27A

Assignment 27A – Book Review #3

For my final book review, I chose Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, written by business and technology columnist Ashlee Vance. This was the first official biography of Elon Musk, and was based off of more than 30 hours of interviews between Musk and Vance. In the book, Ashlee Vance highlights Musk’s ascent from his complicated childhood, to being one of the most successful entrepreneurs, while explaining his intentions and the decisions he made.

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971, to a tough situation. For someone who has had the success of Elon Musk, you wouldn’t assume he had an incredibly tough childhood. I found it surprising to find out that he had such an abusive father, and that he ended up emigrating to escape his troubles at home, as well as get out of his conservative country. He recalls “It was just nonstop horrible”, when speaking of the punishments, abuse, and harassment he faced in his childhood, whether at school and at home. While facing these struggles, he was published in a magazine at age 12 for a video game he wrote, something that only the most resilient people can do.

That brings me to the part of Elon Musk that I find most admirable. When he emigrated to Canada when he was 17, he barely had enough money to live, and was supported by friends and relatives for the most part. He worked odd jobs such as cutting wood, to make money however he could so he could attend college, while working towards his dreams. He eventually made it to Queens University but transferred to University of Pennsylvania where he received degrees in Physics and Economics. His journey to college is just so different from others of his caliber who were given scholarships and such, showing how hard he had to work to not only build his companies, but get anywhere in life.

Along with many of the great minds, Musk didn’t treat every partner or employee the best. There are accounts of Musk firing employees, taking credit where it’s not his, and freaking out on people. With all of the stresses involved in his life, whether it was him making payroll on the very last day, or failing on a project, its expected. This trait I don’t believe, is 100% Musk’s fault, due to his abusive childhood. Other than his sometimes-insane ideas and cases of stress induced issues, I think Elon Musk is a hard-working individual who has made it to where he is fairly.

From my understanding of the book, Musk was never driven by financial reasons, and was striving to save humanity. His passion and drive to be able to do that is what I think makes him so successful. His drive to prove his beliefs about business, engineering, and physics brought out a determination like no other, and helped him get over failures that he faced, even when it was a big gamble, he always trusted himself.

If given the ability to ask Elon Musk a few questions, I would be interested in knowing more about his difficulties, and less about his successes. He has overcome a lot of adversity in his life and I’m sure has some great techniques to stay driven and focused. When reading this book, I kept hoping I would get to the grit that he went through and the factors that kept him moving in the right direction. I really am not sure what exactly I would ask but I know where I could start.

I believe Elon Musk not only showed a strong work ethic, but also determination and perseverance. His experiences of being broke, spending your last dime on your dream, and facing possible failures at every turn, all come back to his attempt at saving humanity. With his specific goal in mind it seems as if he didn’t see it as work, but something he had to do, which is proved where he and his colleagues remember 23-hour work days. His work ethic is nothing to be ignored and his desire made it even stronger. Elon Musk, his decision-making process and hard work team up to make one of the most successful people on the planet.