››In our time, newspaper hypnosis has risen to the highest level. All the issues of the day are artificially inflated by the newspapers. The most dangerous thing about it is that the newspapers present everything in a ready-made state, which stifles self-thinking.‹‹
―Leo Tolstoy
Quelle: https://gutezitate.com/zitat/124342
There is a good reason why this quote precedes my review. Positive news finds less and less its way into the public press, because our current zeitgeist is apocalyptically negative. This is one reason, among others, that Elon Musk often receives negative public attention and is slated by the public. This has a reinforcing effect because readers hardly find any advertising of Musk’s companies in the daily newspapers and also little is known of his great social commitment.
The author, Ashlee Vance, has spent a lot of time with Elon Musk, his family, business partners, employees and friends to develop for this biography a stable, us very interesting framework. The biography is an impressive masterpiece, very vividly and authentically written. Readers are taken into the life story of the entrepreneur, drawn into the events, so that they are not just spectators, but participate in the various events in the life of Elon Musk.
He has always been different. Even at a young age, it became apparent that he had a great potential for acquiring knowledge, processing information, his abstract thinking and the search for solutions. And that is still the case today.
Elon Musk has pioneering spirit to go new ways that no one has gone before, to develop, test and construct new things to promote the scientific and technical progress of the world. He is a passionately driven man who challenges himself and absolutely does not spare himself, sometimes even forgetting himself in his physical and mental health in the process.
While reading this book, I was somehow in the middle of the events and experienced when he, with a select team of experts, founded SpaceX. Everyone involved, including himself, worked to exhaustion under the simplest of conditions, designing, procuring materials, building, discarding and planning. For months, they were separated from their families, putting all their energy into this cause in which they believed. And again and again there were false starts, the rockets exploded. Billions were burned. But now it exists, the world's first reusable rocket and a contract with NASA.
The situation with TESLA was similar, although other business and contractual matters also play a role. There is still a lot to be done and developed. Every day, TESLA researches, designs, discards and starts again to achieve the best.
That he was also a co-founder of PayPal and wanted to develop the whole thing into a professional Internet bank do know only the fewest among us, just as little as the fact that he then left as a shareholder due to various differences of opinion.
In the book, little is reported about Solar-City, and it is here that Elon Musk's social commitment becomes apparent. On the subject, I would like to ask you to check out this link to see how Tesla and Solar-City are making a social impact there and doing good things for people and the environment with their products. The T&Emagazin puts this topic due to the negative headlines in the media in 2018, in the foreground:
https://temagazin.de/tesla/nur-schlechtes-ueber-tesla-in-den-medien/
At the end of 2008, his companies were facing insolvency. TESLA swallowed tens of billions of dollars more than it should have and the generally poor economic situation together with the negative press did the rest. On December 24th, 2008, Elon Musk managed to avert insolvency with a new round of financing and venture capitalists. During this crisis, Musk never buckled, never lost his focus and concentrated on saving his companies.
All his companies have a unified field theory, each is connected to each, even in production. In this way, there is always vital, complementary, researching and advancing energy between its companies.
In this book Elon Musk also talks about his vision of making the world a better place through his products, and also that he would like to eventually start colonizing Mars with humans in case our Earth is no longer livable. I've always smiled at that. Since I've read the book, I no longer do so.
Elon Musk, a neurodiverse entrepreneur and CEO who you come to understand if you read the book carefully and/or through personal contact.
He is, as Ashlee Vance writes, chasing his personal calling, which is strongly interwoven with his soul and rooted in the deepest parts of his mind. He thinks bigger than all of us, and he inspires us to do the same. Not to give up, but to always look forward.
He has done incredible things and we should hold him to that, and also always remember that he is a neurodiverse human being who simply ticks differently, reacts differently, than most people. He has given a lot of positive things to our environment and, as a result, to all of us.
Kudos to Ashlee Vance for this book, which captivated me and gave me the opportunity to learn a lot, including technical details of his companies. And the book allowed me to experience and get to know the entrepreneur and CEO Elon Musk in this way.
Kudos to Elon Musk for his honesty.
My absolute reading recommendation for this book - read it and get to know the person Elon Musk behind the public persona.
© Writer: Heidelinde Penndorf
© Translator Valeska Réon
(March 2023)
