Love him or hate him, Elon Musk knows how to make headlines. A new biography on the controversial CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX examines what the was released Tuesday by author Walter Isaacson, and it’s now No. 3 on Amazon’s nonfiction charts in its first week.
Published by Simon & Schuster, the 688-page book explores the 52-year-old’s upbringing in South Africa by “charismatic fantasist” engineer father, Errol Musk, and dietician mother, Maye Musk, who now moonlights as a model. (They divorced in 1979.) It’s 30 percent off for its debut week, but those who prefer audiobooks can listen to Isaacson’s Elon Musk for free with a new subscription to Audible.
As a child, the future billionaire “was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father [whose] impact on his psyche would linger.” (In a statement to Business Insider, the elder Musk disputed his son’s accounts.)
“[Elon Musk] developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive,” per the book’s synopsis. “The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?”
By 2022, Tesla had sold one million electric cars and SpaceX launched 31 rockets into space.
Isaacson shadowed his subject for two years and attended his meetings, toured his companies’ factories and spent hours interviewing Musk and his family, friends, colleagues and “adversaries.”
Elon Musk himself has admitted, “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about 14 years now, or arguably most of my life.”
For those who don’t have time to read up on Musk’s life story, the audiobook version is available for free on Audible with a new membership. The audiobook platform is free for the first 30 days and members get to claim two free titles during their first month, then one monthly thereafter. Memberships include unlimited listening to select audiobooks, Audible originals and podcasts; after the first 30 days, the service is $15 per month and you can cancel anytime.
