Considered by many to be one of the most controversial men in the world, wealthy businessman Elon Musk continues to make headlines. This time it is a new biography just published, signed by Walter Isaacson, in which we discover a man not only with immense ambitions, but also a narcissistic man, full of self-confidence, devoid of humanism and inconsiderate of his associates, of desires has to conquer Mars in order to populate it with his descendants.
Don’t think that Elon Musk only has flaws. Reading his new biography, we see that he is not only creative, visionary and hardworking, but also very intelligent, not to say a workaholic, which partly explains the fact that he has become the most successful and richest man in the world . However, it is more the many errors that are noticeable in this work. As we celebrate his triumphs, his many scandals will also be revealed.
Photo provided by Éditions Fayard
Because best-selling author Walter Isaacson has just published a book with almost 700 pages about this man who is called to go further and further. To this end, he followed Elon Musk around his offices for two years, attended his meetings, followed him around his factories and interviewed him for many hours. Apparently he also questioned his employees, colleagues and competitors. On a more personal level, he also met his relatives, friends and former romantic conquerors in order to write as objective a biography as possible.
enfant terrible
Elon Musk’s parents noticed very early on that he was not a child like the others. He is terribly talented, reads two books a day, including encyclopedias, builds model rockets and even a video game in his garage.
Photo provided by Éditions Fayard
At age 13, he received $500 for selling his game. Although he was gifted, he was terribly alone and lived in an imaginary bubble. According to Musk, he has Asperger’s syndrome.
After his parents May and Errol divorced, he voluntarily decided to live with his father in South Africa, where he grew up. But his father makes his life difficult, constantly inflicts emotional wounds on him and calls him an idiot. In addition, because of his character, he is not popular at school and is beaten up by his classmates so much that he ends up in the hospital.
It was the science fiction book “The Galactic Guide” that impressed him most in his childhood: “This guide helped me get out of my existential depression,” said Elon Musk.
If he is a victim of bullying and harassment at school in his childhood, he will soon take his place until his friends call him an enfant terrible. At 17, he defied the authority of his father, who threatened to stop him from studying in Toronto.
His exemplary mother, originally from Saskatchewan, facilitated his obtaining Canadian citizenship, a stepping stone to continuing his studies in the United States.
His angry temper grew as his fortune grew. “He gets angry when his employees don’t meet his expectations and is willing to humiliate them if they defy him,” said a person close to Musk.
Save humanity
Elon Musk certainly has a penchant for taking risks, even if it means losing a few million.
The man behind PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and now X (formerly Twitter) is complex, especially since he describes himself as a superhero. Furthermore, on this topic, he unabashedly describes himself as the savior of humanity because, in his eyes, his real mission is to save humanity.
“If I don’t make decisions, we die,” said Elon Musk, referring to the collapse of our civilization due to climate change and low birth rates.
His conquest of space has become his main mission in life, while he laments NASA’s slowness.
With an estimated personal fortune of nearly $270 billion, he has enough wealth in his game to have fun. Designing rockets would remind him of his childhood, when he enjoyed making scale models. And that’s what he loves most: having fun.
His offspring
One of the most unusual facts about Elon Musk is that the businessman does not hesitate to donate sperm because he wants as many children as possible to be genetically his. The idea: to populate Mars and even other planets with mini-musks.
Elon Musk has ten living children to date (one died at 10 weeks old) with four different women.
A book full of captivating words that are difficult to put down.