of the significant moments in the life of one of the greatest minds that has ever existed. Whether you love him, hate him…or simply don’t understand him, Elon Musk believes to his core that his life’s mission is to conserve human consciousness and move civilization forward. I believe that the rough edges of him were a significant part of how he has been able to make such complex changes in such a short time.

Walter Isaacson does a phenomenal job of presenting the facts in an unbiased way and leaves the reader to contemplate if the ‘ends justify the means’. The narrator’s voice was captivating and enjoyable to listen to.

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Elon defies all Current HR rethoric

I'm in HR, and after watching the greats in business like Steve Jobs and Elon, all that BS we sputter about what makes great companies and leadership is laughable. It's not DEI, employment equity programs, Foosball tables and giving entirled employees more for less effort. it's having balls to not care what people think, passion and vision and driving people to do their best. Yes, he's an ahole but a smart driven one who wants ro change the world. The losers can hire the pansies. Elon is an inspiration. 👏 Bravo! great read.

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  • Ali
  • 2023-09-28

Great work!

I specifically enjoyed the epic storytelling of the author and the overall performance of the voice actor

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Lecture Passionnante

Excellente biographie. Vivant, bien documenté, sujet interessant. Je recommande cette lecture à n’importe qui sans hésitation.

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JUST AMAZING!

I ripped through this in 3 days! Absolutely loved every minute of it!! I enjoyed re-remembering the early days....

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