It was an opinion shared by many in Silicon Valley. But in recent years Musk has scored some big successes, including building the first private rocket to dock with the ISS, releasing the first all-electric sportscar, and co-founding one of the country's largest solar energy companies.

That made Vance change his mind, and inspired him to write the new book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, which is based on more than two hundred interviews with Musk's friends and associates, as well as dozens of hours of conversations with Musk himself. One thing that stands out in the book is how heavily Musk's outlook was shaped by his childhood reading.