PALO ALTO, Calif.–Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla and Space X, attributes much of his success to reading a lot of books. When asked recently to recommend a reading list, he offered up these 11 books, according to Inc. Magazine.
1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Growing up, Musk was a scrawny brainiac who was picked on. He read fantasy books to escape. "The heroes of the books I read,” he told The New Yorker, "always felt a duty to save the world."
2. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson.
Musk recommended this biography in 2012 and said Franklin is one of the people he most admires. "He was an entrepreneur," he said. "He started from nothing. He was just a runaway kid."
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Musk has compared his childhood in Pretoria, South Africa, to the classic novel that teaches lessons about humanity. “I ended up sticking up for this one kid who they were relentless on," he said. "And that made me a target."
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Musk has said the novel taught him that coming up with the right questions can be harder than finding the answers. Musk buried references to the book in Tesla cars and plans to name his Mars spaceship after it.
5. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.
It's no surprise that Musk enjoys reading about one of the most brilliant scientists in modern history. "I don't read very many general business books," he has said. "I like biographies."
6. Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down by J.E. Gordon.
Learning about engineering doesn’t have to involve textbooks. Musk said in 2013 that this book helped him learn how to build rockets. "It is really, really good if you want a primer on structural design," he said.
7. Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.
The nonfiction book describes how scientists have covered up key findings on everything from tobacco to global warming.
8. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel.
Musk endorsed the book by his fellow PayPal co-founder. "Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies," he wrote, "and Zero to One shows how."
9. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.
Tesla's self-driving tech relies heavily on artificial intelligence, but Musk is a certified A.I. fear monger. In 2014, he tweeted that the book was worth a read, calling A.I. "potentially more dangerous than nukes."
10. The Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
The sci-fi novel taught Musk that civilization moves in cycles. His conclusion? Humans need to become interplanetary. "It seems like we'd be wise to act while the window was open," Musk said in 2013.
11. Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks.
The 2000 sci-fi novel describes a world in which people are crazy intelligent and travel from planet to planet. Musk tweeted that he was compelled by the book’s "semi-utopian galactic future."