the book of elon

May 27, 2026 · 2 min read · book, non-fiction, philosophy

I hate elon for his political affiliations and his lame comments as much as the next guy. But it would facetious to not acknowledge his accomplishments.

This book simplifies a little too much, similar to the almanack of naval ravikant by the same author. It moves away from controversy and simplifies a man with a history of drug abuse, weird partner relationships, slightly disgusting familial history, ethically questionable business decisions etc. into a myth.

The parts I like about this book are the idealism, and the optimism for the future of humanity. which is a slightly different strategy than the way our overlords usually manage us (with fear).

Most of the book is just tweets and talks from elon. but here were my favorite parts and my rationale.

The best part is no part; the best process is no process.

Simplicity creates both reliability and low cost.

Overdelete and add back the absolutely necessary.

These ones spoke to me, because it is so much easier to add regulation, add code, or add features to something. But it is harder to reduce them. The world grows ever more complex, but it is in our benefit to control that complexity.

Start somewhere, question assumptions, and adapt to reality.

Reason from fundamentals, not from what others are doing.

It is easy to get stuck in dogmatic habits and processes but much harder to question something from the ground up and live that.

Double down. Push your chips back in.

Work like hell. Like every waking hour. Go ultra hardcore.

Make sure you really care about what you’re doing—and take the pain.

The parts about work were all reminiscent of poor richard’s almanack . helping people is the goal. Moving the needle on some metric brings all of us up. Although, I disagree with the core thesis of work as a take all. because I believe things outside of work matter even more than the work itself.