Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk. Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (2015)
Building on from Originals last week, Ashlee Vance’s close look into the life and times of Elon Musk highlights one of the most significant originals in recent times. Not only is this the case looking back but in this extraordinary case, most definitely looking forward too. While the book offers a look at Musk’s life and traces this there are multiple narratives that run throughout. The titular companies Tesla and SpaceX are perhaps the iconic selections, however, they are just the tip of Musk’s business involvements. I did sometimes find myself wishing the book did not jump between the two pursuits so often but given the nature of Musk himself it is perhaps fitting and unsurprising.
The book begins by tracking Musk from South Africa, through Canada and on to the US. It also tracks his career and education. A precocious child, it is shown as evident that he would inevitably do something substantial in life. There is an in-depth look into his childhood and the foundation that allowed him to flourish after eventually making his way to North America. Further, it goes into detail how his entrepreneurial spirit was encouraged and fostered in his childhood. Throughout this early stage, the reader is guided along the path that led to Musk becoming the individual he became.
After education in Canada and work in the US, Musk originally helped creat Zip2 (a company that offered a form of integration that could now be seen as being between Yelp and Google Maps) before becoming involved with PayPal in the early 2000s. He became a millionaire off of Zip2 and through an insatiable appetite for work he continued to seek innovative projects. He also bucked trends by seeing success in the face of the burst dot-com bubble. Before he even started SpaceX and got involved with Tesla, Musk always had the greater objective of making an intelligible mark on human life. Such was his insatiable appetite for work that Vance vividly presents an image of a man that invested every ounce of his energy into every project. Vance compares him to the late Steve Jobs and Jobs’ involvement in Pixar and Apple by noting that while Jobs put less energy into Pixar than Apple, Musk plows equally as much time and effort into both Tesla and SpaceX and anything left over into his other company, SolarCity.
Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction
Elon Musk. Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, p.238
As much as the book covers his various business successes and the process of pushing through failures, it also tracks the development of Musk as a personality. Not without his critics, the book pinpoints the examples of his grating management style as well as other negatives, both personal and business related. If interested in the businesses and technology that surrounds Elon Musk this book offers an in depth and relatively exclusive insight. However, this book also offers a fascinating insight into his personal life with all the ups and downs that characterized it. Reading this after Originals actually deepened my enjoyment of the book.
Vance also presents the ordeal to get the book written. Namely that Musk originally rejected his advances in creating this work. However, just as the book goes on to present, Vance persevered and in the face of the original denial, Musk respected Vance for not giving up. This doggedness to persevere further characterizes the personal and business story within the book. While the personal successes of Musk become more prominent toward the end of Vance’s work they mirror the eventual business success he sees. Musk also had considerable input on the book and appendixes and extensive footnotes epitomize his involvement, often clarifying or substantiating a point or event described. What is clear is that Musk loves technology and does not appreciate inefficiency. His prickly demeanor presented in the early stages of the book and his career often came in the face of others who could not see his thought process or get on board with his expansive ideas. Musk longs for humanities expansion beyond Earth and his involvement with the Mars Society and grand idea of settling the red planet present extravagant plans that some may not be able to get behind. However, what is clear is that his self-confidence and ability to achieve his objectives also manifest in the way he operates day-to-day. Musk has his objectives and will not let others sway him.
I had decided that this propensity for risk had little to do with Musk being insane, as he had wondered aloud several months earlier. No, Musk just seems to possess a level of conviction that is so insane and exceptional as to be off-putting to some.
Elon Musk. Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, p.359
Described as mercurial, Vance presents a holistic view of Elon Musk that substantiates such descriptions. Not only an interesting insight into his personal life and business career it also expands on some of the pointed coverage of Musk. Negative events and aspects are covered in as much detail as the positives and successes. What does emerge though is a compelling image of arguably one of the most important “Originals” of the modern world. If interested in the path of Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity or any of the other business enterprises past or present then this book offers an intimate insight. If interested in Musk as an individual then the book also offers an equally compelling insight. The jumping between his various pursuits can be somewhat jarring at points but as the reader gets further through the book, as suggested, this becomes easier to understand and comprehend.
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