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Book Reviews | Elon Musk: Genius or Madman? A Review of the Hit Biography of One of the Richest People in the World
Elon Musk: Genius or Madman? A look at the incredible biography of one of the richest people in the world.
I read Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk with great enthusiasm. I have read several of his great books about famous people (Steve Jobs, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci).
Who is Elon Musk? We know him as the founder and owner of many innovative products in the field of space, electric vehicles, robotics and artificial intelligence, including Tesla, Space. .
But the book reveals another side. The biography was recently published and topped the ratings. The author meticulously collected data for several years, followed Musk everywhere and conducted dozens of interviews with him and his loved ones.
The result is an extensive psychological portrait of the billionaire. The book describes in detail both his personal life (many affairs, at least 10 children) and Musk's business side.
Is this man a genius or a madman?
As usual, it all started with childhood, which showed Elon Musk what pain is and how to deal with it. He grew up in South Africa, one of the most criminal countries in the world. I was in children's camps where you have to prove in a fight that you are not an asshole. He has a difficult relationship with his father.
Musk has always been interested in technology, learning programming and fascinated by science fiction. Already in his youth, he developed a life philosophy that he repeated like a mantra.
"He didn't mind insulting and threatening the people he worked with, as long as he could push them to achieve what they thought was impossible. 'Your job is not to have your team like you,' he told a SpaceX executive meeting a few years later. 'That's not practical.'
Musk’s regular hustle during production, where he goes into Satanic mode and sets crazy deadlines, is legendary. Employees are often required to work around the clock, including weekends and holidays. His goal was to shake up the swamp and “push all the crap out of the system.”
Musk is meticulous about detail and constantly strives for efficiency.
Another characteristic of him is his willingness and desire to take risks. He often violated safety rules and regulations in order not to slow down the process. The numerous explosions during SpaceX rocket tests prove this. It is also evident in the way he plays cards.
“Musk, who had no interest in card games, sat down at the table anyway. “There were all these weirdos memorizing the cards and calculating the odds,” Levchin said. “Elon put it all on the table and kept losing. Then he bought more chips and doubled his bet. Finally, after losing a few times, he went all in and won. And he said, ‘Yeah, that’s enough for me.’ That’s how he conducts himself in life. He keeps his chips on the table and keeps taking risks.”
At times he became completely obsessed, regularly flying to the Karman Line of Madness, the blurred line separating real visions from hallucinatory ones.
“A lot happened to him that week. He had to testify in a Delaware court in an attempt to get him to unwind the Twitter acquisition, he was under an ongoing SEC investigation, and he was considering a lawsuit challenging the compensation he received from Tesla. He also expressed concerns about the controversy over Ukraine’s use of Starlink satellites, the difficulty of reducing Tesla’s supply chain dependence on China, and the Falcon 9 flight that carried four astronauts (including one Russian woman) to the International Space Station. “The Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch that same day, carrying 52 Starlink satellites from the West Coast, and several personal issues with children, girlfriends, and ex-lovers.”
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