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reviewed Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

Ashlee Vance: Elon Musk (2015, Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future is Ashlee Vance's biography …

didn't age well, and it's not that old

I read this several years ago so my memory is a bit hazy but I recall thinking it was generally worshipful and a bit of a hagiography (it predates the first Trump presidency but in recent interviews the author, who has a fascination with space moguls, still talks about Musk like he's Steve Jobs). Nevertheless, it's a comprehensive bio up to that point so now when I hear a reference to an ex-wife, for example, or disputes about who actually founded Tesla, I already know the deal. So it's worth reading for background, but I am perhaps unreasonably going to hold it against the author for not warning us we have a billionaire white nationalist on our hands (an issue the author has avoided touching on in all his nterviews about Musk that I've seen, so maybe not that unreasonable).

@technicat That's interesting, I also read this around 2018 and my recollection is that it lowered my opinion of him a lot at the time - between the discussions of how he treats his employees (especially his assistant, that story was messed up) and the other general controversies, taking credit for others' work, etc.

Of course, it's still a long way from reading "this guy is an overrated asshole" to the truth of "this guy is a white nationalist accelerationist megalomaniacal asshole", but I'd offer there's some split between: there are signs even in a light-touch bio like this, there's bad stuff that no doubt was kept under wraps at the time, and at some point around 2020 he does seem to have become more extreme in his views (or gone fully "mask off", excuse the pun.)

"Ludicrous" by Edward Neidemeyer is the book that really burst the bubble of his pre-2020 reputation for me, would recommend that one. Although, again, it doesn't get close to the extremes that have become evident since 2019.