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The 61 Books Elon Musk Has Recommended on Twitter (mostrecommendedbooks.com) 106

Posted by EditorDavid from the reading-lists dept.
Entrepreneur magazine writes: Although his days are presumably filled with Tesla, SpaceX, cyber pigs and lots and lots of tweeting, it seems Elon Musk also finds the time to make reading part of his routine. The billionaire businessman is known for sharing (and oversharing) all his recommendations and thoughts on Twitter, so it's no surprise that books are part of that.

Most Recommended Books compiled a list of all the books Musk has commented on in the past several years, and you can see all 61 here. But if you're short on time today, click through to see 11 of the most interesting picks from his list.
The list includes Peter Thiel's 2014 best-seller Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, as well as business magnate Richard Branson's 2011 book Screw Business As Usual.

Musk also calls a 2004 biography of Howard Hughes "a cautionary tale," and a 2005 biography of Stalin "One of the few books so dark I had to stop reading." And for a 2011 biography of Catherine the Great, he wrote "I know what you're probably thinking ... did she really f* a horse?"

His favorite books about space include John Drury Clark's Ignition! as well as Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines. But there's also Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. ("My favorite spaceship ever is in [this book].") And he calls Isaac Asimov's Foundation series "fundamental to [the] creation of SpaceX."

Also on the list is Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (which Bill Gates also named as one of his 10 favorite books about technology) as well as Frank Herbert's Dune, which Musk calls "Brilliant," while noting that Herbert "advocates placing limits on machine intelligence." In fact, for eight different books on the list he'd added the same cautionary warning: "Hopefully not too optimistic about AI."

He also says he read Karl Marx's Das Kapital at the age of 14, and also read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (which Musk called "a counterpoint to communism and useful as such, but should be tempered with kindness.")

But Musk says his favorite book ever is J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
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The 61 Books Elon Musk Has Recommended on Twitter More

The 61 Books Elon Musk Has Recommended on Twitter

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  • One of us (Score:5, Informative)

    by JudeanPeople'sFront ( 729601 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @02:51AM (#60481302)
    Basically. he is one of us. "One of us! One of us!"

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by JackAxe ( 689361 )
      Gooble Gobble Gooble Gobble!!!

    • There is no dog, and Asimov, Heinlein, and Adams are its prophets.

    • Re:One of us (Score:5, Funny)

      by infolation ( 840436 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @05:28AM (#60481526)
      He isn't 'one of us'

      as well as Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines

      ... that fine line between 'Billionaire CEO' and 'Terrorist Watch List'.

      • Personally I find it amusing that the US is pulling its hair out about gun ownership but Elon Musk, an immigrant, owns his own ICBM!

    • Basically. he is one of us. "One of us! One of us!"

      I guess it shouldn't be surprising that a guy who's not far from my age has read a lot of the books I've read. I realize he's South African, but he's more or less been watching the same world I have.

      That billion dollars, though... I'm not gonna lie, Elon, that's always going to be a wall between us.

  • My favourite was voyage of the space beagle (ae van voight), books are fixed in point of time to when you first read it, so that was my all time most fun read, I might have read better as I got older, but that was the most fun, so far, second would be Planet of Adventure (jack vance) somewhat surprised no one has turned it into a computer game, it has all the elements of a RPG adventure. Reading tied to age and what you have read before and what you sought from it. Text books, there is no favourite, it alwa

    • Re:Depends Upon When (Score:5, Insightful)

      by quenda ( 644621 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @03:10AM (#60481332)

      Why would you bother to read Das Kapital or Atlas Shrugged both are not very good reads and you get the gist of them from multiple sources,

      You could say the same thing about the Gospels. You don't need to be a Communist, Objectivist or Christian to read them. They will not corrupt you.
      It is sad that the world has become a place where people only read media that tells them what they already believe. Marx and Rand may not have been literary or economic geniuses, but they certainly had some interesting ideas and original expression. It is kind of boring and lazy to just read the Cliff Notes.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        I have also not read an religious books, they are crappy reads. There are a whole bunch of books out there, and only so much time. So there are a lot of textbooks where I only read the chapter that was of interest, done and finished. Now mostly the applicable content elements from the internet and sadly no time for non-fiction read unless the power goes down, too much interactive content available on the internet and I live comfortably and do not crave the escape as much. As for Atlas shrugged, I came acros

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by spth ( 5126797 )
          So, did you read any books about religious books, or how did you get the idea that religious books are "crappy reads"?

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by kanweg ( 771128 )

            I started in the bible. Not very believable, when it goes against established facts. A god would have gotten it right.

