Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future - Ashlee Vance - 4 Stars

[Jason]

Meet Steve Jobs 2.0. This books is about Elon Musk and his goal to make people and the earth better. It focuses mostly on his corporate life, mildly touching on his personal life. The book also contains an appendix with Musk's side of the story on thing parts of the book he disagrees with.

I have been a fan of Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, The Boring Company, and Elon Musk as a whole but this book delves even further into the innovation of Tesla, SpaceX, and Solar City and where these companies are headed. What Musk wants to do in the future. I knew Musk had a hand in PayPal, but this book shows that PayPal is not what Musk envisioned. PayPal does not even scratch the surface and what Musk envisioned could have changed banking as we know it. But even before PayPal, Musk had a hand in the beginning of GPS and the internet. He is really forward thinking and the idea of profit seems to come after creating a good and innovative idea, which I think is the best kind of innovation.

But Musk is not all good. They way he treats people and what he expects of people is much like Steve Jobs and its despicable. Musk also has not learned the lesson that Steve Jobs learned once he was ousted from Apple and failed with NExT. Everything can't be perfect and you have to meet promised release dates.

I do think the potential future is brighter with Musk driving companies like Tesla, The Boring Company, SpaceX, and SolarCity. I agree with the direction and vision that Musk is striving for. But this statement in the book perfectly describes Musk.

(doing this from memory so its not an exact quote but the sentiment is the same) Musk has deep compassion for humanity but he struggles to care about individual humans.

I find this wonderful and sad at the same time.