Book has just been published today. This is a previous non-investor thread:
Isaacson Biography of Elon Musk
Isaacson Biography of Elon Musk
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Elon Musk Biography By Walter Isaacson
- Thread starter Buckminster
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JusRelax
Active Member
I've read through the first ~100 pages.. it's all the older stuff so nothing really new that I noticed so far, except that Errol is a pathological liar that makes up facts in order to paint himself as the hero in every story.
JusRelax
Active Member
That's been known for some time, so that isn't new either.
Agreed, it's just that there are numerous stories within these first chapters of the book regarding how Errol's retelling of a story completely differs from Elon and Kimbal's telling of a story.
Reminds me of how my brother almost lost a life long friend. He dropped in on his friends parents and told some college stories that didn't quite match up with what they had previously been told. LOL
One of those stories was kind of serious. Some "researcher" hired him for an intoxication study. This guy got my brother's friend extremely drunk and tried to rape him.
Anyone else have a problem downloading the book in Audible? I had pre-ordered both the hard copy and the audiobook. But Jeff Bezos is playing weird tricks with me. I guess I will have to wait until its 13/9 in the US of A.. !!?? (While it is already 13/9 here and people in the US are listening to the book!!)
Just got to the point in the book where Issacson talks about SpaceX turning off Starlink in Crimea.
One, it strikes me as incredibly stupid to talk about such a sensitive topic in a biography.
Two, it appears he completely botched the story. It was 100% wrong.
One does wonder what else he got wrong…
One, it strikes me as incredibly stupid to talk about such a sensitive topic in a biography.
Two, it appears he completely botched the story. It was 100% wrong.
One does wonder what else he got wrong…
Tam
Well-Known Member
The point is: Most people think only a General can tell the troops not to attack Russia ships but now, one single private citizen, who is not even Ukraine citizen, owning Starlink can do it without going through basic training in the military service.
I have finished the book now. Quick review:
Started pretty strong, some brutal stories from SA. Then it got a bit boring with SpaceX, Twitter etc. The end with more Tesla and AI was a bit better. Didn't learn a lot new stuff, but some new names, some general feeling of knowing the company better.
I think Walter Isaacson is trying to sound objective, but I get the feeling that he is not really sympathetic towards Elon. Elon comes of a bit autistic, when he could have been portrayed as just different and that's it okay to be different. With Jobs it seemed Jobs came out a bit more human and sympathetic.
My favourite part was The Three Musketeers who went into twitter to look at the code base, but it seemed that chapter could have been a bit longer. Also the chapter of when this happened at Tesla(SWAT team something). Imo that is the impressive thing with Elon, he comes into a company, guts it, makes it profitable and a lot more productive. Jack Dorsey was not a bad CEO, he was just not a 10x CEO like Elon. I think this should have been given more focus on the book, not "Elon is crazy"-anecdotes.
Overall I am left a bit disappointed by the book. 8.5/10, would recommend but given the massive amount of insight into Elon's life he was given it could have been a much more practical book.
Started pretty strong, some brutal stories from SA. Then it got a bit boring with SpaceX, Twitter etc. The end with more Tesla and AI was a bit better. Didn't learn a lot new stuff, but some new names, some general feeling of knowing the company better.
I think Walter Isaacson is trying to sound objective, but I get the feeling that he is not really sympathetic towards Elon. Elon comes of a bit autistic, when he could have been portrayed as just different and that's it okay to be different. With Jobs it seemed Jobs came out a bit more human and sympathetic.
My favourite part was The Three Musketeers who went into twitter to look at the code base, but it seemed that chapter could have been a bit longer. Also the chapter of when this happened at Tesla(SWAT team something). Imo that is the impressive thing with Elon, he comes into a company, guts it, makes it profitable and a lot more productive. Jack Dorsey was not a bad CEO, he was just not a 10x CEO like Elon. I think this should have been given more focus on the book, not "Elon is crazy"-anecdotes.
Overall I am left a bit disappointed by the book. 8.5/10, would recommend but given the massive amount of insight into Elon's life he was given it could have been a much more practical book.
The point is: the US military should have been the one receiving the calls from Ukraine and then giving the approvals to Elon. But they were distracted by all the calls to not pay for Starlink.
The point is, that’s not what happened. Crimea had never been turned on for Starlink because, get this, it was Russian controlled and the US had international sanctions against providing communications services there. So a day or so before Ukraine was about to launch an offensive there, Elon gets a call from Ukraine to turn on Starlink for that area. Legally, he cannot due to the sanctions. As he told the All In summit, if the U.S. Govt told him to, he would have turned it on, but no call came from the US Govt. By doing nothing, he was both following US law, and NOT cowboying into international military policy.
Which is the exact opposite of what Issacson wrote. Issacson has since clarified that he got it wrong In the book.
Anyways, SpaceX is in the middle of provisioning Starshield for the US military, and that will be the appropriate service for such things going forward, all under US military control.
I agree. I am still looking for a book that focuses on Elon the company CEO, and this is not that book. Issacson neither understands really any technology nor business. I’ll also add, that Issacson completely dismissed Boring co., almost ridicules it.
You need a technocrat to write a proper book about Elon. Berger’s book about SpaceX was awesome, but it only dealt with a slice of the empire, and interestingly, didn’t focus hardly at all on Elon.
UkNorthampton
TSLA - 12+ startups in 1
Never read, never looked to buy, but Randy Kirk books?
He did law at university, long career as entrepreneur, business, marketing, products, manufacturing, outsourcing, China. One book with Lars Strandritter ("Best in Tesla" youtuber).
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