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17 Books Elon Musk Recommends, From Dune to Rocket Fuel
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items Every book here is one Elon Musk has recommended or credited in an interview, a tweet or a talk, with the source linked. It runs from the science fiction he grew up on, to the engineering books he used to teach himself rocketry, to the AI books he ke...
Sections
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The sci-fi behind SpaceX and Tesla
Biographies of builders and generals
How he taught himself rocket science
AI, risk and the future
The sci-fi behind SpaceX and Tesla
The novels Musk grew up on and still cites when he explains why he builds rockets and worries about AI.
Tolkien's quest about ordinary hobbits carrying an impossible burden across Middle-earth. Musk has called it his favorite book ever and says the heroes he read about as a kid always felt a duty to save the world.
The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniv One Vol
A very funny British novel that starts with Earth being demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass and ends up asking what life is for. Musk says it taught him the hard part is knowing which questions to ask, and he put Don't Panic on the screen ...
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Illustrated
A mathematician predicts the fall of a galactic empire and sets up a plan to shorten the dark age that follows. Musk has said the series was fundamental to starting SpaceX, because civilizations rise and fall and the window to reach other planets may...
Foundation
A lunar colony, a computer that wakes up and starts telling jokes, and a revolution against Earth. Musk has called it Heinlein's best book.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
A desert planet, a priceless spice and a universe that banned thinking machines after a war against them. Musk called the series brilliant and pointed out that Herbert argues for limits on machine intelligence.
Dune
The first book in the Culture series, set in a post-scarcity society run by friendly AI Minds. Musk is a longtime fan and named SpaceX's landing drone ships after Culture starships, so this is where to start.
Consider Phlebas (Culture)
Biographies of builders and generals
Musk reads a lot of biography, especially about inventors and larger-than-life leaders.
Isaacson's biography of the printer, scientist, inventor and diplomat. Musk calls Franklin one of his heroes because he started from nothing and built everything himself.
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Built on Einstein's letters, this biography follows him from frustrated patent clerk to the most famous scientist alive. Musk recommended it years before he picked Isaacson to write his own biography.
Einstein
The story of the aviator, filmmaker and tycoon who set air-speed records and then disappeared into isolation. Musk read it and joked to CNN that it was a warning not to let his fingernails grow too long.
Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness
William Manchester's biography of General Douglas MacArthur, a brilliant and very difficult man. Musk recommended it in a post on X.
American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964
How he taught himself rocket science
Musk had no aerospace background when he started SpaceX. These are two of the books he used to learn.
A plain-English explanation of why bridges, bones, ships and planes hold together or break. Musk used it to teach himself engineering for SpaceX and called it a really good primer on structural design.
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
A chemist's funny firsthand history of the race to build liquid rocket fuels, explosions and all. Musk has said it helped him get a handle on rocketry when he was starting SpaceX.
Ignition! History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
AI, risk and the future
Musk has warned about AI for over a decade, and these are the books he pointed people to.
Nick Bostrom's careful look at what could happen if machines become smarter than people. Musk tweeted that it was worth reading and that AI could be more dangerous than nukes.
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
A journalist's investigation into the risks of artificial intelligence, written a decade before chatbots went mainstream. Musk called it a worthy read in 2014.
Our Final Invention: AI and Human Era End
MIT physicist Max Tegmark walks through possible futures with advanced AI, good and bad, and the choices that lead to each. It is one of the few AI books Musk has recommended that spends real time on how things could go right.
Life 3.0: Being Human in AI Age
Stuart Russell, co-author of the standard AI textbook, argues machines should be built to stay uncertain about what humans want. Musk tweeted about it in 2019 as part of his long running case for AI safety.
Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control
Two historians show how a handful of scientists helped cast doubt on the risks of smoking, acid rain and climate change. Musk recommended it in 2013 and tied its lesson directly to climate denial.
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change