The release date for the English version of 'Elon Musk' by
Walter Isaacson is Sep 2023. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
This is the remarkably intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our time—a rule-breaking visionary who helped usher in the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence—from the author of Steve Jobs and other best-selling biographies. And, you know, hijacked Twitter.
Elon Musk was often beaten by bullies when he was a child in South Africa. He was kicked and shoved down some concrete stairs one day by a bunch of people, causing his face to swell into a ball of flesh. He spent a week in the hospital. However, the emotional wounds caused by his father—a charming fantasist, renegade engineer—were much worse than the physical ones.
The psychological effects of his father would not go away. He became a tough but sensitive man-child, prone to sudden mood swings like to those of Jekyll and Hyde, with an extreme risk tolerance, a passion for drama, an epic sense of purpose, and a manic intensity that could be both destructive and cruel at the same time.
After a year in which SpaceX sent thirty-one rockets into space, Tesla sold a million vehicles, and Musk became the wealthiest man on the planet, Musk talked regretfully at the start of 2022 about his need to create drama. He said, "I need to change my perspective from living in crisis mode, which I have been doing for the past fourteen years, or maybe the majority of my life."
Not a resolution for the new year, but rather a melancholic remark. He was covertly accumulating shares in Twitter, the greatest playground in the world, even as he was saying this. Over the years, he would imagine himself being tormented on the playground whenever he was in a bad situation. He may now be the playground's owner.
Isaacson spent two years walking Musk's factories, attending his meetings, and shadowing him. He also spent hours interviewing Musk's friends, family, colleagues, and enemies. The end product is an insightful insider narrative that tackles the question, "Are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?" and is chock-full of incredible stories of victory and agony.