If an entrepreneur like Elon Musk recommends some books to read, you know you have to try them. They must have impacted his business or life that we can also learn from.

As I have said multiple times, if you are reading, you are growing. And in order to run a successful business, you have to grow continuously.

Elon Reeve Musk FRS is an engineer, entrepreneur, and business magnate. He is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; early-stage investor, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI. 

And if, after being a founder of such major companies and those daily witty tweets, he can find time to read, we obviously should not be making any excuses.

Remember this line by the legendary Elon Musk always,

Best Books to read as recommended by Elon Musk

1. ‘Benjamin Franklin: An American Life’ by Walter Isaacson

Musk has always been Franklin’s fan. In an interview he said “He was an entrepreneur. He started from nothing. He was just a runaway kid.”

In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders.

2. ‘Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down’ by J.E. Gordon

This book helped Elon Musk extend his knowledge to structural engineering as was needed when he was founding SpaceX.

Musk comes from a coding background. So, to have a company that designs and manufactures rockets and spacecraft, is astonishing.

“It is really, really good if you want a primer on structural design,” Musk said in an interview with KCRW.

This book helped him learn the basics and fundamentals of rocket science.

Related: 6 Companies Owned By Billionaire Entrepreneur-Elon Musk

3. ‘Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies’ by Nick Bostrom

We all know Elon Musk’s company Neuralink is solely focussed on Artificial intelligence.

“We need to be super careful with AI,” he tweeted in 2014, saying it’s “potentially more dangerous than nukes.”

It’s about using the technology in a right way. If used wrong, it could destroy the human existence.

Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life.

4. ‘Merchants of Doubt’ by Naomi Orestes and Erik M. Conway

Musk first recommended the book at a conference in 2013.

He referenced the book’s key takeaway in a tweet, saying “the same forces that denied how smoking causes cancer are now denying the danger of climate change.”

Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades.

A definite and an interesting read.

5. ‘Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence’ by Max Tegmark

Again, a book on Artificial intelligence. This shows that he likes to do an indepth research on whatever he wants to pursue.

This is one of the books that Elon Musk recommends to read which tells about the good and the positive aspect of Artificial intelligence and how it can change the world for better.

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 super intelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos.

This is one of the best books that Elon Musk recommends us to read.

Recommended: 10 Most Famous Entrepreneurs Who Changed The World

6. ‘Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future’ by Peter Theil

Musk’s viewpoint on this book,“Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how.” 

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.

Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress 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.

7. ‘Screw Business As Usual: Turning Capitalism into a Force for Good’ by Richard Branson

Richard Branson argues that it’s time to turn capitalism upside down-to shift our values from an exclusive focus on profit to also caring for people, communities and the planet.

In Screw Business as Usual, Richard Branson at his brilliant and motivating best, shares some fascinating and inspiring stories about the people who are already leading the way in transforming business into a force for good, for people and for the planet.

8. ‘The Big Picture’ by Sean M. Carroll

Award-winning author Sean Carroll brings his extraordinary intellect to bear on the realms of knowledge, the laws of nature and the most profound questions about life, death and our place in it all.

The Big Picture demonstrates that while our lives may be forever dwarfed by the immensity of the universe, they can be redeemed by our capacity to comprehend it and give it meaning.

If you want to know more about the universe, give this a try.

Also Read: How To Become An Entrepreneur In 6 Steps

9. ‘Consider Phlebas’ by Iain M Banks

Elon Musk is clearly very much fascinated by universe and doesn’t miss a chance of learning more about it.

Iain M Banks’s first science fiction novel takes people into an unrealistic world filled with human and alien races.

Beginning from the exploration of the nature of war, morality, and the limitless bounds of mankind’s imagination, consider Phlebas is a great piece to read.

Originally published in 1920, The Storm of Steel is a first-hand account of World War I trench combat lifted from the diaries of Ernst Jünger, a German infantryman who would become one of Europe’s most talented writers.

10. ‘Storm of Steel’ by Ernst Junger

The Storm of Steel remains the definitive account of World War I, following Jünger through several major engagements as he develops from an eager young soldier into a battle-hardened officer.

It was originally printed privately in 1920, making it one of the first personal accounts to be published. The book is a graphic account of trench warfare.

The book is a memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism.