The Genius and Madness of King Musk: Walter Isaacson’s Biography Grapples With the Man of Many Contradictions

When I think of the greatest inventions of the last decade, I am amazed and thankful — the iPad and Google Assistant that I use while working on my stories, the self-driving car that gives me goosebumps, the launch of SpaceX’s Reusable Rocket from my friend’s backyard in South Carolina. How I am now accustomed to the face of the Nest Thermostat. Every time I change an incandescent light to an LED light bulb, I feel that I am lowering greenhouse emissions, one light at a time. We have pretty much-ditched pocketbooks because we can use Venmo, PayPal, or Apple Pay on our devices. It is heartening to acknowledge the work of scientists in developing CRISPR to create new gene therapy models to fight cancer and mental illness. 

But on another token when I look at the power the tech industry and social media giants have on us commonplace individuals, I am frightened by the amount of data they have collected on us, how they use the data to market goods and services to us, how they sell our data for profit. Recently at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in East Bay, I came across a table with a book, showcasing Elon Musk’s face resting on his steepled hands. Written by Walter Isaacson and published by Simon and Schuster the simply titled “Elon Musk” is a tome. As I looked around me, I saw several people reading the book in different corners of the store. It was surreal, I felt as though humanoid robots were reading the book and the intense eyes of Elon were staring at me from all sides. 

I went to the café, got a glass of water with light ice, and sat down on the sofa by the register to glance through the biography before buying it. On the back, Walter Isaacson’s face and a list of his published biographies popped up. He has written about Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, and lately on Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Isaacson has a thought-provoking way of building the complex characters he portrays in his books. Often, he faces conflicts that are difficult to resolve because of the protagonists’ complicated personality traits. 

For example, in Steve Jobs’ case his tireless drive towards perfection and in Elon Musk’s case his almost maniacal quest of the renowned entrepreneur and innovator for a fantastic future. How did a kid from South Africa who was bullied and beaten up not only by his schoolmates but even suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of his father become the richest man in the world? Isaacson reveals in his book that Elon inherited a keen, highly developed mathematical, almost robotic engineering mind from his father. He describes Elon’s father Errol as a dramatic fabulist whose behavior created a lifelong rift between the two men but also contributed to Elon’s high tolerance for pain. 

I could quickly glean insight into Elon’s personal life, through the pictures he shared. Account of his siblings Kimbal and Tosca Musk. His mother Maye Musk, the “silver-haired fashionable model.”

With childhood influences that shaped young Elon’s psyche, came overwhelming loneliness, and a complete inability to empathize with other humans. He learned to strive endlessly. To live on the edge. To take risks. Can a lack of empathy pave the way to becoming the wealthiest man to walk on Earth, change the way we think, and launch humans into space? That is what Walter Isaacson’s new 688-page biography, “Elon Musk.” touches on. 

While Isaacson spent two years talking to Musk and chronicling key events in his childhood and adult life, the author does not delve deep into the personal interactions of this very “private” individual and how he conducts himself. Isaacson’s narrative is selective, leaving out Musk’s experiences with violent apartheid in 1980s South Africa, fueled by a brutally racist government. Instead, we learn that Musk’s Canadian grandfather moved the family to South Africa due to his preference for the government there. 

Isaacson followed Musk for two years, but their conversations were interspersed by long pauses, thereby hindering the progress and culmination of this powerful narrative. I was not aware of Musk’s turbulent upbringing in South Africa. relentless bullying from classmates and possible physical abuse at the hands of his father until he could finally fight back. After the initial violence, we follow Musk’s journey in the Western Hemisphere. 

Musk could be any bright but socially awkward teenager preferring video games (his favorite being Polytopia) and science fiction to real live interactions on a playing field, and daydreaming of fabulous imaginary worlds. I learned a lot about the chronology of events that shaped Elon’s awe-inspiring achievements. From genius level SAT scores to double master’s in physics and economics at UPenn to his odyssey to the Bay Area. 

Musk’s entrepreneurial ventures include founding Zip2 with his brother (Kimbal getting $28,000 seed money from his father), selling it for a substantial sum, and then founding X.com, which later merged with PayPal. However, his domineering ways led to his departure from both companies, leaving him with boatloads of cash, disgruntled colleagues, and overarching ambition and making of Tesla, Space X, self-driving cars, satellite link, and humanoid robots (Optimus Prime with feminine tapered double-jointed appendages), Open AI and the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion.

Flipping through the impressive book, I could quickly glean insight into Elon’s personal life, through the pictures he shared. Account of his siblings Kimbal and Tosca Musk. His mother Maye Musk, the “silver-haired fashionable model.” His move from an overcrowded apartment in the Silicon Valley to luxurious mansions all over the world. His romantic associations, marriages to Talulah Riley and Justine Musk. How he cares for his ten to eleven (known) children with unusual names. After skimming through the 688 pages 2.25 lbs., door stopper of a tome; Isaacson (and perhaps Elon Musk) leaves us wondering, what cryptic shades of Musk’s inimitable personality have not been revealed by the biography. It looks like the Musk brothers have taken the game Polytopia’s life lessons to heart: Play life like a Game. Do not fear losing. Be Proactive. Optimize every turn. Double down. Pick your battles. Unplug at times. Empathy is not an asset!”

Isaacson puts Musk’s risk-taking ability on a pedestal but glosses over his rudeness to subordinates, and characterizes his grandiose ideas as a part of a complicated whole that is Elon. I do not know if he did it by choice or by force of habit to keep the story moving. An anecdote comes to mind — the first Tesla in Huntsville (Rocket City), Alabama, as far as I know, belonged to a friend of mine who also happened to be a client. When my friend’s mother asked me as I sat in the backseat about when would I buy a Tesla, she answered for me that “it was beyond my reach”. Many years have passed since that conversation, and I still don’t own a Tesla, just drive everywhere in my trusty old black Lexus sedan, not having to worry about running out of charge. I see more Tesla automobiles than gas-guzzling cars zip by me and in the Bay area. I must admit, every time I see one, I marvel at the futuristic imagination of the man who has now given us self-driving cars. 

On a recent visit, I saw the massive developments around Tesla’s corporate headquarters and a giga-factory in Austin, Texas. And how Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket engine company is expanding in Huntsville makes me wonder about the future of the common man. There are so many problems we are facing today: cost of living crisis, natural disasters, extreme weather events, pandemics, geoeconomics confrontations, erosion of social cohesion, and formidable polarization of society.

Recently governments around the world are tightening regulations around tech giants like Google Amazon, Uber, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to limit labor exploitation, misinformation, and harassment, but would it protect us against the double-edged sword we hold in our palms?! The great minds can do great good but would they actually rise to the occasion or just be caught up in the race to outdo one another in the world’s richest billionaire club!? 

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With one foot in Huntsville, Alabama, the other in her birth home India, and a heart steeped in humanity, writing is a contemplative practice for Monita Soni. She has published hundreds of poems, movie reviews, book critiques, and essays and contributed to combined literary works. Her two books are My Light Reflections and Flow through My Heart. You can hear her commentaries on Sundial Writers Corner WLRH 89.3FM.