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25 Books Recommended by Elon Musk

A curated reading list of books endorsed by Elon Musk across disciplines

From the Xiry library · Updated 11 October 2026

This list compiles 25 book recommendations from Elon Musk, accompanied by his direct quotes and endorsements. The selections span artificial intelligence risks, foundational science, entrepreneurial biographies, philosophy, and classic fiction. It provides a focused reading roadmap for anyone interested in technology, innovation, and long-term thinking.

The list

Intro quote: "I was raised by books. Books, and then my parents" — Elon Musk. He encourages reading a lot and building general knowledge. Entries visible in the attached media:

1) Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark — "A compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence and consciousness—on Earth and beyond."

2) Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart Russell — "Worth reading Human Compatible by Stuart Russell (he's great!) about future AI risks & solutions."

3) Our Final Invention by James Barrat — "While on the subject of AI risk, Our Final Invention by James Barrat is worth reading."

4) Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom — "Worth reading Superintelligence by Bostrom. We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes."

5) Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway — "I recommend people read a book called Merchants of Doubt. All they need to do is create doubt."

6) Zero to One by Peter Thiel — "Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how."

7) What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill — "Worth reading. This is a close match for my philosophy."

8) Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio and Aaron Courville — "Written by three experts in the field, Deep Learning is the only comprehensive book on the subject."

9) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien — "I know it's cliche, but this is my favorite book ever. The heroes of the books I read, 'The Lord of the Rings' and the 'Foundation' series, always felt a duty to save the world."

10) Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson — long quote praising Franklin as entrepreneur and one of the few people Musk most admires.

11) Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson — "I like biographies and autobiographies... it's also worth reading books on scientists and engineers. Tesla, obviously."

12) The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad — "Worth reading."

13) Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up by Abigail Shrier — "Every parent should read this."

14) The Big Picture by Sean Carroll — "Highly recommend anything by Sean Carroll."

15) Lying by Sam Harris — "Excellent cover art and lots of good reasons not to lie!"

Entries 16-25 exist in the thread but are not visible in the attached media.

What it's for

  • Find recommended reading on artificial intelligence risk and safety
  • Discover biographies of prominent inventors and historical entrepreneurs
  • Explore foundational texts on business building and future-oriented philosophy

Key points

  • Curated collection of 25 books publicly endorsed by Elon Musk
  • Direct quotes explaining why Musk recommends each title
  • Strong focus on AI safety, machine learning, and technological risks
  • Biographical selections covering key innovators like Benjamin Franklin and Nikola Tesla
  • Includes non-fiction deep dives as well as influential sci-fi and fantasy fiction

Pricing

Free

Details

Type
List
Category
Learning
Topic
Reading Lists
Open source
No
Platforms
other
For
Readers interested in science, technology, AI safety, and entrepreneurship.
Tags
books, reading list, elon musk, ai, biographies, entrepreneurship

Why it was saved

  • @readswithravi, 19 October 2024: Curated reading list with Musk's own endorsements, useful for picking books worth reading.

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