Elon Musk's 19 Must-Read Books That Shaped His Life

Explore Elon Musk’s top 19 book picks that shaped his vision—from sci-fi to AI, these reads offer insight, knowledge, and bold inspiration. 

Elon Musk recommends these 19 books because they shaped his thinking, fueled his innovations, and challenged his view of the world, from sci-fi to AI.

Ever wondered what fuels the mind of the man behind SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink? Elon Musk credits much of his success to one habit—reading. As a child, he devoured science fiction novels and even tackled the Encyclopedia Britannica at age nine. Today, his library is a mix of deep science, bold fiction, and revolutionary thought.

From Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom, which explores the dangers of AI, to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Musk’s favorite sci-fi comedy, his reading list is anything but ordinary. He’s also a fan of The Lord of the Rings for its tale of resilience and courage, and Dostoevsky for deep philosophical insights.

Musk’s recommendations include both fiction and non-fiction gems that have influenced his views on space, technology, and society. Titles like Merchants of Doubt and Rocket Science for the Rest of Us show his interest in science, politics, and public perception. These books don’t just entertain—they educate and inspire.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a student, or just curious about what shapes one of the greatest minds of our time, this list has something for you. Even young readers can start exploring Musk's favorite titles to spark their own imagination and passion.

On this Content …

• 19 Books from Elon Musk’s Reading List Recommended for Everyone

• 1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

• 2. Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall by JE Gordon

• 3. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

• 4. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

• 5. Our Final Invention by James Barrat

• 6. Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John D. Clark

• 7. The “Foundation” trilogy by Isaac Asimov

• 8. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

• 9. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

• 10. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

• 11. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

• 12. Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

• 13. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

• 14. Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele

• 15. The Culture series by Iain M. Banks

• 16. On War by Carl von Clausewitz

• 17. Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville

• 18. The Extended Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

• 19. Dune

• Conclusion

• Books recommended by Elon Musk across different genres.

• AI Books:

• Fiction Books:

• Non-fiction Books:

• Business Books:

• Books that Elon Musk read as a kid:

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

In one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchhiker series.

Now celebrating the pivotal 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, soon to be a Hulu original series!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read)Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together, they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, moment before annihilation at the hands of a warmonger, is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.

Life, the Universe, and Everything unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky, so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now, only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.

So Long, and Thanks for All the FishBack on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription thrusts him back to reality. So to speak.

Mostly Harmless. Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?

“With droll wit, a keen eye for detail and heavy doses of insight... Adams makes us laugh until we cry.” — San Diego Union-Tribune

“Lively, sharply satirical, brilliantly written... ranks with the best-set pieces in Mark Twain.” — The Atlantic.

2. Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down by JE Gordon

In a book that Business Insider noted as one of the “14 Books that inspired Elon Musk,” J.E. Gordon strips engineering of its confusing technical terms, communicating its founding principles in accessible, witty prose.

For anyone who has ever wondered why suspension bridges don’t collapse under eight lanes of traffic, how dams hold back — or give way under — thousands of gallons of water, or what principles guide the design of a skyscraper, a bias-cut dress, or a kangaroo, this book will ease your anxiety and answer your questions.

Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall is an informal explanation of the basic forces that hold together the ordinary and essential things of this world- from buildings and bodies to flying aircraft and eggshells. In a style that combines wit, a masterful command of his subject, and an encyclopedic range of references, Gordon includes such chapters as “How to Design a Worm” and “The Advantage of Being a Beam,” offering humorous insights into human and natural creation.

Architects and engineers will appreciate the clear and cogent explanations of the concepts of stress, shear, torsion, fracture, and compression. If you’re building a house, a sailboat, or a catapult, here is a handy tool for understanding the mechanics of joinery, floors, ceilings, hulls, masts, or flying buttresses.

Without jargon or oversimplification, Structures opens up the marvels of technology to anyone interested in the foundations of our everyday lives.

3. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was an American industrialist, scientist, social activist, thinker, and diplomat in the 18th century.

He was the first scientist, inventor, and musician in American history to achieve international fame. To explore electricity, he once conducted the famous “kite experiment” and made remarkable achievements in electricity.

To deeply explore the laws of electrical motion, many special terms such as positive electricity, negative electricity, conductor, battery, charge, discharge, etc., were created and became common vocabulary in the world.

He borrowed the concepts of positive and negative from mathematics and was the first to scientifically use the concepts of positive and negative electricity to express the nature of charge. He also put forward the idea that electric charge cannot be created or destroyed.

