Elon Musk
2013
- spacex (firm)
- paypal (firm)
- businesspeople
- biography
- tesla motors
- businesspeople, biography
- technological innovations, economic aspects
- aerospace industries
- automobiles, electric
- inventors
The story
In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs -- a real-life Tony Stark -- and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new "makers." Elon Musk spotlights the technology and vision of Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, who sold one of his Internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the nation of inventors and creators who led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition? He argues that Musk -- one of the most unusual and striking figures in American business history -- is a contemporary, visionary amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs. More than any other entrepreneur today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as the visionaries of the golden age of science-fiction fantasy. Thorough and insightful, Elon Musk brings to life a technology industry that is rapidly and dramatically changing by examining the life of one of its most powerful and influential titans. - Publisher.
What it’s like
Brisk, reporter-style prose that moves like a business wire with a novelist's eye for scene: a steady stream of boardroom rooms, launch pads, factory floors and cramped Silicon Valley offices, rendered in plain sentences rather than lyrical description. The mood is restless and driven, with a faint buzz of ambition and a constant sense that something could go wrong at any moment. Its vibe is energetic and cool-headed, the kind of read that suits a commute, a long flight, or an evening when you want to be pulled along by momentum. Chapters jump between childhood in South Africa, dot-com deals and rocket failures, so the pacing is quick and episodic. Intensity is low: setbacks, financial pressure, and personal friction are described frankly, but there is no graphic violence and little that is frightening. It suits readers who enjoy business history, engineering stories, and portraits of difficult, polarising people, especially those who like their nonfiction fast and accessible.
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