The much-awaited biography of Elon Musk by famed tech journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson will hit the shelves on Sept. 12. Publisher Simon & Schuster has begun taking preorders for the 688-page book.
What Happened: The book titled “Elon Musk” — in a similar style to Isaacson’s previous biographies — traces the billionaire’s journey from a bullied kid in South Africa to a billionaire, who has built up sprawling businesses.
“This is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era – a rule-breaking visionary, who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter,” the publisher said on its website.
The “About the Book” portion on the publisher’s website throws light on Musk’s tormented childhood. He was regularly beaten up by bullies and was once pushed down concrete steps and kicked until his face was a swollen ball of flesh.
The book also details the wounds his “rogue” and “charismatic fantasist” father inflicted on him. It was due to these travails, Musk developed into a “tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.”
These scars explain his interest in lapping up Twitter. “Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground,” the publishers said. The excerpts said he was drawn into accumulating shares in Twitter because it was the ultimate playground and he had the chance to own the playground.
The publishers said Isaacson spent two years on the book to produce the “revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?”
Isaacson is widely recognized for his in-depth and highly acclaimed biographies of influential figures from history and technology. Some of his most notable works include biographies of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci.
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Edited by Arnab Nandy and Virginia Van Zandt
