Author Walter Isaacson presents his new, astonishingly intimate biography of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era
Join Octavia Books and the New Orleans JCC for a special evening with New York Times bestselling author Walter Isaacson featuring his new biography ELON MUSK.
Tickets are required.
Each ticket admits one and will be exchanged for one hardback edition of the book, ELON MUSK.
You will have the opportunity to meet Walter Issacson in person and have him sign your book following the presentation.
The program is in the auditorium at the New Orleans Jewish Community Center. Thanks to Cathy and Morris Bart for sponsoring the Jewish Cultural Arts Series (a celebration of Jewish authors, music and films).
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.
At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.
It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.
For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress.
Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane and was CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023.
Please bring a printed ticket or have your phone ready to scan the ticketed barcode from Eventbrite. This will speed up the entry process. Arrive early.
Tickets are non-refundable; if you are unable to attend, your book will be available at Octavia Books the next afternoon after the program and will be held for up to 30 days.
Only books purchased with admission or through Octavia Books will be signed. Additional copies of Walter Isaacson's ELON MUSK will be available for purchase at the event and at octaviabooks.com/book/9781982181284.
Octavia Books will donate a portion of your purchase to the JCC in support of literary and cultural programs.
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If you cannot attend the event but want signed copies - or if you have purchased a ticket and also want additional copies of the book, please order them here. Write "signed, not attending" or "signed, attending" in the comment box during checkout.