            Red the Cow, the first chapter of the quran. Crappy read as well.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by 1s44c ( 552956 )

        This is exactly the attitude this world needs. Right now the world is divided by those who seek nothing but confirmation of what they already believe. Personally I believe the US is headed for civil war sometime in the next 50 years unless it reverses it's spiral of ever increasing division.

      • It is kind of boring and lazy to just read the Cliff Notes.

        Not as boring as actually reading Ayn Rand. I couldn't finish Atlas Shrugged, I just couldn't bring myself to pick it up again after a certain point about 3/4 of the way through... which is way further than I got through The Fountainhead.

    • Re:Depends Upon When (Score:4, Informative)

      by Shimbo ( 100005 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @03:20AM (#60481344)

      To be fair to Musk what he wrote about Atlas Shrugged was "Very appealing if you’re a sophomore in college. It’s a counterpoint to communism and useful as such, but should be tempered with kindness."

      Also, it's not like Musk has curated a list, it's just things scraped from his Twitter feed.

      • Re:Depends Upon When (Score:5, Insightful)

        by twosat ( 1414337 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @08:31AM (#60481768)

        “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." - John Rogers, Kung Fu Monkey.

    • Don't pee all over yourself that Atlas Shrugged was on the list.

      I, too, prefer the Fountainhead. It is far less didactic and carries a stronger message about artistic and creative freedoms. It's disappointing that Musk chose A.S. as his preferred book about Objectivism.

  • Another "CEO's recommended books"? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @03:03AM (#60481324)

    How often do we have to get them before people learn that this is like reading the "100 tips on playing the lottery" books written by those that won the jackpot? Success in business is about as much luck as it's work. If not more. Aside of him, hundreds started out with very similar, if not identical, ideas for startups, all of them failed. You only get to hear the success stories.

    Or would you want to buy a "how I did my startup and failed" book by Joe Nobody?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by kyjo ( 1947414 )
      Completely irrelevant comment. You haven't even looked at the list. Only 1-2 books out of the 61 are about business.
      • How many CEOs have read 1984 and think it would be a bad outcome?

      • And how many people who are not successful have read those books?

        That's pretty much the point. Read those books or don't, it won't make a difference.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by kyjo ( 1947414 )
          And my point is that this is not a "read it to be successful" list of books.

        • It's not even a list of books recommended by Elon Musk, it's just a list of books he happened to comment on, scraped from his Twitter feed. It's not like Elon Musk is actually recommending these books, or that he's saying you need to read them to be successful. That's just something you made up.

          • So the list is even less relevant? How is this news?

            Seriously, do we comment on every fart that guy passes now?

    • Success in business is about as much luck as it's work.

      When it happens at least three times in a row (Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX), maybe work is more relevant than you think for success.

      • You ever hear the phrase it takes money to make money?

      • When it happens at least three times in a row (Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX), maybe work is more relevant than you think for success.

        When you can cascade your dot.bomb earnings into new and further investments into companies you did not originate, it does mean a certain amount of 'work' was done. That sweaty kind like the stuff Warren Buffet and Bill Gates do.

        Why, then, is Musk so worshipped here?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kohath ( 38547 )

      Success in business is about as much luck as it's work. If not more. Aside of him, hundreds started out with very similar, if not identical, ideas for startups, all of them failed. You only get to hear the success stories.

      You might not become a billionaire but success comes from work. You can see the alternative in homeless shelters. And you can hear the grievances of the too enlightened to work crowd at a hundred protests about whatever issue — not a single one of them happy.

      • Have you ever worked in a homeless shelter?

        You will hear quite a few stories like Musk's. They just don't end in "and then I got rich" but in "and then I went bankrupt".

  • The invisible hand of technology (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mrwireless ( 1056688 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @04:59AM (#60481488)

    These books are a little predictable, and speak to the same technological deterministic blind spot that most technologists have, especially in Silicon Valley.

    Do you find yourself agreeing with ideas like:
    - "The best way to predict the future is to invent it"
    - History is one long line in which technology developed exponentially, and this line can be extended to the future (e.g. to a singularity)
    - Technology has an impact on society, and is what changes it into new forms. E.g. the printing press determined a new shape of society.

    If you recognise these thoughts, I'd recommend reading some books from the digital humanities as a counter weight. They really help develop critical thinking, and recognising the wishfull and ideological component in narratives about technology. Especially when it comes to AI, where Elon seems to have an overly reductive view on what factors drive and limit its development.

    1.
    Learn what technological determinism and social constructionalism are, and learn to detect these ways of thinking and talking in others. This is fundamental.

