Elon Musk (Isaacson book)

Elon Musk (Isaacson book)
Elon Musk is an authorized biography of American business magnate and SpaceX/Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The book was written by Walter Isaacson, a former executive at CNN, TIME and the Aspen Institute who had previously written best-selling biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Leonardo Da Vinci. The book was published on September 12, 2023, by Simon & Schuster.
Background
Elon Musk first announced that Isaacson was in the process of writing his biography in August 2021. He revealed that Isaacson had shadowed him "for several days so far".
Isaacson followed Musk for the next two years, visiting his SpaceX and Tesla factories and attending board meetings. The book is the result of hours of interviews with Musk and his family, friends, colleagues and adversaries. Isaacson was present when Musk decided to buy Twitter and to run his new AI company; Musk also shared messages from the Ukrainian minister Mykhailo Fedorov, and some were included in the book. Isaacson later said in an interview that "Elon is very mercurial, but he never told me not to put anything in the book."
Contents
Isaacson writes that Musk is "addicted to drama".
Among the book's revelations is an account that Musk ordered Starlink to disable access to Ukrainian drones in 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thwarting an attack on Russian warships in Crimea. However, Musk denied the allegation, saying satellites in the region were not turned on, and that he chose not to activate them.
Reception
Ahead of its publication, the book topped Amazon's bestseller list. It debuted at number one on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending September 16, 2023.
The New York Times critic Jennifer Szalai wrote, "Isaacson [...] is a patient chronicler of obsession; in the case of Musk, he can occasionally seem too patient."
Brian Merchant of the Los Angeles Times criticized Isaacson's "great man" biography format as extremely dated and took issue with his persistent framing of Musk as a "moody but brilliant world-mover", writing, "The author will unearth unflattering personal anecdotes and share stories about the subject's capacity to be cruel. In exchange, the subject's greatness will be treated as an assumption."
Gary Shteyngart of The Guardian called the book a "dull, insight-free doorstop", and criticized the author, writing, "I held Isaacson's judgment in low regard. Vaccine sceptic Joe Rogan is 'knowledgeable'. Musk's humour – he took the 'w' out of the Twitter sign in San Francisco because 'tit' is so inherently funny – has 'many levels'. Linda Yaccarino, Musk's almost comically bumbling CEO of X-nee-Twitter is 'wickedly smart'."
Constance Grady of Vox also criticized the book. While writing that it is "strictly a book of reportage" and that "[Isaacson's] reporting is rigorous and dogged", the reviewer noted that the book "asks all the wrong questions".
Jill Lepore of The New Yorker wrote that "Isaacson's new biography depicts a man who wields more power than almost any other person on the planet but seems estranged from humanity itself". The reviewer found the book's ending a "disconcerting thing to read":
"Sometimes great innovators are risk-seeking man-children who resist potty training," Isaacson concludes in the last lines of his life of Musk. "They can be reckless, cringeworthy, sometimes even toxic. They can also be crazy. Crazy enough to think they can change the world."
The Verge critic Elizabeth Lopatto criticized the book and Isaacson, writing that on the subject of the lack of sourcing for the allegations of Starlink being shut off, that more interviews could have been held but that "Isaacson chose not to" and "rolled over" on social media when Musk contested, while also stating that Isaacson did not dig deeper and left out details to "keep Musk's myth intact."
See also
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, 2015 biography of Musk
Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, 2019 nonfiction book about Musk's management of Tesla
Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, 2021 nonfiction book about Musk's management of Tesla
References
2023 non-fiction books
Elon Musk
English-language books
Simon & Schuster books
Biographies about businesspeople
Books about scientists
South African biographies
Canadian biographies
American biographies
Books by Walter Isaacson