Free Audio Book : Elon Musk, By Walter Isaacson

From the acclaimed author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, comes an astonishingly intimate account of the most captivating and controversial innovator of our time. This rule-breaking visionary played a pivotal role in ushering the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. And, as if that weren't enough, he took control of Twitter.

During Elon Musk's childhood in South Africa, he endured relentless bullying. One harrowing incident left him hospitalized for a week after a group of bullies brutally beat him, leaving his face unrecognizable. However, the physical scars were overshadowed by the emotional wounds inflicted by his father—an engineer, maverick, and charismatic dreamer.

The enduring impact of his father's influence left a profound mark on Musk's psyche. He grew into a complex man, simultaneously tough and vulnerable. He was known for his abrupt mood swings, his extraordinarily high appetite for risk, his thirst for dramatic events, his grand sense of purpose, and his at times ruthless and destructive intensity.

At the outset of 2022—a year that witnessed SpaceX launching an astonishing thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and Musk becoming the world's wealthiest individual—he candidly acknowledged his propensity for stirring up chaos. He admitted, 'I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life.'

It was a reflective statement, not a typical New Year's resolution. Simultaneously, and somewhat secretly, he was acquiring shares of Twitter—the ultimate playground of the world. Whenever he found himself in dark moments, his mind would return to those days of childhood bullying on the playground. Now, he had the opportunity to own that playground.

For a span of two years, Isaacson closely followed Musk. He attended his meetings, toured his factories, and conducted extensive interviews with Musk, his family, friends, colleagues, and rivals. The outcome is a revealing, behind-the-scenes narrative filled with remarkable stories of triumph and turmoil. It grapples with a pivotal question: Are the very demons that drive Musk also the driving force behind innovation and progress?