[Book Review] Elon Musk - Ashlee Vance

Rating : 8/10

There's nothing wrong with the book. It's just that it was pubilshed in 2015, and I read it in 2020.

(Hence I personally think there should be an updated version in the future.

Couldn't give 10 because of it.)

This book teaches what I need to learn from Elon Musk.

It's a great summary of Elon Musk's and explains why he became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.

 

 

1. Who is Elon Musk?

 He was born in South Africa. He had somewhat horrible childhood. He was abused by his father -although he doesn't elaborate the details- and bullied at school. Still, he showed his intellectual talent by vacuuming all the books at local library. He escaped South Africa and moved to Canada. He went to Queen's University in Canada. And he transferred to Upenn. He founded Zip2. And then he founded X.com, which later became PayPal. With the money he earned through his businesses, he started SpaceX and Tesla. Despite of all the hardships, he successfully established his presence in the world through his works. As of now, he is CEO of Tesla, which acquired SolarCity, a company that he himself inspired his cousins to found, is CEO of SpaceX, co-founded OpenAI and NeuralLink, and founded The Boring Company. 

 

 

2. Worldview

 He could've lived a happy, restful life with all the money he made with Zip2 and PayPal. However, he made it clear that he has a goal that he needs to achieve. He will stop global warming and send human race to Mars. He will do everything he can to make sure that the entire human race doesn't get killed, especially by itself. He concluded that the best ways to do that are Mars colony, solar energy, and electic cars. So he has been working on that ever since he could.

 

 

3. personality

 He talks the talk and walks the walk. He genuinely cares about and works on the things he believes in with incredible perseverance and resilience. He talks about a lot of things and he delivers what he says, although he's often late than he says. He puts his life on the line with everything he does. As he said himself, his mentality is 'that of a samurai.' He would 'rather commit seppuku than fail.' Even when it seemed like his whole life is falling apart, he somehow managed to keep his composure and make clear decisions. 

 It's incredible how he allocates his time as well. He lives in San Francisco and LA simultaneously due to the locations of SpaceX and Tesla. He is running so many projects at once. He has 5 kids. He is a micromanager with a lot of employees that he needs to manage. 

 He could be very cold and callous too, to the extent where some of the people who worked for him suggest that he might be slightly autistic. However, in hindsight, it seems his callous personality might have helped him to go through all the hardships with inconceivable resiliance.

 Overall, he is a very inspiring person. His life was not so easy. He didn't grow up like a prince. He had to work tirelessly for so many years. But with his talent, perseverance and resilience, he made it to the top. His ideas changed the course of history. And I really REALLY want a Tesla model S.