Overview

"In the spirit of Steve Jobs and Moneyball, Elon Musk is both an illuminating and authorized look at the extraordinary life of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting, unpredictable, and ambitious entrepreneurs--a real-life Tony Stark--and a fascinating exploration of the renewal of American invention and its new ""makers."" Elon Musk spotlights the technology and vision of Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, who sold one of his Internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our age: can the nation of inventors and creators who led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition? He argues that Musk--one of the most unusual and striking figures in American business history--is a contemporary, visionary amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs. More than any other entrepreneur today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as the visionaries of the golden age of science-fiction fantasy. Thorough and insightful, Elon Musk brings to life a technology industry that is rapidly and dramatically changing by examining the life of one of its most powerful and influential titans."

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9781481533645

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The book Elon Musk is a compelling firsthand, behind-the-scenes look at how Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity were formed and how Elon works to bring his passions to fruition. He is a unique character changing the world, and Ashlee Vance's book is a riveting account of how Elon's game-changing ideas have been conceived and born, and now flourish. -- J. Craig Venter, PhD, first human genome sequencer and creator of synthetic life More than any entrepreneur since Steve Jobs, Elon Musk sets the bar for what's possible in technology. We are fortunate to have our very own real-life Tony Stark in Elon, and here, for the first time, we have his story vividly told. -- March Andreessen, venture capitalist and web pioneer Elon Musk is a man after my own heart: a risk taker undaunted by setbacks and ever driven to ensure a bright future for humanity. Ashlee Vance's stellar biography captures Musk's remarkable life story and irrepressible spirit. -- Richard Branson, English businessman and investor Fred Sanders narrates this smartly written biography with the right balance of gravitas and entertainment value, providing accents for some of the major characters including a convincing South African accent for the story's star...The combination of great narration, well-written and well-researched content, and a bigger-than-life subject propels this nuanced work into the upper atmosphere of audiobook biographies. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. -- AudioFile Vance paints a complicated picture of a complicated man...Throughout, Vance elucidates Musk's unusual combination of vision, determination, intelligence, whimsy, and ruthlessness that enabled these successes...Vance ably conveys the reality of this man who is both a dreamer and a doer. -- Publishers Weekly Does an admirable job of balancing the highs and lows of Musk's outsized personality. He writes a thought-provoking chronicle that doesn't suffer for being only a first act, as Musk is still leading the field in innovation. -- Library Journal (starred review) It's clear that this new Musk bio delivers the goods...Vance provides a wealth of insights about how this tech titan operates. -- Forbes An essential read...a riveting portrait of Silicon Valley's most driven entrepreneur since Steve Jobs. -- Financial Times Exhaustively reported...this work will likely serve as the definitive account of a man whom so far we've seen mostly through caricature. By the final pages, too, any reader will sense the need to put comparisons to Steve Jobs aside. Give Musk credit. There is no one like him. -- New York Times Book Review [A] spirited and riveting biography. -- Wall Street Journal

