Walter Isaacsons new book on Elon Musk gives an eye opening and at times- jaw dropping look at this controversial tech billionaire inventor, industrialist AND richest person on earth.

Isaacson shadowed Musk for two years in his every day work, running his myriad businesses and it’s an intimate look at this highly driven individual.

The Steve Jobs book is equally excellently researched and highly readable by the same author.

He describes Musk’s tough upbringing in South Africa with a dismissive father - as being a motivator in creating the desire for Musk to achieve the unachievable and surpass the naysayers!

Musk has been at the center of some of the biggest and most profound technological achievements in recent times - even surpassing government agencies such as NASA, by getting astronauts via SpaceX to the ISS (International Space Station) on reusable rockets- AND making TESLA and electric vehicle battery and charging technology/ infrastructure, a reality on a vast scale -in the efforts to move to cleaner energy.

Of fascination is the rethinking of manufacturing - normally a dry subject for the masses - but Isaacson describes the Musk approach of combining the design and engineering teams, together with production, in the same space - to quickly analyze improvements and cost saving -by having shared empathy from all 3 facets of the business.

Sharing design and material technologies from seemingly distinct businesses is also covered.

Eg. the use of stainless steel borrowed from SpaceX and used in Tesla for electric vehicles.

(Pictured: SpaceX Dragon Capsule docks with International Space Station)

A drive to colonize Mars , the problematic purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the resultant loss of advertisers and trying to balance free speech v hate speech and misinformation - as well as a complex family life and multiple kids from different mothers , makes this a fascinating and lively read of a unique individual!

We are constantly reminded of the early struggles and bullying in his early life - that forms his adult life and demanding business approach of being “super hard core” and unleashing surges of focus, based on short lead times and target dates of product launches, to achieve the unachievable.

Highly recommended!

More info here:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Elon-Musk/Walter-Isaacson/9781982181284