Hearing snippets about Elon Musk throughout the years, I was curious to know more. Then I listened to an interview with Walter Isaacson, which moved me to buy his biography of Musk. Mostly I was interested to see how he was able to write about a man he appeared to dislike. 

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson is a great book. Well written. Organized. Clear. Honest. Inclusive of many points of view. Isaacson is masterful at telling the complex and complete story of Musk’s life. His “summary” at the end was unbiased and felt true to my take based on what was written. 

I ended up with a cautious respect for Musk and his accomplishments and a burden for the cost to him personally. It’s difficult to be mad at him on behalf of others he has been hard on, rude to, or verbally abusive to, when they themselves admire him and speak to those incidences as being a small percentage of their encounters with him. His way of thinking is foreign to me, yet his brain (affected by nature and nurture) and his motivations enable him to make progress. Do I wish he was missional in other ways? Yes. Am I grateful people like Musk exist to do work I will never do? Yes. I’m glad Isaacson delivered this narrative to the world and I had the opportunity to read it.