Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Review

This fascinating biography,Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance, lights up the resilient American spirit in its portrayal of an ambitious visionary, an inspiring dreamer, and a persistent doer and innovator. Elon Musk, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur (to say the least), has the indomitable will to bear off what virtually others deem impossible while at the same time receiving negative bashings in the media – through failures and successes. Musk, built-in in Due south Africa, is a personality that was destined to thrive in America. He created a uniquely American story like nothing else.

Musk'due south family history is generation after generation of audacious, risk-taking and highly intelligent people.  As a child, he devoured all books in sight and resorted to reading through two sets of encyclopedias too. "Vacuuming books into his encephalon," he was considered a "fact factory," with a "photographic memory."  Author Vance notes that not all of Musk's childhood acquaintances appreciated his gifted mind, and some saw him as a target for bullying. As a teen, Musk left Due south Africa without his parents; starting time moving to Canada and and then to his ultimate destination – the Usa.

In the U.s.a., one of his first business organization developments included an early on net mapping & directory organization which Compaq purchased and merged into their AltaVista web-search engine. With greenbacks-in-hand, Musk side by side envisioned online banking in an net world where people nonetheless feared such a thing. That dream became PayPal which before long adult the methods used for fighting online fraud, and formed the basis of software used past the world's largest banks, the CIA and the FBI. The young innovators making this possible subsequently became known as the "PayPal Mafia" and "Silicon Valley Royalty" with Musk its "most famous and successful member."

In the years to come, Musk developed, invested in, and expanded SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity and more. The writer delves into the very interesting histories of each of these companies, including the plunges that almost led to bankruptcies. Musk'southward companies re-imaged business and what could be accomplished. The aerospace manufacture/authorities contractors with their cumbersome, bureaucratic, and wasteful spending models have felt the quakes brought almost by Musk's paradigm shift. His efficiency has enabled Space-10 to drastically reduce the toll of launching experiments and satellites into orbit, making Space-X became the showtime private company to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

Tesla Motors is also discussed at length in this biography, just I find the SpaceX portions really reflect Musk'southward innovative spirit.  At that place were many years of failed rocket-launch attempts, merely in that location was e'er the push forward through adversity.  The launches into space and missions to the ISS are the beginning phases with the ultimate goal of colonizing Mars! When I worked on the ISS plan, ideas similar that seemed very overreaching, audacious and fifty-fifty laughable to me, merely reading this biography, if anyone tin can get that started, it would exist Musk.  The wild promises, one by one, continue unfolding into reality. Musk does not run across a depressed, dystopian future for humans he imagines us as a multi-planetary species. Instead, his vision is of saving mankind, not simply creating another product for consumption.  Yep, it is far out there, but it is e'er the large thinkers that push the boundaries.

This is such an inspirational book that I recommended information technology to my married man and son so they are starting on it.  I know my son is interested that many consider Musk the real-life embodiment of Iron-Man's Tony Stark.  To me, 1 of the cracking sides to America is that boundaries become pushed and success breaks through in spite of exterior interference that tries to tamp it downwards. The accomplishments of Elon Musk and the teams he pulls together to make things happen truly seem unreal and almost scientific discipline fiction. I highly recommend this very readable and enjoyable book!

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Source: https://dallaslibrary2.org/blogs/bookedSolid/2016/11/book-review-elon-musk-tesla-spacex-and-the-quest-for-a-fantastic-future-by-ashlee-vance/

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