Author: Ashlee Vance
Tesla and SpaceX and Solar City and the Hyperloop – have all been in the headlines at different times! And they’ve been in the headlines for good reason – they’re one of the first in their industry and have helped their industry grow! What they have in common – Elon Musk.
Sure enough when I saw that his biography has been published, I was very curious to read it. I try to be very environment friendly and am in total support of everybody who is contributing to the world of eco-friendly products. In this case – Tesla the 100% electric car which made electric cars a fashion statement and Solar City – which is a popular company for solar panels. So I was very much interested in reading how he came to investing in these. And then of course SpaceX and Hyperloop – seem to be ahead of their times.
I think I had my expectations set rocket high because when I started reading the book I fell down with a thud. I was expecting to learn about some traits of Elon Musk, or some famous words to live by. However what I got was a never ending story of his day to day rigor. How he spent his day at Tesla and then commuted to SpaceX, what color the walls are at his factories, how many wives/kids he has and so on. Not a single piece of writing that felt motivating/inspiring.
I never finished the book. Didn’t see any point in spending my time reading about the daily grind. Yes he talked about the work culture at these offices, what is the working style of Elon Musk, etc. I feel that the author has not done the job of squeezing out the crux of the story. When you say what is the one take away from this story? Author seems to have narrated the events and left that exercise to the reader. If it was in the last few pages then of course I never got to them.
