Elon Musk : Exclusive Biography

Ashlee Vance, a technology journalist, spent years interviewing Elon Musk, his family, former colleagues and rivals to write this biography. It follows Musk from a difficult childhood in South Africa through Zip2 and PayPal to the bets that defined his career: SpaceX's reusable rockets, Tesla's electric cars, and SolarCity. Vance shows how Musk runs his companies, how brutally he drives employees, how close SpaceX and Tesla came to bankruptcy in 2008, and how his personal life got tangled with the work.

Founders, engineers and others interested in how large technical ambitions get funded and built will find plenty of detail. The result is a portrait that admires and questions its subject at the same time.

Outward-looking, growth-minded and clear-cut; an easy read.

Best for readers like The Practical Optimizer. Which reader are you?