On this basis, later generations discovered the law of conservation of electric charge. He was the first to put forward the idea of lightning rods. The lightning rods he created avoided lightning disasters and broke superstition.

He is an excellent politician. He was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He participated in drafting the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Actively advocating the abolition of slavery, he is deeply respected by the American people and enjoys a high reputation in the world.

4. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

What happens when machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence? Will artificial intelligence save humanity or destroy it?

The author mentioned that we are not the fastest creatures on the planet, but we invented cars, trains, and airplanes. We may not be the strongest, but we invented the bulldozer. Our teeth aren’t the sharpest, but we can invent knives that are stronger than any animal’s teeth.

We control the planet because our brains are far more complex than those of even the most intelligent animals. If machines are smarter than humans, we will no longer be the masters of this planet. When this happens, machines will outperform humans.

The human brain has some functions that other animal brains do not. It is these unique features that allow our species to dominate. If machine brains surpass humans in general intelligence, this emerging superintelligence could be extremely powerful and potentially uncontrollable.

Just as the fate of gorillas now lies more in the hands of humans than in our own, so too will the future fate of humanity depend on the behavior of machine superintelligence.

But we have one advantage: we have the opportunity to act first. Is it possible to build a seed AI that creates specific initial conditions so that the outcome of an intelligent burst allows for human survival? How do we achieve this controlled detonation?

The author believes that superintelligence will be a huge threat to us humans. In this book, the author talks about the risks posed by the advantages of superintelligence and how humans can address these risks. The author believes that the issues addressed in his book will be the greatest risks we face as humanity.

This book is ambitious and original, opening up a new path in the field of artificial intelligence. This book takes you on a fascinating journey, bringing you to the forefront of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life.

Nick Bostrom’s new book lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life and is truly a redefinition of the fundamental tasks of our time.

5. Our Final Invention by James Barrat

Elon Musk named Our Final Invention one of the 5 books everyone should read about the future

A Huffington Post Definitive Tech Book of 2013

Artificial Intelligence helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see, and even who you date. It puts the “smart” in your smartphone, and soon it will drive your car.

It makes most of the trades on Wall Street and controls vital energy, water, and transportation infrastructure. But Artificial Intelligence can also threaten our existence.

In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI’s Holy Grail — human-level intelligence.

Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien than we can imagine.

Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs, and groundbreaking AI systems, Our Final Invention explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI.

Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own? And will they allow us to?

6. Ignition: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John D. Clark

This book was a great help to Musk as he learned and mastered the complexities of rocket science.

John D. Clark was an American chemist who was actively involved in the development of rocket fuel in the 1960s and 1970s. This book tells the history of the field of rocket fuel and explains the relevant principles of rocket fuel science.

While working on the development of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket system, Musk knew the knowledge in this book by heart. SpaceX uses cryogenically cooled RP-1 rocket fuel, a type of kerosene used in jets, to burn rocket launch fuel with liquid oxygen.

7. The “Foundation” trilogy by Isaac Asimov

In addition to the “Lord of the Rings” series, Musk’s early fascination with science fiction and fantasy novels included the “Foundation” series written by Isaac Asimov.

The “Foundation” series tells the story of the fall of the fictional Galactic Empire. The Galactic Empire consists of millions of planets inhabited by humans across the galaxy.

The stories in the book had a huge impact on Musk’s career. He said in an interview with the Guardian in 2013:

“The lessons of history tell us that the development of civilization is a cyclical process. We can see this from the development of ancient Babylon, ancient Sumer, ancient Egyptian civilization, ancient Rome, and ancient China.

We are in an upward cycle now, and hopefully, we will stay in this cycle. But it may backfire because something may happen in the future that will cause technological regression.

For the first time in 4.5 billion years, we have seen the hope of human beings surviving on other planets. We must act early while we have the opportunity, and do not expect there will be opportunities for a long time in the future.”

8. Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark

How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society, and our very sense of being human?

The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology — and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

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 that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning, or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons?

Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans in the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle?

What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time.

It doesn’t shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues — from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness, and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos.

9. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times, the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his power so that he could rule all others.

But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages, it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron’s fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.

When Bilbo reaches his 71st birthday, he disappears, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.

This new edition includes the fiftieth-anniversary fully corrected text setting and, for the first time, an extensive new index.

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959.

His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but while he studied classic works of the past, he was creating a set of his own.

10. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create.

In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.

Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice.

Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley.

Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself.

Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar.

But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine.

Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace. They will escape competition altogether because their businesses will be unique.

Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.

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