Author: Ashlee Vance
Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are three of the most visionary entrepreneurs of my generation. I have read biographies of Steve and Jeff and with this book I got a glimpse into the events that shaped Elon Musk. While every one of them is hugely impressive, Elon clearly stands out as the one with most audacious vision. The book opens with how the author, Ashlee Vance struggled to get Elon’s co-operation as he refused to give him editorial control on the manuscript. Only when Ashlee made it clear that he was not going to back down from his project of writing the book, did he get Elon’s support. Since Elon eventually cooperated with Ashlee Vance, I didn’t expect too many negative portrayals about him. Nevertheless Ashlee attempts to keep it balanced and includes the story of Elon firing his long time secretary Mary Beth Brown. Despite this and other instances of his lack of empathy with individual human beings, Ashlee attempts one last ditch effort to paint Elon in a good light. He says "Elon has the weirdest kind of empathy of anyone I've ever come across. He doesn't have a lot of interpersonal empathy, but he has a lot of empathy for mankind,"
Regardless of whether you like Elon or not, one thing is clear. This guy will have done more for humanity than anyone else in our lifetime. Read this as a small tribute to him!
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