This is an amazing look into Elon's life and also the framework on how he operates. Very interesting to compare to Ben Horowitz's Hard Things About Hard Things as Elon did not actually wrote it but Ashlee did.
This one kept me driving for 7 hours straight and also made me to drive a tesla after reading the book. Extraordinary biography of an (that word probably does not exist yet..) individual & the team behind the future.
Little bit longer than expected, but for a reason. One of the best biographies (and also management books) I have ever touched.
Amazing. Going to go buy now. Have been meaning to do so for a while.
@valleyhack - What aspects or stories about Elon, if any, did you deliberately avoid sharing in the book? Relatedly, how did you factor in the public perception of Elon into the book, if at all?
@jasonyogeshshah A couple of people are asking the same sort of question here. Ultimately, I didn't leave a lot of stuff out. I certainly tried to use all of my A material. That said, as the interviews between Elon and me went on, he opened up a lot more. We would talk a lot off the record, and I, of course, can't share many details on those chats now. Some of them were about people. Some of them were the gory backstories behind particular deals. To Elon's credit, though, he rarely asked for things to be off the record and, I think, gave genuine answers to just about everything I asked. The only thing I'll add is that he had some wild nights in Russia.
I never really thought much about the public perception. Some people worship Elon. Some despise him. Most people are somewhere in the middle and just want a good, accurate story. The truth is stranger than fiction in most cases with Elon, so just plowing ahead with the reporting was the main focus.
@nasherasher It's kind of amazing how well it's done on Audible. The numbers were some of the highest HarperCollins had ever seen. Am still trying to figure out if this is because it's skewed toward Silicon Valley or Tesla drivers or what.
@valleyhack - Thanks for writing this book. Still working my way through it, but I love the background and how you got to writing the book with Elon's help.
Don't know if you've seen the latest season of House of Cards - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho.... Any parallels between the interviews Frank Underwood did with Tom Yates and yours with Elon? Would love to hear more about the process and anything you didn't describe in the book.
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@kaufman_jack I am nearing the end of the audiobook and it is great. The narrator did a wonderful job.
Just about every story told about Musk in the book makes note of his imperfections and the negative reaction by some of those around him. However, he never cares. He likes to ignore those that don't agree with him, which works out in his favor some of the time, but we all know that kind of mindset can definitely get you into trouble. You also learn he isn't so good with relationships, but that isn't a big surprise.
@lhfaria Thanks so much. Hope you enjoy the rest. The ending is nuts.
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I'm almost done reading this book and I've really enjoyed it. However, a lot the same points and ideas are reiterated and at some times it feels like a book report. Still, I really do love the book and I'm glad I chose it as my first foray into biographies.
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Fascinating read. I appreciate the time he took to settle on his world view and how he allowed his childhood interests continue to play a key role in that. Then, he went about focusing on stuff that contributed to furthering that world view.
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