Lorna's Reviews > Elon Musk

Where do I begin to add some thoughts about the latest book, Elon Musk, by one of our most renowned biographers, Walter Isaacson, but with his words in the Acknowledgements of his book as follows:

"Elon Musk allowed me to shadow him for two years, invited me to sit in on his meetings, indulged scores of interviews and late-night conversations, provided emails and texts, and encouraged his friends, colleagues, family members, adversaries and ex-wives to talk to me. He did not ask, nor did he, read this book before it was published, and he exercised no control over it."

Having written interesting and riveting biographies of Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Steve Jobs and Jennifer Doudna to name a few, perhaps Walter Isaacson was the perfect person to attempt to write the compelling story of one of our most brilliant innovators and engineers that has transformed the world, particularly in the realm of space exploration, mass production of electric cars designed to combat adverse changes in our earth caused by climate change, and in the field of artificial intelligence. This brilliant man-child, prone to mood changes which would immediately
change the characterization of moment, and described as his demon-mode eruptions that left rubble in its wake. But then Walter Isaacson asks in the last page of this book whether a restrained Musk could accomplish as much as a Musk unbound? Once again, Isaacson's words:

"But would a restrained Musk accomplish as much as a Musk unbound? Is being unfiltered and untethered integral to who he is? Could you get the rockets to orbit or the transition to electric vehicles without accepting all aspects of him, hinged and unhinged? Sometimes great innovators are risk-seeking man-children who resist potty training. They can be reckless, cringeworthy, sometimes even toxic. They can also be crazy. Crazy enough to think they can change the world."

The biography of Elon Musk begins with the prescient words of Steve Jobs: The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. It is apparent in this book that Elon Musk developed a siege mentality that included an attraction for storm and drama. Musk thrived on crises, deadlines, and wild surges of work. I was so struck when Musk was determined that he was going to increase the production of Tesla automobiles and was working intricately with others to change certain design elements that would eliminate slow-downs in the production cycle, often using toy cars to resolve issues in the design. And during this critical time over a three-day period, Elon Musk stayed on the production line catching a few hours sleep on the floor when he could. Needless to say, his wild goal of the production of 5000 Tesla automobiles per week was accomplished. It is that kind of drive that is seen in Musk throughout this book, and he expects no less from those around him.

"He had never been a captain of a sports team or the leader of a gang of friends, and he lacked an instinct for camaraderie. Like Steve Jobs, he genuinely did not care if he offended or intimidated the people he worked with, as long as he drove them to accomplish feats they thought were impossible."

Another big part of Musk's story for me was how he led the world in space exploration. It was 2010 when Barack Obama met Elon Musk at Cape Canaveral to determine what SpaceX was accomplishing in the space program. It was Musk's chance to prove that he wasn't nuts when in June 2010 when the Falcon 9, the first unmanned test voyage was successfully launched into orbit. The launch went perfectly and Elon Musk joined his jubilant team at an all-night party on a Coco Beach pier. Elon Musk called it a "vindication of what the president had proposed. It was also a vindication of Space X." The next big test, scheduled for later in 2010, was to show that Space X could not only launch an unmanned capsule into orbit but also return it to earth safely.

"As awesome as it was, Musk had a sobering realization. The Mercury program had accomplished similar feats fifty years earlier, before either he or Obama had been born. America was just catching up with its older self."

And I'm going to end with the portion of the book when he was nominated by Time magazine as Person of the Year in 2021.

"The magazine's accolade marked a peak in his popularity. In 2021, he became the richest person in the world, SpaceX became the first private company to send a civilian crew into orbit, and Tesla reached a trillion-dollar market value by leading the world's auto industry in a historic shift into the era of electric vehicles. 'Few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth, too,' Time's editor Ed Felsenthal wrote. The 'Financial Times' also named him Person of the Year, stating 'Musk is staking a claim to be the most genuinely innovative entrepreneur of his generation.'"

Addendum: It is now November 17, 2023 and I feel that I must amend my review to reflect the anti-Semitic views that are now being put forward by X and Elon Musk. I am horrified at the hatred and racism that has been espoused on this platform by Elon Musk. And I stand by Israel.