Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Ashlee Vance
“Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius’s life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk’s story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the nation of inventors and creators who led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition?”
Wow, this book was fantastic!
Going into it, I honestly didn’t expect much. I thought it would just be another business biography, but I was completely wrong. Ashlee Vance writes it more like a story than a traditional biography, which made it really easy to get hooked. By the end, I was itching to go and do something entrepreneurial.
Before reading this, I wasn’t really a fan of Elon. I wasn’t particularly interested in him or his companies. But this book definitely changed my view in some ways. It really shows how hands-on Elon is with his companies and how much he cares about the engineering side of things. He isn’t just the person out the front taking the credit, he is heavily involved in the products, the problems, and the process of building something.
That being said, I do think the book shows a very positive side of Elon and probably doesn’t tell the full story. It focuses heavily on his achievements and the incredible things he has built, but doesn’t dive as much into the more controversial parts of his personality or leadership style. The book was written before his takeover of Twitter, so that obviously isn’t covered, but even within the stories that are included, you get a glimpse of how intense he can be.
Throughout the book, it’s clear that Elon expects an extreme level of commitment from his employees. He pushes people incredibly hard and seems to have little tolerance for anything getting in the way of work. There are stories that make him sound like an absolute nightmare to work for, and while that drive is probably part of what helps his companies achieve so much, I also felt the book could have explored more of the impact that has on the people around him.
I’m not even interested in space or electric cars, but I couldn’t put this book down. Not only is it written in a really passionate and engaging way, but it’s also a fascinating look at innovation, ambition, and the people shaping the future. Whether you admire Elon, dislike him, or just find him interesting, this is definitely a book worth reading. 5 stars.
I first listened to Dare to Lead as an audiobook read by Brené Brown herself, and her engaging delivery truly brought the ideas to life. When I recently got my hands on a hard copy, I knew it was worth a second read. The author’s concept of vulnerability as a pathway to developing strengths—such as courage, integrity, authenticity, and connection—resonates deeply. Her message that courage and fear can coexist, that “clear is kind,” and that “who we are is how we lead” left a lasting impact on me. These principles encourage leaders not to shy away from difficult conversations and to stay true to their values, even when it’s challenging.
This is the first Secret Project that has been released as part of the ‘Year of Sanderson’. I had almost forgotten that it would be coming on the first of Janurary 2023, despite being delieriously happy to buy in on the hype when I saw the KickStarter. What a way to start the year! At first I wasn’t very keen on the storyteller’s voice (Hoid, for those of you who are wondering), but I dropped into the story and loved it.
I’ve already read this twice, and I don’t even have the physical copy yet. Something about the storyline, the art, and the awkward main characters appeals to me. This is another of Sanderson’s efforts at writing an unconventional romance/love story. Everytime someone complains about the lack of sex in his writing, I wonder to myself why that would be required for a good story. So many TV series seem to rely on people cheating on each other to make the story happen / fill in time!
Is this too neat? I mean, it’s gonna be a teenage romance, so OF COURSE they will end up together. The author digs a little more deeply though into each of the boy’s home lives, and deals with some difficult topics including sexual harrassment, abuse, trauma and body image. It could be triggering for some people – don’t believe what TikTok tells you about the book, go and actually read the publisher’s website to be sure that it’s a book for you.
Cade and Serena are great examples of characters that some people will recognise themselves in (I graviated towards Cade) and others may think are just too stereotypical. The good news is that you don’t have to like them both to enjoy the novel! You also don’t need to like sex toys (it’s perfectly ok if you don’t like or need sex) or art to appreciate the novel.
Character development? Not really. Amazing world-building? Yup, maybe! Fun storyline where you can’t decide whether you want the protagonist to live or die? 100%! Although I had no real prediction as to how it was going to go down, the ending was highly satisfying.
You just have to laugh at the puns in the blurb. Go on, I’ll wait while you go look. On this occasion, the blurb doesn’t give too much away! Phew. I remembered how much I enjoyed
This book is exactly as it says, a step by step guide on how to turn good ideas into not just great but killer ideas! The author breaks down the steps into each chapter and gives you lots of business examples to relate to the steps. It’s very well written and kept me wanting to read more! There are also in real life practical questions to ask yourself at the end of each chapter to help get you started on coming up with your ideas. I always love great take-aways from books such as this, as well as a dot point summary at the end of each chapter that you can refer back to without needing to re-read the whole thing.
I picked up this book as an audiobook to listen to in the car. I didn’t get to it for a while as I had some other books to listen to first. By the time I got up to it I didn’t remember the synopsis of what it was about and had no expectations. As soon as I started listening, I loved it straight away and couldn’t stop listening! The whole book is structured like a memoir of the story of the authors life. I don’t normally like memoirs but this book was amazing. The story was told really well and kept you listening for more.