Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the
Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance
1) Growing up, Elon Musk has always
been an ideal for me. When I first read this book I was surprised by Elon’s erratic
and obstinate behavior. I always knew that he was an eccentric character with
unconventional ways; however, I was really surprised from the extent of his
behaviors. I think what I most admired about him was his tenacity and persistence.
He always got back up on his feet even after falling to his knees and having everyone
turning their backs on him. I least admired his communication skills, which I believe
have a long way to go. He seemed to not be able to take social clues even from
the start of the book when he was conversing with the author of it. He also
seemed to yell and expect a lot from his employees even when his expectations were
unattainable. According the book, he also encountered a lot of failure and adversity
jumping from company to company and clashing with different people in each venture.
I believe that his mind and creativity were always his key to fighting when
failing and getting back on his feet, like when he tried buying rockets of
Russians and the price was too high so he decided to build his own rockets
parts. 2) His brain was definitely his biggest competency, along with his
creativity and tenacity. 3) I believe that the reading was relatively straight
and I understood everything that I read. 4) If I could ask Elon 2 questions
they would be a) What fuels his tenacity and b) how does he feel about his
childhood now that it is way past him. The reason I would ask these question
would be because I have always been intrigued by his persistence and tenacity
and don’t understand how someone could have so much determination in one mind.
I would ask the second question because, according to the book, it was very
rough on him, due to his father. 5) I believe that hard work is one of his biggest
standards. I can tell from his unrealistic number of achievements and, also,
expectations. I share that opinion with my passions. I love DJing and could
spend hours in a room working on the perfect song and perfecting it.
Hey Dimitrios, I really enjoyed reading your reading reflection on Elon Musk. He has an outstanding amount of accomplishments even with all of his failures and setbacks. While he may have been hard on his employees and may be a little too selfish, he is passionate about working hard which has led to his success. Great job with your post!
ReplyDeleteHey Dimitrios,
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this book next, so this is good stuff to know. When I first came to UF, I was an aerospace engineer. I ended up leaving because I figured, sort of correctly, that Elon would take over private space travel, and I didn't want to work for him. It's good to know that choice wasn't baseless. I'm curious too on what fuels his tenacity, as well as many other entrepreneurs? I'm figuring out that half the lesson this class teaches is that you must have the drive to achieve your goals.
Hey Dimitrios,
ReplyDeleteI have always been a huge fan of Elon Musk's work and was actually able to go to the latest space launch! I highly recommend it to anyone to experience something like that. I am a huge admirer of Elon Musk and honestly any engineer who is focused on furthering society and improving the world we live in.