    Good sources:
    - Wikipedia.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    (Marx was a strong technological determinist, and Musk read his work when he was 14...)

    2.
    Learn to recognise the paradox of the technologist. The funny thing about technologists (and I include myself here) is that we like to think we're rational, but in fact are often led by unexplored irrational and almost religious drives. There is a strong belief that technology will and must create a better future.

    Good sources:
    - The Digital Sublime - Vincent Mosco. Breaks down the tantalising promises of technology.
    - Grant McCracken has written about our need to believe that the future will be better, and how it's difficult to criticise technology because it's the thing so many of us have placed our hope in, now that politics, religion and the 'invisible hand' of the economy are no longer perceived as effective drivers of positive change.

    3.
    Learn more about the political aspects, and how these are woven in. How the hopes of technologists are molded to align with capitalism. E.g. The strong paralels between neo-liberalist ideas (e.g. deregulation) and the naive utopian values we project(ed) on the internet (unregulated decentralised space).

    Good sources:
    - Richard Barbrooke's classic analysis of the 'Californian ideology'
    https://www.metamute.org/edito... [metamute.org]
    - Deleuze - Post-script on societies of control. So prescient it's scary.
    https://cidadeinseguranca.file... [wordpress.com]

    Lawrence Lessig's conception of how power works around technology is also useful. For a technological determinist, the development of technology is the single most important factor that "impacts" society. But in reality things are much more complicated, with regulation (law), politics and norms and values playing an equally important role.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    4.
    Stop worrying about conciousness level AI taking over, and start worrying about really dumb AI that is already given much more power and influence than it should.

    Reductionist technological determinist narratives are attractively simplistic. This can make them a powerful force for good, as they are easy for many people to get on board with. For example, musk's position what we can protect our environment is great.

    But when it comes to AI however, these simplistic narratives blind politicians from the actual issues they should be dealing with. And they give Elon way more stress than necessary.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kohath ( 38547 )

      We should read books to learn to doubt blind optimism or blind pessimism or belief in destiny or determinism? We need someone to tell us not to get hyped up about [whatever thing] someone is pushing/selling?

      Hey, everyone:

      - Don't get too hyped up.
      - Don't get personally invested in stories about the bogeyman.
      - Stuff happens because it happens, not because of your preferences or fears.
      - People do what they do, not what you wish they would.
      - Others' choices are not yours. They might not choose what you would

      • - VR is going to be huge!
        - Everything will move to the blockchain! Bitconneeeeect!
        - A 3D printer in every home, a FabLab on every corner.
        - Video calling will be the next big thing we'll want to do all the time!
        - Our offices will be paperless soon!
        - The decentralised internet "somehow" became a surveillance system? Let's build a blockchain, something that's extra decentralised. Surely the commercial interests won't know how to use this for evil...

        The point is that Silicon Valley creates two things:
        - Technolo

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Kohath ( 38547 )

          If you still think this is silly, at the next tech conference you visit, try counting the 'optimistic' talks that push for adoption versus the talks that point out the potential limitations or even issues of the technology. I'd be amazed if you find even one truly critical talk.

          What if we just don't take predictions seriously regardless? There's no more reason to believe negative hype than positive hype.

          All those technologies you mentioned are useful and deserve attention — ideally thoughtful attention with no exclamation points.

    • Do you find yourself agreeing with ideas like:
      - "The best way to predict the future is to invent it"
      - History is one long line in which technology developed exponentially, and this line can be extended to the future (e.g. to a singularity)
      - Technology has an impact on society, and is what changes it into new forms. E.g. the printing press determined a new shape of society.

      In short, yes, yes, and yes.

      If you recognise these thoughts, I'd recommend reading some books from the digital humanities as a counter weight.

      From the digital humanities? Weird.

      I believe these things because these ideas are supported by a broad variety of sources. History shows us that cultures DID fundamentally change because of new technologies, like for example writing, agriculture, motorization, mechanized locomotion, or the internet. All of these techs ma(k|d)e possible fundamental shifts in how cultur

      • > History shows us that cultures DID fundamentally change because of new technologies, like for example writing, agriculture, motorization, mechanized locomotion, or the internet.

        It's honestly not that simple. If you really dive into it you'll learn how at all these moments in history things were way more complicated. Enlightenment was equaly driven by sociological changes in society. If you look at history you'll find many similar attempts to create printing-press like technologies, but they were never

    • All that reading sounds hard. I have a shortcut.
      1. Read Atlas Shrugged.
      2. Think about it.
      3. Laugh at its naivete.
      4. Recoil in shock when you learn some people think we should model society on it.

