Elon Musk - Risking It All

Elon Musk, one of the richest and most famous people on Earth, made headlines in 2022 when he bid to buy Twitter. He is regularly in the news for his entrepreneurial ventures and controversial tweets. This billionaire, known for his audacious plans to establish a settlement on Mars, sparks curiosity: who exactly is he, what drives his vision, and why is he so fearless in taking risks? Musk’s early years as an unassuming schoolboy in Pretoria, where he enjoyed comics and science fiction, along with his single-parent family background, played a crucial role in shaping his astronomical ambitions. Journalist and author Michael Vlismas, who attended the same high school as Musk, provides an intimate understanding of the environment that shaped him. Tracing Musk’s extraordinary journey from his childhood in South Africa to moving to Canada at age 17, and then settling in the U.S.—where he made millions with PayPal and later founded the globally renowned companies Tesla and SpaceX—the book offers fresh insights into his development, including his challenging relationship with his father. It reveals a new story of a man driven to preserve optimism for humanity and to explore humanity’s future “among the stars.”