15 Books Elon Musk Thinks Everyone Should Read

this is the sunday motivational video every Sunday we bring you a different type of video which should improve your life today we're looking at 15 books Elon Musk thinks everyone should read welcome to a Lux calm the place where future billionaires come to get inspired hello a lack sirs you've been requesting another book video so we listened we were thinking of launching this new mini series where we look at really successful individuals and bring forth the books which had the biggest influence on their journey or positively impacted their life in one way or another Elon Musk needs no introduction you know who he is what he's doing and it's no secret that were big fans of him here at a Lux it's being a pleasure digging through all of his early interviews and conversations in order to put together a list of books which the man himself thinks everyone should read before we get started with this list just wanted to let you know that in the description of this video you'll find links to all the books mentioned who knows maybe if you read some of them you'll get a better understanding of the way Ilan's mind works if you are new here we'll help them be sure to subscribe and follow us on instagram at a lux anyways let's get to it here are the 15 books Elon Musk thinks everyone should read number one The Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams musk read this book as a young teenager in South Africa and it became instrumental to his thinking the book blends comedy with science fiction and has amassed a cult-like following throughout the world basically earth is being demolished in order to make way for the Galactic freeway and at the last second our main character Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford perfect who turns out to be an alien Arthur learns a lot about the universe and we get to join him through his travels musk reference the book in a 2015 interview and even hit an Easter Egg when he launched his roadster into space the words don't panic or displayed on the dashboard screen as an homage to the book if you don't feel like reading it you can always list the book while you're in traffic or doing repetitive boring work if you go to a locks calm slash free book you can get the Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy or any one of these books for free when you sign up with audible number two structures or why things don't fall down by je Gordon Alan had his first success with PayPal so coming from a coding background it was difficult to jump into revolutionising rockets in order to do that he literally started teaching himself rocket science in an interview with the radio station in California he mentioned structures as a really good primer for structural design this is the type of book you should embrace if you're interested in making more sense of how the world around you is being built and put together hits weirdly fascinating to learn how skyscrapers are built why suspended bridges don't collapse during rush hour answered by engineers and architects in a simple and manageable fashion musk has been directly involved with the design and planning of SpaceX's Falcon heavy rocket he became chief designer and CEO at SpaceX not because he wanted to but because nobody good enough would join the company early on so he had to step in number three Benjamin Franklin an American life by Walter Isaacson you know how Elon Musk is our hero well Benjamin Franklin is one of his heroes for those of you who don't know Benjamin Franklin's story he was an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose through the social ladder from a shopkeeper to dining with kings he's an inventor whose most known for proving that lightning is electricity with his famous kite experiment which led to the invention of the lightning rod among many other things as well as being a founding father of what we know today as the United States of America in an interview with foundation musk said Franklin is pretty awesome he was an entrepreneur he started from nothing he was just a runaway kid number 4 super intelligence dangers strategies by Nick Bostrom we are all familiar with Alan's stance on strong AI in an interview we did with MIT a few years ago he compared it to summoning the demon Nick Bostrom's super intelligence breaks down the impact technology will have on humanity in the next 20 40 and 100 years or more it takes you through how technology is changing the way we live and how it's accelerating at an unprecedented speed musk recommends this book to anyone who is seriously interested in the impact AI will have on all of us in the coming decades and why we need to be super careful early on in its creation number 5 our final invention by James Barrett continuing on the AI trend musk endorsed this book as a worthy read via Twitter in 2014 the book dives into the question of whether or not we could coexist with an entity whose intelligence Dwarfs that of humans and that adds a new layer of maybe we should be careful about this too the entire race of the first AI in an interview on the topic Ilan said AI doesn't have to be evil to destroy humanity if AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way it'll destroy humanity as a matter of course even without thinking about it no hard feelings artificial intelligence is already here the issue that remains is which direction do you choose to move forward with it the biggest impact we will see is in the actual work force with millions ending up unemployable because it's more efficient to automate everything a while back we did a video on 15 jobs which will be replaced by automation in the near future which you can check out in the top right corner you might want to watch it just to see if it's time for a career change number 6 ignition an informal history of liquid rocket propellants by John D Clarke musk used structures as a guide to building the rocket now it was time to figure out how to get it up and go musk said that ignition was critical in his development of how his Rockets are being fueled and took much of the scientific findings to heart the book breaks down the science behind rocket fuel and how it all comes together out of Musk's recommendations this is the only one will tell you to skip unless you're really into chemistry or rockets we personally recommend you just go on to the next book not because it isn't valuable but the type of value you'll find in it is focused in a very specific field number seven the foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov this trilogy is one of Musk's favorite reads growing up and we can see how it changed the way he looks at the world based on what he was passionate about early on in his life the book centers on the fall of the fictional Galactic Empire which consists of millions of planets settled by humans across the Milky Way galaxy a goal Alon himself said is worthy of pursuing the problem with empires is they have a cyclical life span poised for an incredible growth then a tipping point and the inevitable demise as we've seen with the Babylonians the Sumerians followed by the Egyptians the Romans and even China technology is finally approaching a point in which humans might finally be able to settle other planets and create backups for the knowledge we have acquired so far and the foundation trilogy puts all of that into perspective and a lectures if you've got an interest in science fiction we recommend the foundation series as a great starting point to explore this genre if you haven't already the regular price is $32 for the first part of the trilogy but if you go to a lakhs comm slash free book and sign up you can get it for free courtesy of our partnership