  • Ignition! (Score:5, Informative)

    by pjt33 ( 739471 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @05:30AM (#60481534)

    His favorite books about space include John Drury Clark's Ignition!

    IMO that's a pretty poor characterisation of the book. It's the memoirs of a rocket fuel chemist [sciencemadness.org]. There's the odd throwaway remark about how certain characteristics of a fuel combination make it more useful for extra-atmospheric rockets rather than air-to-air missiles, but that doesn't make it a book about space. It's a fun read, though, if nothing else then for descriptions like this of chlorine trifluoride:

    It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water — with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals — steel, copper, aluminum, etc. — because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

    • It's a great read, and it details the different paths explored during his time at the Naval Air Research Test Station. That's useful for not repeating work already shown to be unfruitful, or to be at least aware of the issues before undertaking new work.

      I would argue that it influenced his choices of RP-1 and LOX and now methane and LOX.

      • It's a great read, and it details the different paths explored during his time at the Naval Air Research Test Station. That's useful for not repeating work already shown to be unfruitful, or to be at least aware of the issues before undertaking new work.

        I would argue that it influenced his choices of RP-1 and LOX and now methane and LOX.

        Not only that, but Asimov wrote the forward...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pjt33 ( 739471 )

        I'm not saying it's not useful to people wanting to go into space (although it is a few decades behind the cutting edge). Just that it's not about space.

    • Derek Lowe's In the Pipeline has a category of posts on "things I won't work with" which features CFl3 prominently, starting with a post titled Sand Won't Save You This Time [sciencemag.org].

      Ignition makes an appearance in that post, but he also has a link to safety notes [archive.org], which includes a description of a one ton spill, which burned through a foot of concrete and then a yard of gravel. He adds "That process, I should add, would necessarily have been accompanied by copious amounts of horribly toxic and corrosive by-product

    • >>For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

      if there was ever a line that should have been written for the HHGG ( hitchhikers guild to the galaxy) that was one of them.

      thank you for making me laugh and laugh loudly.

  • It's interesting that 10 of the books listed were written by Iain M. Banks, almost all from the entire Culture series, and shared recommendations with with Jeff Bezos and Stewart Brand. For those who don't know, the two SpaceX drone landing ships get their names from Banks novel, "The Player of Games".

    • Even stranger when you consider that Banks was quite left-wing and would certainly be uncomfortable with the likes of Bezos and Musk being fans of his work, especially given their employment practices.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        But Banks is an extremely compelling writer and I don't blame anyone for enjoying the Culture series. I've read and enjoyed almost all of his M books, but didn't like some of his M-less books.

        I've read a few other books on the list, but I think Musk was lying about a couple of them. Or else he was just recommending the books on reputation without reading them.

  • I get that some ppl are enamored with Musk, but its pretty clear hes kinda a narcissistic jackass.I don't think I'm interested in an article that might as well be from a fan club news letter.

  • Foundaton Trilogy (Score:3)

    by Zibodiz ( 2160038 ) on Monday September 07, 2020 @12:02PM (#60482380) Homepage
    I find it fascinating that he refers to the Foundation Trilogy as 'fundamental' to the formation of SpaceX. That series was not about technology, but rather about human psychology, and using it to control the populous. It even works out ways to create a fake religion to manipulate the masses, and develop a secret organization that pulls the strings from the background.
    That's an odd series to base your spaceflight company on.

  • He is a Salesman, nothing else

    He is a surface level geek/nerd who knows how to sell, himself, his companies, his products ,,, but cares about nothing else

  • > He also says he read Karl Marx's Das Kapital at the age of 14,

    I'm 100% sure he's lying.

    Nobody would give a fuck about Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged after he read a serious philosophy or economy book. Even one as dated and flawed as Marx's Capital.

    Or FWIW, even some good realistic fiction (realistic as in artistical realism, not as in "matching some self-important cunt's prejudices" and his just-world or mean-world fallacies)

  • He "read" Das Kapital at 14? Suuuurrre he did.

    I read a 300 page abridgement when I was 18 or 19, and it took months.

    And he recommends Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand is a TERRIBLE writer, if she hadn't had people who wanted her propaganda published, it would never have gotten past the slush pile.

    You, at work, are going to listen to your CEO give an hour and a half or two hour speech? Really? All you libertidiots, how bout I start a company, you come to work for me, and I give you a socialist speech?

  • Usual quote about Ayan Rand and Tolkien applies:

    There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old&quotes life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

  • Also check here https://knoansw.com/amazing-qu... [knoansw.com]
  • Here the books are very much good to read:How Many Days Since [lyricsbluster.com]

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