Book Review: Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

A note on timing before anything else: I read Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk in the spring of 2019, and the book itself came out in 2015. Whatever opinions you hold about its subject in 2026, this review is about that book — the one that first mapped, in investigative detail, how the man behind Tesla and SpaceX got there.

Vance’s access is the story behind the story. Musk initially refused to cooperate, Vance started reporting anyway, and Musk eventually came around — with no control over the final text. The result draws on interviews with the people around him at every stage: early employees, family, investors, the ones who stayed and the ones who very much did not.

What I Loved About Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

It digs deep. The chapters on the early days — Zip2, PayPal, the year Tesla and SpaceX nearly died at the same time — read like a business thriller, and Vance covers the scandals and the successes with the same straight face. That evenness is the whole appeal for me. It’s investigative work that trusts you to sit with a complicated picture, and it moves fast enough that I never once checked how many pages were left.

What I Didn’t Love About Elon Musk

It ends in 2015. That’s no fault of the book, but it’s the thing to know going in: you’re reading the first act of a story that has, to put it mildly, continued. Treat it as a time capsule with excellent sourcing.

Final Thoughts on Elon Musk

Five stars for the reporting, which is the reason I picked it up in the first place. If deeply reported Silicon Valley sagas are your genre, Bad Blood belongs on the same shelf — my review is over there when you’re done.

My final score: 5 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do I recommend this book? 👍 Yes!

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