Exploring the Troubled Life of Elon Musk: A Biographical Study
Elon Musk, the highly anticipated subject of a new biography, is portrayed as a determined individual haunted by childhood experiences, fixated on colonizing Mars, and known for his unwavering expectations of his employees to be exceptionally dedicated.
“Elon Musk” is written by star biographer Walter Isaacson, the former editor-in-chief of Time magazine, best known for his best-selling portrayal of Apple founder Steve Jobs, as well as his insights into the lives of science-focused men like Albert. Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci.
The more than 600-page book was given advance access to some US media ahead of its official global release on Tuesday, and several excerpts were also released in recent days.
Hours before its release on Amazon, pre-orders had made “Elon Musk” the second best-selling book in the United States behind Oprah Winfrey’s co-authored self-titled book.
Much of Musk’s early life is already public knowledge, and attention has focused on his abusive father, Errol Musk, whom Musk despises.
Many of the account’s previously unknown nuggets come from a more recent period, when Isaacson shadowed his subject’s access to his everyday life.
The widely reported passage details how Musk personally foiled the Ukrainian military’s plan to conduct a major operation in Crimea by denying Starlink internet access, prompting a furious response from Kiev.
But Isaacson was forced to leave his coverage of the episode after Musk tweeted that the Starlink link was not yet operational in Crimea at the time of his decision.
Musk’s chaotic and impulse-driven takeover of Twitter (now X) also gets a lot of attention, with the billionaire seen struggling to understand that technology and willpower aren’t enough to turn the platform’s fortunes around.
A recurring theme in Isaacson’s speeches is also Musk’s vindictive tendency toward doubters and critics.
After buying Twitter late last year, Musk and his closest lieutenants combed through email and social media and fired dozens of employees who criticized the new owner.
In another episode, Musk defied warnings from executives and used a small team to move critical servers out of the Sacramento data center to cut costs, leading to several major outages.
He also refused to join forces with Bill Gates on philanthropic ventures because the Microsoft founder had bet on Tesla’s success in the stock market.
The book also says Musk, worried about population loss, now has 10 children, including a previously unknown child with partner Grimes.
Reviews have been mixed, with the Washington Post praising the reporting but being disappointed that Isaacson “prioritized revealing anecdotes and behind-the-scenes reporting over the sophisticated critical lens”.
Influential US tech expert and Musk critic Kara Swisher said the book told the story of a “sad and smart boy (who) slowly turns into an emotionally abusive father he hates”.
“Often right, sometimes wrong, always a little thing,” he said of Musk’s role in the book.
