"Having made a pattern of writing biographies of important men — and one important woman, Jennifer Doudna of #CRISPR fame — #Isaacson is now in the position of a kind of kingmaker. To keep up his pattern, everyone he writes about implicitly is branded a genius."
#Musk #biography
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-biography-musk-review
Great take-down of Walter #Isaacson's #Musk #biography:
"I am lingering here because it highlights a major problem with Isaacson’s biography. We are dealing with not one but two unreliable narrators: Musk and Isaacson himself."
Come for the snarky comment and stay for a long list of the many stories that Isaacson should have really looked into more closely.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-biography-musk-review
„Elon Musk - Die Biografie“ Walter Isaacson
#elon #musk #elonmusk #biografie #isaacson #walterisaacson #biography #bertelsmann #randomhouse #buch #book #leseempfehlung #lesen #reading #rofopho #literatur #literature #lesenmachtglücklich #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #bookworm #bücherliebe #bookselfie #lesefreude #lesenmachtfreude #literatur
All you need to know about Walter Isaacson’s book about the creepiest of creeps, #Elon Musk:
“We are dealing with not one but two unreliable narrators: Musk and Isaacson himself.”
Having read #Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs,” I had no intention of reading anything by him about that deluded jerk-slash-loser. But nice to have confirmation of that decision.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-biography-musk-review
The #Musk #Isaacson thing is perhaps best summed up by this from https://mstdn.social/@fka_tabs
We are three levels deep at this point. Person A (Shawn McCreesh) is writing about person B (Isaacson) who is talking to a third person about Musk. All three of these people, two of them respected writers (until recently) are confused about simple facts …
How the Elon #Musk biography exposes Walter #Isaacson - The Verge https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-biography-musk-review
“We are dealing with not one but two unreliable narrators: #Musk and #Isaacson himself.”
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-biography-musk-review
Dave Karpf, on Walter #Isaacson's problematic Musk biography:
The “Great Man” version of history is always limiting (and, as Brian Merchant argues, it should probably be retired at this point), but it is particularly ill-suited to a character like Musk. Isaacson wants his reader to appreciate #Musk’s accomplishments and also ponder his personal “demons.” But there is a deeper puzzle that Isaacson constantly avoids “Is Elon Musk really some world-bending genius, or has he just benefitted from the world’s biggest case of survivor bias?”
Walter #Isaacson’s Elon Musk doesn’t tell us much about #Musk, but it just might tell you plenty about your next boss. https://slate.com/culture/2023/09/elon-musk-book-biography-walter-isaacson.html
As a colleague just pointed out, there's now special joy in reviews of unreleased books that can't be written by #ai ...especially ones so creative and deliciously irreverent
"Famed biographer of intellectually muscular men Walter Isaacson’s dull, insight-free doorstop of a book casts a wide but porous net in search of an answer."
Review
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson review – arrested development
Walter Isaacson’s insight-free doorstop makes at least one thing clear: the richest man in the world has a lot of growing up to do
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/13/elon-musk-by-walter-isaacson-review-arrested-development #elonmusk #biography #isaacson
And finally the story behind X🤔
“It is no wonder that Musk has renamed Twitter “X” after his favourite letter. X is also a crossing out, the opposite of a tick, and that is what Musk has been steadily doing to his legacy.
#Isaacson’s book constantly tries to build dramatic tension between the species-saving visionary and the beaten bullied boy. But we know the ending to Musk’s story before we even open it. In the end, the bullies win.”
This review on Elon Musk book is better than the book 🤣 — ‘Arrested Development’ — worth a read 👍
“To go from #Einstein to #Musk in only five volumes is surely an indication that humanity isn’t sending #Isaacson its best.”
“Elon didn’t just exaggerate, he made it up,” a former colleague tells us”
“The messianic part of the #Muskiverse is his attempt to put 140m miles between himself and his father as he tries to turn humanity into a “#multiplanetary civilization”
@TheGuardian
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/13/elon-musk-by-walter-isaacson-review-arrested-development
"Even dumber is that the “lesson” that Walter #Isaacson seems to take from this little episode is not that #Musk’s impulsivity is a dangerous, out of control wrecking ball that is going to destroy some serious stuff, but that (ex)#Twitter’s employees had to learn how to better “manage” the man-baby in charge:"
by @mmasnick
"That may be because there is a tacit pact between author and subject in the #Isaacson “great man” #biography: The author will unearth unflattering personal anecdotes and share stories about the subject’s capacity to be cruel. In exchange, the subject’s greatness will be treated as an assumption [...]" writes @brianmerchant and what better example than this episode:
#ElonMusk moving servers himself shows his ‘maniacal sense of urgency’ at #X, formerly #Twitter
Let’s put a stake in the ‘great man’ #biography — starting with Isaacson’s #ElonMusk
by @brianmerchant
"Yes, #Isaacson spoke to “adversaries” like Jeff #Bezos and Bill #Gates, but not (at least per the list) to line workers, not to #Jenna, not to anyone whose family member died in an #Autopilot crash, nor anyone who tried to organize a #Tesla plant.
[...]
It’s the book Musk would have written himself.""
🧵2/2: Why is the #US army itself subcontracting to private companies? Why are its own #satellites failing? Where were they when #Starlink's #geofencing policy of war zones was decided? Unless proven #ElonMusk deliberately sat on his convo with #Ukraine for days, which #Isaacson doesn't corroborate, I think he had a rare sane moment officially contracting satellites to the #US government so they make their own decision rather than keep on unofficially surrendering power https://www.channel4.com/news/elon-musk-biographer-says-billionaire-has-dark-demon-mode
I've read a couple of Walter Isaacson's books - "Benjamin Franklin" and "Einstein". There's no way I'm wasting my time and money on his latest book. Musk represents everything that's wrong with corporate America and Silicon Valley.
When I read a biography, I'm trying to understand the life and times of that person. I know more than I need to know about Musk. None of it is good.
The latest Starlink information, apparently from Isaacson's book, is further proof that there is nothing good about Musk.
Lots of discussion of Walter #Isaacson's new bio of #ElonMusk . Everybody focuses on his dad -- a piece of work, undoubtedly -- but where's his mother in all this? #Musk shares 2 things with a whole slew of #farright extremists, from #Trump to #TedCruz: (1) daddy issues, and (2) a rather close relationship with their mothers.
(Free link to #NYTBR review)
