Books Elon Musk has recommended
Books Elon Musk has cited in interviews and on X: the science fiction behind SpaceX, the engineering texts he recommends, and the AI books he told people to read.
Elon Musk has no affiliation with this site and does not endorse it. Recommendations are quoted from public sources listed at the bottom. Background: Wikipedia.
Musk's recommendations come in three flavors: the science fiction he grew up on and credits for SpaceX, the engineering texts he tells people to read if they want to build rockets, and the AI books he flagged a decade before it was fashionable. Each entry links the interview or post.
The list
Foundation
Isaac Asimov · 1951
"Fundamental to the creation of SpaceX." He has repeatedly cited Asimov's lesson that you should act to prolong civilization and shorten the dark ages.
The Lord of the Rings
J. R. R. Tolkien · 1954
A childhood favorite he has named many times; he has said the heroes in the books he read felt a duty to save the world.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams · 1979
Taught him, he says, that the question is harder than the answer. A Tesla Roadster launched on Falcon Heavy with 'Don't Panic' on the dash.
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
J. E. Gordon · 1978
Recommended in a 2013 KCRW interview as a good primer if you want to understand structural design for rockets.
Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
John D. Clark · 1972
A 2018 recommendation on his feed: the funniest and most honest account of the chemists who tried to make rocket fuel without dying.
Superintelligence
Nick Bostrom · 2014
"Worth reading. We need to be super careful with AI," he posted in August 2014.
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson · 2003
A favorite biography: 'you can see how he was an entrepreneur,' starting from nothing as a runaway kid.
Einstein: His Life and Universe
Walter Isaacson · 2007
Named as a favorite in interviews, long before Isaacson wrote Musk's own biography.
Zero to One
Peter Thiel · 2014
Blurbed by Musk: 'Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how.'
Our Final Invention
James Barrat · 2013
Posted alongside Superintelligence as worth reading on AI risk.
Questions people ask
What books influenced Elon Musk to start SpaceX?
He credits Isaac Asimov's Foundation series most directly, along with Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide and the science fiction he read as a child in South Africa.
What books does Elon Musk recommend about rockets?
Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down by J. E. Gordon for structural design, and Ignition! by John D. Clark for propellant chemistry. He has said he learned rocketry largely from textbooks and talking to experts.
Sources
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Keep going
Jeff Bezos
Amazon founder
The books Jeff Bezos assigned to Amazon's executives and named as favorites, from Brad Stone's reporting and Bezos' own interviews.
Patrick Collison
Stripe co-founder and CEO
Books Patrick Collison flags as particularly great on his personal bookshelf page, several of which Stripe Press later republished.
Bill Gates
Microsoft co-founder, Gates Notes
The books Bill Gates recommended on Gates Notes in his 2024 and 2025 holiday and summer lists, each with the original post.
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