[A] spirited and riveting biography. -- Wall Street Journal Exhaustively reported...this work will likely serve as the definitive account of a man whom so far we've seen mostly through caricature. By the final pages, too, any reader will sense the need to put comparisons to Steve Jobs aside. Give Musk credit. There is no one like him. -- New York Times Book Review An essential read...a riveting portrait of Silicon Valley's most driven entrepreneur since Steve Jobs. -- Financial Times It's clear that this new Musk bio delivers the goods...Vance provides a wealth of insights about how this tech titan operates. -- Forbes Does an admirable job of balancing the highs and lows of Musk's outsized personality. He writes a thought-provoking chronicle that doesn't suffer for being only a first act, as Musk is still leading the field in innovation. -- Library Journal (starred review) Vance paints a complicated picture of a complicated man...Throughout, Vance elucidates Musk's unusual combination of vision, determination, intelligence, whimsy, and ruthlessness that enabled these successes...Vance ably conveys the reality of this man who is both a dreamer and a doer. -- Publishers Weekly Fred Sanders narrates this smartly written biography with the right balance of gravitas and entertainment value, providing accents for some of the major characters including a convincing South African accent for the story's star...The combination of great narration, well-written and well-researched content, and a bigger-than-life subject propels this nuanced work into the upper atmosphere of audiobook biographies. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. -- AudioFile Elon Musk is a man after my own heart: a risk taker undaunted by setbacks and ever driven to ensure a bright future for humanity. Ashlee Vance's stellar biography captures Musk's remarkable life story and irrepressible spirit. -- Richard Branson, English businessman and investor More than any entrepreneur since Steve Jobs, Elon Musk sets the bar for what's possible in technology. We are fortunate to have our very own real-life Tony Stark in Elon, and here, for the first time, we have his story vividly told. -- March Andreessen, venture capitalist and web pioneer The book Elon Musk is a compelling firsthand, behind-the-scenes look at how Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity were formed and how Elon works to bring his passions to fruition. He is a unique character changing the world, and Ashlee Vance's book is a riveting account of how Elon's game-changing ideas have been conceived and born, and now flourish. -- J. Craig Venter, PhD, first human genome sequencer and creator of synthetic life

[A] spirited and riveting biography. -- Wall Street Journal An essential read...a riveting portrait of Silicon Valley's most driven entrepreneur since Steve Jobs. -- Financial Times Does an admirable job of balancing the highs and lows of Musk's outsized personality. He writes a thought-provoking chronicle that doesn't suffer for being only a first act, as Musk is still leading the field in innovation. -- Library Journal (starred review) Elon Musk is a man after my own heart: a risk taker undaunted by setbacks and ever driven to ensure a bright future for humanity. Ashlee Vance's stellar biography captures Musk's remarkable life story and irrepressible spirit. -- Richard Branson, English businessman and investor Exhaustively reported...this work will likely serve as the definitive account of a man whom so far we've seen mostly through caricature. By the final pages, too, any reader will sense the need to put comparisons to Steve Jobs aside. Give Musk credit. There is no one like him. -- New York Times Book Review Fred Sanders narrates this smartly written biography with the right balance of gravitas and entertainment value, providing accents for some of the major characters including a convincing South African accent for the story's star...The combination of great narration, well-written and well-researched content, and a bigger-than-life subject propels this nuanced work into the upper atmosphere of audiobook biographies. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. -- AudioFile It's clear that this new Musk bio delivers the goods...Vance provides a wealth of insights about how this tech titan operates. -- Forbes More than any entrepreneur since Steve Jobs, Elon Musk sets the bar for what's possible in technology. We are fortunate to have our very own real-life Tony Stark in Elon, and here, for the first time, we have his story vividly told. -- March Andreessen, venture capitalist and web pioneer The book Elon Musk is a compelling firsthand, behind-the-scenes look at how Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity were formed and how Elon works to bring his passions to fruition. He is a unique character changing the world, and Ashlee Vance's book is a riveting account of how Elon's game-changing ideas have been conceived and born, and now flourish. -- J. Craig Venter, PhD, first human genome sequencer and creator of synthetic life Vance paints a complicated picture of a complicated man...Throughout, Vance elucidates Musk's unusual combination of vision, determination, intelligence, whimsy, and ruthlessness that enabled these successes...Vance ably conveys the reality of this man who is both a dreamer and a doer. -- Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Ashlee Vance is one of the most prominent writers on technology today. After spending several years reporting on Silicon Valley and technology for the New York Times, Vance went to Bloomberg Businessweek, where he has written dozens of cover and feature stories for the magazine on topics ranging from cyber espionage to DNA sequencing and space exploration. Fred Sanders, an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator, has received critics' praise for his audio narrations that range from nonfiction, memoir, and fiction to mystery and suspense. He been seen on Broadway in The Buddy Holly Story, in national tours for Driving Miss Daisy and Big River, and on such television shows as Seinfeld, The West Wing, Will and Grace, Numb3rs, Titus, and Malcolm in the Middle. His films include Sea of Love, The Shadow, and the Oscar-nominated short Culture. He is a native New Yorker and Yale graduate.

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