with audible number 8 Life 3.0 being human in the age of artificial intelligence by max tegmark out of 15 recommended books this is the third one with a focus on artificial intelligence so I guess you could say we're seeing a trend but this time the book focuses on the positive aspects of AI and how we could use it to further humanity the book tackles questions like how can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose what career advice should we give today's kids how can we make future AI systems more robust so they do what they want without crashing malfunctioning or getting hacked should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons and more we would recommend you get all three of these books in order to have a better understanding of the topic but if you want to get only one this is the one to buy or listen to number 9 the Lord of the Rings by JRR tolkien growing up Ilan was a nerdy loner kid so he immersed himself in these fictional worlds that shaped his characters to a great degree in an interview he did early on with the New York Times he mentions how the heroes of the books I read always felt a duty to save the world and we can surely see that core value of his stuck around to give a summary at the Lord of the Rings at this point would be pretty much useless since you already know the story either from reading the books or watching the movies now slightly off topic but it might be an interest of those who are passionate about Lord of the Rings Amazon is currently financing and producing an entire 250 million dollar TV series set in middle-earth which were expecting to go live sometime in 2020 number 10021 notes on startups or how to build the future by Peter teal Peter teal has been a close acquaintance of musk both members of what is now known as the PayPal mafia they both got rich from the sale of PayPal and ended up launching incredible companies afterwards zero to one is a phenomenal and easy-to-read book which we can't recommend enough it's short it's to the point and heels perspective on how new companies are the change agent for the world is very relatable to those with an entrepreneurial mindset it's easy to see how these two could come together on a mutual project despite sometimes their differences in vision there's a great deal of respect between the two of them and they are easily two of our favorite entrepreneurs Peter teal isn't mainstream popular but we recommend you look into who he is and what he's working on you'll have your mind blown if you want a quick rundown on his story click on the top right corner to watch our profile we did on him number 11 the moon is a harsh mistress by Robert Heinlein why don't we have a moon colony already paint that the question we should have answered by now Highlands book is set in a closed dystopian future where some humans have been exiled from Earth on to the moon where they have created a libertarian Society from which they choose to rebel against and rule the earth it's another great sci-fi novel which must regards as Heinlein's best work which he thoroughly enjoyed number 12 merchants of doubt' by Naomi Oreskes and Eric M Conway this is a fiction book published by two scientists which brings to light how many companies are using PR to hide the damage they're doing to both the planet and the humans living on it from the tobacco industry to pesticides to global warming this book gives you a glimpse behind the curtain merchants of doubt' focuses on how loose-knit groups of very respected scientists paid by and connected to politicians and Industry ran effective campaigns with the goal to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge for over 40 years Musk himself endorsed this book as a worthy read on Twitter back in 2013 number 13 Einstein his life and universe by Walter Isaacson this book based on Einsteins personal letters takes us on a journey of how the man went from a young frustrated patent officer to a Nobel Prize winner and changing the world as we know it in the process musk is very fond of Isaacson's biographies and it's easy to see why the author positions his subjects in a very familiar light as the young rebels and non conformists which are so passionate about the goal of their existence and which in that pursuit end up shifting the way we look at life if you're a big Albert Einstein fan we have a recommendation for you there's this TV series called genius the first season covers Albert and we really enjoyed binge watching it before getting back to work number 14 Howard Hughes his life and madness by Donald L Bartlett and James beastie oh speaking of people who inspired Elon Musk is Howard Hughes the man was a legend fascinating the world during his lifetime Howard Hughes of large he simply did not exist in the same universe with the rest of the world he recommended learning about Howard Hughes because it's a story many of you a Luxor's are interested in living money fame success beyond belief all of them can happen but if you're not careful the price you'll pay will match that opulence many people think of Ilana's the modern-day Howard Hughes let's just hope that this time it ends differently number 15 the culture series by Iain M banks this is an entire series that Ellen has also been inspired by as you would expect it's another sci-fi series made up of ten books mr. musk once described himself as utopian anarchist aligned with Ian M banks books and if dystopian futures ruled by machines are probable in our timeline maybe you'd like to get yourself more acquainted with the possibility awaiting for us banks is widely regarded as Silicon Valley's favorite author because he paints realistic images of what the future of society looks like although the entire series is made up of 10 books if you don't know where to start we recommend the player of games it's probably your best introduction to the series no matter if you enjoy the genre or not now what do you think about Ellen's liste lectures which of these books sparked your interest the most let us know in the comments and as a reward for watching yet another Sunday video all the way to the end you get a bonus book number 16 Elon Musk Tesla SpaceX and the quest for a fantastic future by Ashley vans if you're inspired by musk we recommend you pick up the best book published about him so far we recommended it in our first books video as a must read just to give you a direct glimpse into the mind of the man who is currently inspiring a generation of entrepreneurs you'll be shocked by his life his childhood and how the pieces sometimes fell into place and others forced into place in order to facilitate everything he's done now if you've watched this video all the way to the end we want to say thank you for being a true a lexer you're probably is passionate about Musk's work as we are hopefully in our lifetime we'll get to throw a party on Mars if you'd be open to attending it right Mars in the comments that way we all know who's coming thank you for spending some time with us a Luxor's make sure to LIKE and subscribe so you never miss another video we also hand-picked these videos which we recommend you watch next thank you for being an a lexer and we'll see you back tomorrow

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Keywords: Alux, Alux.com, Alux Youtube, billionaire lifestyle, elon musk, elon musk alux, elon musk books, elon musk story, elon musk strategy, elon musk interview, elon must book recommendation, elon musk reading list, elon musk inspirtion, elon musk documentary, elon musk spacex, elon musk comic books, elon musk superhero, elon musk space, elon musk mars, alux books

Id: RlvTw8kcP6A

Length: 15min 41sec (941 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 05 2018