The many faces of Elon Musk

Indian Express

12 hours ago

He is the man who reportedly inspired Robert Downey Jr's legendary Iron-Man (and even had a brief cameo in one of the films). He is also the richest man in the world who took on the most powerful man in the world. Even before he crossed verbal swords with Donald Trump in a social media slugfest, the likes of which the world had never seen, Elon Musk has never been shy of a battle or the spotlight. From making Tesla an EV leader to taking over Twitter to providing Internet connectivity to Ukraine to making plans to colonise Mars and smoking weed on a live show, Musk is seldom far from the headlines. Like many mavericks, he inspires adoration and anger in equal measure — some think he is a megalomaniac out to conquer the world, others see him as a tech genius who will save humankind, taking it out of woke clutches and guiding it towards a brighter, EV-driven future. Love him or hate him (and the current US President has managed to do both within months), you ignore Elon Musk at your peril. Not surprisingly, the Tesla and Twitter boss and former DOGE-man has inspired many authors. If you want to read up on the man, here are some of the best options.
For those new to the Musk tale (which planet have you been on? Mars?), Ashlee Vance's Elon Musk: How The Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future (also available as Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future) is a great starting point. Vance tells a good story and although some might find his portrayal of Musk a little too positive ('He is the possessed genius on the grandest quest anyone has ever concocted,' he gushes about his Mars mission at one stage), the book is a quick, easy read and flows smoothly from one phase of life to another. While Vance highlights events and people who shaped Musk's character, he also gives us an excellent and rather perceptive look at the man who is Elon Musk. This is believed to be the first book in which Musk collaborated with the author, although he claims to have never influenced the final version, and the result is that you get to see a very personal picture of a man who seems driven and organised to the point of being almost disturbed (there is a part when he tries to work out how much time a woman would want from him in a week!). There is not as much detail of his early life (although some hints are dropped about it being tough) but for those wanting to know more about Musk the entrepreneur and eccetric genius, the book is a treasure trove and at around 416 pages, not an intimidating read at all. The book was released in 2015 and an updated version was released in 2021. We hear another update is in works and will hit stands this winter, but until then, this is a great introduction to Elon Musk.
While Vance's book is a great starting book for those who want to get a racy, entertaining (and generally positive) look at the Musk life, for those who want a really detailed look at the billionaire, nothing comes close to Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk. Isaacson is known for his exhaustive biographies of other eccentric geniuses like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci, and he handles Musk in pretty much the same way. The book revolves around a number of interviews with the people who have played a role in Musk's life and unlike Vance, Isaacson's picture of Musk is not an overly rosy one. Just as he did not try to analyse Jobs but let other people and incidents push the narrative, Isaacson lets his colleagues, friends and even rivals speak freely of Musk, letting the reader draw conclusions. Musk has again collaborated with the book and significantly has opened up about his disturbing childhood, featuring a father described as a sociopath and a 'Jekyll and Hyde' figure, who was not averse to severely abusing his son. Such is the impact of his father that Isaacson speculates whether this might not have made Musk the moody, unpredictable and often harsh person he is. There are also details of his almost brusque, bordering on insensitive interactions with his colleagues and rivals. This is Elon Musk, warts and all, as seen by those near him and himself. It was released in 2023, so there is not as much on Musk's takeover of Twitter and his subsequent handling of the social media, and virtually no mention of his role in the US Presidential elections and DOGE, but this still remains pretty much THE book to read on Elon Musk, although at almost 700 pages, it can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. Be patient with it, and you will be rewarded with the most comprehensive picture of Musk that any book can give,
While Vance's and Isaacson's books tell us a lot about Elon Musk, both suffer from ending well before Musk's most public stint of all – his takeover of Twitter, and involvement in Donald Trump's election. While those chapters in Musk's life are ongoing, those who want a book that covers at least some of them should try Faiz Siddiqui's recently-released, dramatically titled Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk, a 330-page book which revolves around Musk's recent work at Tesla and Twitter. Siddiqui details Musk's unrelenting, stubborn and often bulldozing style of work in detail, alleging that he was often economical with the truth while tackling matters. The book also covers the challenges he faced at Tesla and Twitter (and why he rebranded it as X) and how he (mis)handled them. If Vance seemed a little too positive towards Musk in his book, Siddiqui seems to go to the other extreme, highlighting Musk's dark side time and again. The result is a narrative that is compelling but at times a little too negative. That said, this is easily the best book on Musk's recent roles, with a lengthy afterword on Musk's involvement in Trump's campaign and his appointment in DOGE. Siddiqui ends with what now seem like rather prophetic words:
'Even if DOGE is a big success…history has shown that he (Musk) is unlikely to be satisfied; the pattern shows he'll try to seek more power and responsibility, to go all-in on the next moon shot, And if it isn't, and his 'samurai spirit' calls him to commit seppuku rather than admit failure, he very well might take a lot of us with him next, before dusting himself off and trying again.'
But what of the voice of the man himself? Elon Musk has not yet written his autobiography (we so hope he will), but if you are interested in reading his take on life and work in his own words, then the very appropriately Elon Musk in His Own Words, a slim volume edited by Jessica Easto is an excellent option. It was first released in 2017 and the latest edition is updated to 2020, so it can seem a little dated, but is a very handy collection of some of his most notable quotations over time on subjects. You can get Musk's take on topics as varied as early life ('When I was a kid…I was a bit of a smart aleck. It was a recipe for disaster, 'the best teacher I ever had was my elementary school principal, 'I do think a good framework for thinking is physics.'). to business ('Profit just means that people are paying you more for whatever you are doing than you're spending to create it…that's a good thing'), to personal values ('I think…it's probably a good thing that we do eventually die,' 'I think possessions kind of weigh you down, then they're kind of an attack vector.' ), and even some witty rejoinders ('Some people use their hair to express themselves; I use Twitter,'). There is even a quote from Inc magazine in 2007 that might give those alarmed at his battle with Trump some hope of a rapprochement:
'Life is too short for long-term grudges.'
Will Musk return to the White House as a friend, stake a claim to it as a rival (he has tweeted about starting a political party!), or leave the US altogether and focus on Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter? One cannot rule any of those possibilities out, because as all his biographers stress time and again: You never know with Elon Musk.