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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
inspiring
sad
Wow. Enthralling and page-turning.
Incredible depth of research and poised writing. Truly masterful writer, although I'm sure having a subject with as interesting of a life and perspective on life was a true legs up.
Would recommend to all, even those (like me) who are not memoir-readers.
Incredible depth of research and poised writing. Truly masterful writer, although I'm sure having a subject with as interesting of a life and perspective on life was a true legs up.
Would recommend to all, even those (like me) who are not memoir-readers.
For many, Elon Musk is a man people love to hate but love anyway despite his grating personality. Emerging from a very tough and unusual childhood in South Africa, where he was routinely pummeled at the school his father sent him to get toughened up, he wound up first at university in Toronto, then at Penn in the United States.
But education was not to be his destination. Stanford accepted him for a Masters/PhD track, but he deferred enrollment, hoping to take advantage of the Internet wave breaking across the world. His entrepreneurial spirit won over the academic. He never returned for an advanced degree.
Though he never focused exclusively on money, early in his career he knew he would either be very rich or very poor. His talents and dogged persistence did make him rich. His mission was his enduring goal: to change the direction of humanity by building an electric car that would dramatically reduce emissions and manufacture rockets that would ultimately take humanity to Mars, making humanity a multi-planetary civilization. He thought if humanity remained earthbound, the logical end would be the end of humanity.
The trials and tribulations of his numerous ventures, especially Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter are so fantastic they seem unreal. If there is one billionaire who deserves every dollar he earns, then Musk is that person: sleeping in his factories, working with employees on the factory floor, operating on a schedule that started at sunrise and often ended in the middle of the night. Every task was important and no task, no costs, no part or process escaped his attention.
Driving down costs while improving quality was his indefatigable mission. The man was relentless as he was agitating. His Asperger’s diminished his ability to read people, a huge managerial problem. He tossed employees out of his companies routinely while attracting others who wanted to be a part of his amazing trek.
What may be the best advice for running any organization, derives from his dedication to simplicity. The author outlines Musk’s process for eliminating functionless rules, regulations, and requirements. Musk demands that when finding a requirement that doesn’t seem to fit, find the person that owns it – not a department, not a federal agency, the specific person and find out the reason for the requirement. His summary advice is to delete more requirements than you think is necessary and add any back that were cut but actually really were needed.
Whether you like this man or not, this is a book for all readers. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Musk’s story provides numerous examples of how to operate and how not to operate a startup.
Musk’s personality is much like Steve Jobs’s and Thomas Edison’s: grating and unnerving. Despite these shortcomings, and maybe because of them, they have changed the world, and it is wonderful to have these people on the American team and not our enemies. - Tom L.
But education was not to be his destination. Stanford accepted him for a Masters/PhD track, but he deferred enrollment, hoping to take advantage of the Internet wave breaking across the world. His entrepreneurial spirit won over the academic. He never returned for an advanced degree.
Though he never focused exclusively on money, early in his career he knew he would either be very rich or very poor. His talents and dogged persistence did make him rich. His mission was his enduring goal: to change the direction of humanity by building an electric car that would dramatically reduce emissions and manufacture rockets that would ultimately take humanity to Mars, making humanity a multi-planetary civilization. He thought if humanity remained earthbound, the logical end would be the end of humanity.
The trials and tribulations of his numerous ventures, especially Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter are so fantastic they seem unreal. If there is one billionaire who deserves every dollar he earns, then Musk is that person: sleeping in his factories, working with employees on the factory floor, operating on a schedule that started at sunrise and often ended in the middle of the night. Every task was important and no task, no costs, no part or process escaped his attention.
Driving down costs while improving quality was his indefatigable mission. The man was relentless as he was agitating. His Asperger’s diminished his ability to read people, a huge managerial problem. He tossed employees out of his companies routinely while attracting others who wanted to be a part of his amazing trek.
What may be the best advice for running any organization, derives from his dedication to simplicity. The author outlines Musk’s process for eliminating functionless rules, regulations, and requirements. Musk demands that when finding a requirement that doesn’t seem to fit, find the person that owns it – not a department, not a federal agency, the specific person and find out the reason for the requirement. His summary advice is to delete more requirements than you think is necessary and add any back that were cut but actually really were needed.
Whether you like this man or not, this is a book for all readers. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Musk’s story provides numerous examples of how to operate and how not to operate a startup.
Musk’s personality is much like Steve Jobs’s and Thomas Edison’s: grating and unnerving. Despite these shortcomings, and maybe because of them, they have changed the world, and it is wonderful to have these people on the American team and not our enemies. - Tom L.
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The opening chapter had me concerned that this was a Musk apologist piece, but the book turned out to be unbaised, even-handed, and explanatory. The author spent time not only with Musk, but with the people around Musk (including ex-partners - both business and romantic), his tweets (and theirs), and even delving into Musk's news interviews (“Why is Elon doing these interviews?”....“He wants to do them,” Eberhard replied, “and I don’t want to be arguing with him.”). There was insight into Musk's personal failings as well as his accomplishments, and a history behind why Musk has taken actions that, without this book's context, seem erratic.
This book is thorough up to 2023. It was not written recently enough to cover Musk's 2025 political activity, but it does indirectly answer questions on why Musk accepted the appointment from Trump, and why Trump wanted Musk. Musk has ideals and aspirations and will do anything to achieve it. Trump wants an earth-shaker who takes big risks and can create a splash. That, and Musk going down some conspiracy rabbitholes (including some of Robert F. Kennedy's), was enough for them to overlook their misgivings about each other.
The book is a pleasant read by an excellent biographer, some of my favorite passages:
This book is thorough up to 2023. It was not written recently enough to cover Musk's 2025 political activity, but it does indirectly answer questions on why Musk accepted the appointment from Trump, and why Trump wanted Musk. Musk has ideals and aspirations and will do anything to achieve it. Trump wants an earth-shaker who takes big risks and can create a splash. That, and Musk going down some conspiracy rabbitholes (including some of Robert F. Kennedy's), was enough for them to overlook their misgivings about each other.
The book is a pleasant read by an excellent biographer, some of my favorite passages:
Like many of Musk’s revisions, it was both correct and costly.
“I am who I am,” he said at one point, which was not actually reassuring to any of his listeners, who somehow hoped otherwise.
This did not, of course, align with his professed fealty to free speech, but Musk’s anger takes on a moral righteousness that can brush away inconsistencies.
informative
medium-paced
Informative review mostly of Musk's career including PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. Fascinating but shallow as if the author traded away criticism for access.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
Pirma dalis įdomi. Antrojoje autorius paperkamas tuo kuo ir kaip gyvena Muskas ir visiškai nieko nekvestionuoja ir nesileidžia giliai analizuoti. Pabaiga itin paviršutiniška.