Review: Elon Musk: Inventing the Future by Ashlee Vance
Elon Musk: Inventing the Future by Ashlee Vance
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have been putting off reading Elon Musk’s biography for quite some time however I regret not getting into it until now. Whilst you get the early life introduction (which was excellent by the way), the juicy details of this biography are intertwined in the worlds of SpaceX, Tesla and Solarcity. Musk is described as a fascinating person for so many reasons. He is a guy that dreams big, achieves big and then thinks bigger. Musk is also a man with a photographic memory, an arsehole attitude, yet is someone who can be incredibly rationale when the need arises. Vance takes you into the mind behind the man and why he is one of the most intense and oddly successful executives in the valley. Luck, intelligence, a tough upbringing and pure determination have made the man we know today and this book shines the light on this and more.
Three key takeaways from the book:
1. Innovation is a finite resource. Love the simplicity of this statement and illustrates why Musk has the drive he does today.
2. Tesla has approximately a dozen moving parts compared with the standard car which has thousands. Furthermore a petrol powered car is approximately 20% efficient versus the Tesla which is 69% efficient when comparing fuel sources.
3. Musk isn’t a true founder of Telsa. However without his involvement it would have certainly never survived the times.