Elon Musk Biography Shoots to Top of Bestseller List Ahead of Release
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Best-selling author and historian Walter Isaacson has penned the definitive biographies of some of the most powerful figures in history, from Steve Jobs to Albert Einstein, and this month he’ll finally be releasing his highly anticipated tome about Elon Musk. The biography, simply tiled “Elon Musk,” officially releases on Sept. 12 and is currently available to pre-order on Amazon, where it’s already a No. 1 bestseller.
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For two years, Isaacson followed the billionaire entrepreneur through his SpaceX and Tesla factories and board meetings, while spending hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers and adversaries. In addition to leading the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence, Musk also made the controversial choice to take over Twitter (now X) during the book’s writing.
Musk’s childhood weaves its way through much of the book, as Isaacson has hinted in numerous interviews leading up to its release. Growing up in South Africa, Musk was regularly beaten by bullies and would come home to an emotionally abusive father. As he grew older, the wounds from his tumultuous upbringing lingered, likely explaining his infamous attraction to risk, maniacal intensity and epic sense of mission.
“We start the book with this astonishingly difficult childhood in South Africa with a father who is Darth Vader and who is still alive, but haunts Elon every day,” Isaacson told tech reporter Kara Swisher earlier this month. “He’s the most interesting person on the planet right now doing the most interesting things and driving people crazy in the process.”
One of the biggest bombshells in the book is the revelation that Musk allegedly thwarted a Ukranian drone attack on Russian ships. According to the book, the SpaceX CEO turned off Starlink near Crimea to disrupt Ukraine’s strike against a Russian fleet. As the drones loaded with explosives approached the Russian fleet, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes.
“Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson is now available to pre-order on Amazon, and is also available on Kindle for $16.99 and Audible for free with this 30-day trial.
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