Elon Musk

Written by Walter Isaacson

Narrated by Jeremy Bobb

#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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797162263

Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane and was CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu.

Reviews for Elon Musk

[kevinkessel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing access and the most definitive account of Elon Musk I’ve ever read. I enjoyed feeling like a fly in the wall in both his personal life and work meetings as Isaacson does a great job of giving you a front row seat to both (like he had). Elon is crazy. He’s also a genius. But sadly as much as he professes to care for humanity , it’s terrible how he treats his fellow man. This “demon mode” is not cool to use Elon’s vocabulary and one day it will come back to bite him. He will make an impulsive and immature decision that will lead to his undoing.

[Masih · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The end of this book was totally touching referring to Steve Jobs words "the people who are crazy enough to think they can change they world, actually will". The world needs more of such crazy people.

[Leo Sidilkovskii · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Inspiring & entertaining insight into genius/madness borderline. A tremendous account, better than fiction.

[Benjamin Bernstein · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to this extraordinary book by Walter Isaacson, I feel like I understand Elon Musk so much better now. This is an amazing achievement that unflinchingly shows both his light and dark sides. Highly recommended!

[Spencer Tally · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Isaacson solidifies himself as a top tier biographer. This is perhaps his best one. He understands the exact level of detail that is most interesting. Sometimes giving a 10,000 feet view and other times lasering in on specific week for an entire chapter.

[Vafee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good read. Elon musk is interesting for real. The author was raw.

[brooke seibel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book goes down smooth — listened to in just a few days. Instructive and engaging.

[Alex Shibu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow what a book. Really changed my perspective on the guy

[Gerald Riley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wondefull Insight into Genius Who Lacks Peoplle Skills and Works Excessively andvHard

[María Calleja · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

La estructura y el estilo de escritura me parecieron excelentes. La historia te atrapa y te lleva de manera muy natural. Quizá solo diría que hacia los años más recientes empezó a dejar de ser una biografía para convertirse en un reporte de actividades, cosa que da una dinámica nueva a la narración pero da la sensación de que el autor quiso aumentar el tamaño del libro

[leonardo galindez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You just need to read this to understand greatness, period.

[Jameel Alkhaja · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s a good insight into Musk’s brain wiring and his attitude

[mayur sundararajan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a must read for everyone. Wonderful peek into Elon's life, it is unfiltered. The reader is exceptional.

[David Slaton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is well-developed biography of Mr. Musk that reveals both the the saga of his professional rise to greatness and the personal passions and demons that fired his drive.

[Jack Laitinen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The level of research and interpretation is amazing. The first third of the book covers Musk's beginnings to 2000/Tesla. The second third accounts for the period 2000-2021)/SpaceX et al. and the final third is up to date with the 2022-23/Twitter costly experiment. Interesting reading about the world's richest man's temper tantrums, micromanaging, family and estrangement, and unbridled genius and ego.

[Andra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book and a good view into who Musk is . A very balanced look at a very interesting human . He never quits and while he may not be everyone’s cup of tea, everyone could learn a thing or two from him .

[Louis-Philippe Thouin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

2 things I loved about this book the biographer and his subject. Isaacson really gets me to know his subject deeply. And Elon Musk is a genius with weird emotional impulses without which he couldn’t be such a great Creator.

[Chloe Honkanen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What an interesting listen. I had so many contradicting thoughts throughout the whole book. On one hand, I'm pretty impressed by him and all that he's been able to accomplish and discover, yet there's the other part which is me just thinking he's nuts and perhaps has a bit too much power for his own good.

Firstly, I really enjoyed Walter Isaacson's writing and portrayal of the book. I know that quite a few things (especially seemingly little details) have happened in Elon Musk's life and I think that Walter Isaacson did a really good job of capturing all that in writing. And overall, there were a few times when I was a bit more bored than others but still the more and more I read the more I couldn't put it down because I just wanted to know what was going to be next. I know in a book, especially a biography it's almost certain to talk about family members and relatives and sort of family drama and I honestly wasn't interested in that at all, so it was sort of a relief when the writing switched to Elon Musk's creations instead.

There's also a part of me that thinks he's nuts and sort of dislikes him but at the same time he has just created so much advanced stuff that other people could find useful (even though sometimes he is a bit chaotic) and just seized opportunities and created opportunities thrown his way that I can't help but tip my hat off at his creations because he's created and creating stuff that some people have never even thought of, and I think that's honestly outstanding even if only one person in the world thinks or does stuff like that. I also never really want to work with him or at least from a far because mentally he does sound like a draining person to be around because you practically are tip-toeing on ice.

Throughout the book I was sort of trying to wrap my mind around Elon Musk's mind just because his way of thinking and his style of actions is almost not very common in day to day social cues/situations that I was just fascinated and throughout the whole book was wondering what he could be thinking and why he did what he did. I'm very impressed by his way of thinking and how he's able to strive for the things he wants to be created, and he'll practically not stop until he gets it no matter what other people tell him or even if momentarily one of his projects fails.

I do think that he does have a bit of a negative vibe sometimes, but I still find it impressive that he nonetheless is still able to push forward and make progress. I'm very intrigued to watch him especially as time goes on because to be frank, I did scratch my head at some stuff he wanted to do in the book and his thoughts/opinions, yet I do think that he no matter what will probably provide value somehow to other people and create incredible stuff. So overall, I'm excited to see what he does next.

[Yves Raymond · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bio of a genius and inspiring human being by a splendid writer.

[Marty · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All should read this book. You kind of have to in order to understand the world of today a bit better.

[Amanda Del Valle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Elon Musk's life is work success at all costs, too high a cost for me personally in my relationships.

[Anne Brooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This fascinating read is about unique person who is a genius attempting to make the world a better place. May his endeavors become even more successful.

[Michael James Much · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perfect! The surprisingly emotional and revelatory experience. I recommended highly.

[J M · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

After listening one comes out with the understanding that all including Musk are trying to gain control over the world for their agendas.

[Debbie Williams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great insight into a brilliant and complicated person. Whets your appetite, to see where he goes from here.

[Lachezar Petkov · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book made me want to study engineering and AI, watch the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, but ultimately, to believe in the future of humanity as a space faring civilisation starting with Mars.

[Jamie Korngold · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding. Insightful. Engaging. I highly recommend this book. Fascinating. Enough?

[Gary Anderson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Nice job - however I have a big problem with this book. How do you write a biography when someone is still alive. Their life is not over. Elon Musk is 52 at the moment of publication of this book. He still has a lot of life to live. Let's write the biography after he dies to tell his whole life story. This is jumping the gun just to make money. This is greed by the author.

[Lynne Chaloux · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Insightful look into this tragic genius. I learned so much about his businesses, his personality and drive. Wow.

[Dillon Evans · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As a former Tesla shareholder, this was very interesting to know, in detail, who I was betting on.