Elon Musk is the most daring entrepreneur of our time There are few industrialists in history
who could match Elon Musk's relentless drive and ingenious vision. A modern alloy of Thomas
Edison Henry Ford Howard Hughes and Steve Jobs Musk is the man behind PayPal Tesla Motors
SpaceX and SolarCity each of which has sent shock waves throughout American business and
industry. More than any other executive today Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast
fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as a science fiction fantasy. In
this lively investigative account veteran technology journalist Ashlee Vance offers an
unprecedented look into the remarkable life and times of Silicon Valley's most audacious
businessman. Written with exclusive access to Musk his family and his friends the book
traces his journey from his difficult upbringing in South Africa to his ascent to the pinnacle
of the global business world. Vance spent more than fifty hours in conversation with Musk and
interviewed close to three hundred people to tell the tumultuous stories of Musk's
world-changing companies and to paint a portrait of a complex man who has renewed American
industry and sparked new levels of innovation?all while making plenty of enemies along the way.
In 1992 Elon Musk arrived in the United States as a ferociously driven immigrant bent on
realizing his wildest dreams. Since then Musk's roller-coaster life has brought him grave
disappointments alongside massive successes. After being forced out of PayPal fending off a
life-threatening case of malaria and dealing with the death of his infant son Musk abandoned
Silicon Valley for Los Angeles. He spent the next few years baffling his friends by blowing his
entire fortune on rocket ships and electric cars. Cut to 2012 however and Musk had mounted
one of the greatest resurrections in business history: Tesla SpaceX and SolarCity had enjoyed
unparalleled success and Musk's net worth soared to more than $5 billion. At a time when many
American companies are more interested in chasing easy money than in taking bold risks on
radical new technology Musk stands out as the only businessman with enough dynamism and vision
to tackle?and even revolutionize?three industries at once. Vance makes the case that Musk's
success heralds a return to the original ambition and invention that made America an economic
and intellectual powerhouse. Elon Musk is a brilliant penetrating examination of what Musk's
career means for a technology industry undergoing dramatic change and offers a taste of what
could be an incredible century ahead.
