Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

By Ashlee Vance

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This book has 25 recommendations

Sir Martin Sorrell (CEO/WPP)

Sorrell, CEO of the communications house/ad agency, WPP, has a rather eclectic mix this summer:

Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency—James Andrew Miller
Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes—Richard Davenport-Hines
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future—Ashlee Vance

Richard Branson (Founder/Virgin Group)

Elon Musk is a man after my own heart: a risk taker undaunted by setbacks and ever driven to ensure a bright future for humanity. Ashlee Vance's stellar biography captures Musk's remarkable life story and irrepressible spirit.

Michal Ptacek (Founder/Officelovin’)

Now this will probably sounds very controversial, but I don’t read the typical business/startup books anymore as I feel most of them are just about the same -> which is to make their authors richer by giving readers the same basic tips all over again (of course there are exceptions). However I really enjoy reading biographies etc. So I really enjoyed a book about Elon Musk written by Ashlee Vance. I think it has a perfect flow and Ashlee was able to describe Elon’s way of thinking very thoroughly.

Ola Olusoga (Co-founder/Populum)

Like Charlie Munger once said: “I’ve long believed that a certain system - which almost any intelligent person can learn - works way better than the systems most people use [to understand the world]. What you need is a latticework of mental models in your head. And, with that system, things gradually fit together in a way that enhances cognition. Just as multiple factors shape every system, multiple mental models from a variety of disciplines are necessary to understand that system". You can read this book to start building a "latticework of mental models in your head".

Michael Herrmann (Founder/Terminerinnerung)

His biography. He's a fascinating character.

Howard Marks (CEO/StartEngine)

I'm reading the Elon Musk book right now, and that's pretty good. Although, you have to be a fan of his to really appreciate it.

Andrea Loubier (CEO/MailBird)

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future as this was still in the first couple of years of me starting my own company, Mailbird and it was inspiring and visionary. It helps you go from a small voice in a big corporate company, to thinking big and voicing your wild opinions and creating plan to work towards it.

Angela Pham (Content Strategist/Facebook)

I’m about 20 pages into the Elon Musk biography. I’ve been on a months-long binge to thoroughly understand the tech industry I work in now, from both the fanboy's and the skeptic’s eyes, to avoid becoming jaded, oblivious, or institutionalized.

Ed Vinicombe (Co-Founder/UXclub)

Instead of the mundane "Marketing Tricks and Tips" kind of books, I enjoy personal stories of entrepreneurs and learning about their approach to life and business. One in particular that stands out (rather predictably) is the story of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Their autobiographies are fantastic reads and if you haven't read them - go and do it now! I love learning about their personalities and attitude to life - that is massively motivating for me in business.

Neal O'Gorman (Co-Founder & CEO/OteetO)

Although not written by Elon, it's a fascinating read that makes you realise the risks Elon Musk has taken both in his business and personal life. Be warned though, after reading this you will want to buy a Tesla. Also interesting for anyone who has been involved with the Founder Institute, as Adeo Ressi (the founder of The Founder Institute) is referenced a few times particularly when they head to Russia looking for rockets.

Irina Botnari (Managing Partner & Co-Founder/Bucur's Shelter Hostel)

I’m definitely a story-lover and maybe that’s why I like to read a lot of biographies. It’s fascinating to discover how people with different backgrounds, interests, businesses, careers have found solutions for various challenges from all areas of their life. Elon Musk, Andre Agassi, Phil Knight, Maria Sharapova, Arnold Schwarzenegger are only a few of good recent ones. A specific moment when I recall one of the inspiring stories is probably when I think I can’t anymore. I take a deep breath and move on. It’s only in our mind. We can always do a little more.

Fabrice Grinda (Serial Entrepreneur, Investor)

I have lots of books to recommend, but they are not related to my career path. The only one that is remotely related is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. That said here are books I would recommend.

Seth Louey (Co-Founder & CEO/BotList)

I believe that younger generations should focus on what they are passionate about. We are seeing a trend in tech where working remote, using your personal brand to grow your products, and funding through blockchain technology is the new way of creating startups. So I would read up on The Lean Startup, anything by Gary Vee, Artificial Intelligence, and biography/philosophy of Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, and Steve Jobs.

Lewis Smith (Entrepreneur & Developer/BodyTracker)

Also not a programming book, but inspiring if you are starting your own thing.

Chris J ''Mohawk'' Reed (Founder/Black Marketing)

Just an epic roller-coaster life of an entrepreneur.

Vincenzo Ruggiero (CEO/Prospect.io)

Benjamin Humphrey (CEO & Co-Founder/DoveTail)

It's not a business book that tries to offer advice. Instead, Vance tells the true story of a highly motivated individual, and immigrant, with a lot of passion for what he does. The book has lots of examples and anecdotes from current and former employees demonstrating Musk's hands-on, no bullshit leadership style. It also spends time dwelling on his insane working habits and stress, and the impact that has on his relationships.

Chelsea Frank (Founder/Life and Limb Gel)

Many books on the most successful people in business are very compelling. I recently read “Steve Jobs: An Autobiography” by Walter Isaacson followed by “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” By Ashlee Vance. The parallels of the success of the unique individuals as well as their personalities was very interesting. I am quite sure, however, that their definition of “success” resembled something I would not wish to hold. I was also very sure that while they may both be considered some of the greatest minds in our history, they both struggled deeply with inner happiness and contentment.

Aviers Lim (CEO/Gashub)

I would recommend biographies of Elon Musk and Satya Nadella.

Florian Hubner (CEO/Decondia, Startup Creator)

Probably all these autobiographies about great entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. They showed me the possibilities of entrepreneurship if you just have patience and ambition. And still right now... these books produce so many feelings of euphoria so that I just can't stop creating new stuff.

Andreas Zhou (Co-Founder/Askable)

A good lesson on risk, determination and relentlessness. Inspirational and somewhat polarising story.

Gilles Bernhard (Co-Founder/SCPlanner)

I bought this book as soon as it came out. I was following Elon Musk's work for quite some time and this book opened my eyes to a lot of things about him that I didn't know. It also taught me what "working hard" really meant, and what a true modern inventor looks like! It also taught me the process of starting from nothing, a small idea, and going taller every time.

Casey Neistat (Founder/368 Creative Space)

I'm fascinated by Elon Musk, I own a Tesla, I read Ashlee Vance's biography on Elon Musk. I think he's a very interesting charachter.

Roxana Bitoleanu (Founder/Taraba Virtuala)

A business book I would definitely choose the biography of Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, because of Elon's strong, even extreme ambition to radically change the world, which I find very inspiring.

Maya Zlatanova (Co-Founder & CEO/FindMeCure)

I personally motivate myself by biographies like the one of Elon Musk.

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Amazon description

In Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, veteran technology journalist Ashlee Vance provides the first inside look into the extraordinary life and times of Silicon Valley's most audacious entrepreneur. Written with exclusive access to Musk, his family and friends, the book traces the entrepreneur's journey from a rough upbringing in South Africa to the pinnacle of the global business world.

Vance spent more than 30 hours in conversation with Musk and interviewed close to 300 people to tell the tumultuous stories of Musk's world-changing companies: PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity, and to characterize a man who has renewed American industry and sparked new levels of innovation while making plenty of enemies along the way. Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our time: can the nation of inventors and creators which 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 amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists like 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.

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Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

This book has 25 recommendations

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