Therefore, in order to get to the bottom of what inspired the world’s wealthiest man to the pinnacle of financial success, we’ve compiled a list of 20 books that Elon Musk has read himself and would certainly recommend to others as well. Reading has clearly played a profound role in shaping Elon Musk as a person, and furthermore, this favorite educational activity of his must have had something to do with the spirited – and profitable for that matter – approach he takes to life. But I’ve met plenty of smart people, and I don’t say that lightly. “He is the smartest guy I’ve ever met, period. He became very conversant in the material,” Cantrell says, adding that Musk practically memorized the texts. “He would quote passages verbatim from these books. It may go without saying, but none of them were ever returned to him, and Musk now has his ambitious eyes fixed towards establishing the first human colony on Mars – just the natural progression of events after lending a friend several books, right. These works were titled Rocket Propulsion Elements, Aerothermodynamics of Gas Turbine and Rocket Propulsion, Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, and International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems. He says that the world’s richest man literally taught himself rocket science by reading textbooks and talking to industry heavyweights.ĭuring a conversation with Business Insider Cantrell revealed how he loaned Musk some good reads pertaining to the subject of rocket science. Jim Cantrell, an aerospace consultant, became SpaceX’s first vice president of business development and Musk’s industry mentor as the company started up in 2002. Left with few alternatives, he settled for building his own NASA-grade spacecraft (just Elon things). I was off making explosives and reading books and building rockets.”įast forward to 2001, when Musk visited Russia in search of a real-life space-faring projectile but deemed the equipment he found there overpriced and wasteful – taking into consideration, the rockets could only be used once. “I just had a housekeeper who was there to make sure I didn’t break anything. “I didn’t really have a primary nanny or anything,” he remembers. Long before assuming the helm of Tesla, revolutionizing online banking via Paypal, or launching SpaceX rockets into orbit, only to watch them gracefully land themselves back on Earth, a pre-teen Elon was reading countless science fiction novels for up to 10 hours a day.Īt 9 years of age, he finished the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, and shortly thereafter, completed a six-month BASIC course in just three days. Elon Musk, whose personal net worth recently surpassed $200 billion, has maintained a steady love affair with books throughout his entire life.

Elon musk wealth tracker