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Elon Musk
The world of the radical innovator and upstart associated with lightning fast electric cars, and space exploration rivaling NASA and other international superpowers is exposed in this riveting biography.
“Elon Musk – Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Harper Collins, with 2017 Epilogue” is written by Ashlee Vance. This author’s own background as a bestselling author, television host of an international technological innovation programme, and writer for a leading business journal, ideally equips him to expertly uncover the Musk mystique. Both originated in South Africa, and strategically now find San Francisco home.
Elon began in Johannesburg as a compulsive reader, running out of books to read in the third grade at his school and neighbourhood libraries, so he propelled himself to read the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1980 Errol, his father gave in to his ‘know it all’ son’s urging, presenting him with a Commodore VIC-20. Both Elon and is brother Kimball obsessed at role-playing games, becoming ‘nerd master supremes’ at a Dungeons & Dragons tournament. His top grades in math lead to his being included in high school experimental computer programs, where he was soon writing video games. This new world of programming, he discovered was burning in the United States, and this became his next goal.
He left after five months of physics and engineering at the University of Pretoria, to visit a great uncle in Montreal, reaching for his American dream. He studied business at Queen’s University in Kingston, transferred to The University of Pennsylvania for a bachelor’s dual degree in economics, and physics. During a 1994 class requiring a business plan, he wrote ‘The Importance of Being Solar’, predicting a rise in solar-powered technology based on material improvements, delving deeply into how solar cells work and the compounds that would make them more effective. The paper received a 98. Other papers followed: Optical Character Recognition of Research Books; and Ultracapacitors, where he designed energy storage systems delivering power one hundred times faster than a battery of equivalent weight, which was awarded a 97!
Both brothers arrived in San Francisco working with small startup companies with people whose designs would revolutionize the animation, internet, and software industries. They started ‘Zip2’, an ingenious advertising tool for the web, with Elon doing the original coding, and Kimbal the door-to-door sales operation. Here they established their extreme work ethic, working around the clock, pressuring staff to outperform, and striving for unrealistic completion dates, to entice investors to finance their ideas. Then, in 1997 Compaq Computer suddenly offered to pay$ 300 million in cash for Zip2.
The series of accomplishments just continued to spiral from here: X.com; Pay Pal; The Life to Mars Foundation; Space X; Falcon 1 Rocket; Joining & investing in Eberhard & Tarpenning’s small Tesla operation to insert the AC Propulsion tzero electric powertrain into a Lotus Elise roadster body; Iron Man, the movie, with main hero Tony Stark character inspired by Elon Musk.
Amazing! Impossible to believe? It’s real!
Just today, see the top news story “Next Stop, Mars – Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch” with the industry’s most powerful, and reusable rockets, built by a private company. Check out the special payload … an actual Tesla roadster with a dummy called Starman, in a Space X designed suit, destined to orbit the sun between Mars & the Earth!
MMA Architect Inc. and Windsor Ontario Architect, Stuart Miller, enjoy working with Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Ontario businesses and homeowners to create efficiencies that promote business growth and improve lifestyles. MMA Architect Inc. looks forward to serving clients with a variety of quality services.
MMA Architect Inc., licensed professional architect, Windsor, Ontario aka @YQGArchitect, MMAarchBlog ~ ©MMA Architect Inc., February 7, 2018, Blog 13
Elon Musk is a fascinating public figure. I’m looking forward to reading his biography. Thanks for the review.