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Bradley's Reviews > Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
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it was amazing
bookshelves: 2018-shelf, non-fiction, science

There are few people outside of the fiction world that I truly admire, but barring some unseen or future tragedy, I think Musk might well be on the way to becoming my hero.

If I didn't know any better, I might be looking at all his stated claims and seeing all the echoes of Asimov and Heinlein being dragged out of the page and brought to life.

Skip the whole Iron Man image for a second.

Let's talk about Ayn Rand.

Musk is John Galt. As in Atlas Shrugged.

Sure, he's also Dagney, too, or perhaps more like Dagney in that he's unwilling to let humanity roll around in the mud despite all the backstabbing and idiocracy, in that he hasn't said, "enough is enough". But the day is young. Wait until we get to Mars. Wait until we really take the man of genius and effort for granted. And THEN we'll see what we'll miss once it is taken away.

Ahhh, I don't want to see this man out of classic SF heroes become anything other than his stated goals.

I'll be honest here. He's giving me real hope for humanity. Maybe optimism *isn't* unfounded after all.

This biography tells me one hell of a great narrative. Is it life imitating art? The best ideals from the grandmasters? Who knows. But right now, I have real hope. I'm holding on to it for my very soul. :)

Let's MAKE the future we wanted. Let's NOT let anything stand in our way!

HELL YAH!
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Reading Progress

February 27, 2018 – Shelved as: to-read
February 27, 2018 – Shelved
March 22, 2018 – Started Reading
March 23, 2018 – Shelved as: 2018-shelf
March 23, 2018 – Shelved as: non-fiction
March 23, 2018 – Finished Reading
March 14, 2019 – Shelved as: science

Comments Showing 1-12 of 12 (12 new)

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message 1: by Marcha (new) - added it

Marcha Fox I loved this book as well. I even bought the sanitized version for kids for two of my grandkids last Xmas. Elon Musk rocks!


Bradley :) :) :)


message 3: by Cecily (new)

Cecily But don't you ever wonder if Musk IS from a fictional world?
;)


Bradley Isn't that thoroughly implied in my review? Or something tangential. Maybe not a straight implant from the Tau universe, but more like he was influenced so heavily by our favorite characters in stories that he completely remodeled his soul to BECOME a hero right from the page. :)


message 5: by Cecily (new)

Cecily I took it as metaphorical, whereas I sometimes wonder if it's literally true.


Bradley Well, the biggest hope all the optimistic SF authors had was inspiring SOMEONE to make the bright future into a reality, so it's truly function following form. Or Life imitating Art.

And from a careful reading of the text, I can believe it. Musk was an avid SF reader as well as a major gamer. He just said to himself one day... "Let's save humanity." And like a proper hero, bent all his energies to do just that. I love this. :)

It's a wonderful narrative. And who says that life ISN'T one huge complicated narrative?


message 7: by Yodamom (new)

Yodamom I have this on audio I hope to get to it soon. I admire him too, fascinating guy and family


Bradley I think it's worth it. And this is coming from someone who generally never does biographies. :)


message 9: by Yodamom (new)

Yodamom It must be very good then. :D
Bradley wrote: "I think it's worth it. And this is coming from someone who generally never does biographies. :)"


Bradley Or it struck all the right nerves in me. :) I suppose it amounts to the same thing. :)


message 11: by Cecily (new)

Cecily Just wondering how you feel about your opening paragraph all these years later. Not that I've followed all the recent details of Twitter etc, but....


Bradley Oh, my ability to be glamoured by the man has been severely dimmed by now. :) But back then, it was nice to think we might have had SOMEONE slightly worthy to admire.


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