Slobodian and Tarnoff skillfully guide us through ... The book brings us through the Muskian upheavals of last year, when Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency descended on federal agencies ... The account of those events is surreal, until you remember that they actually happened ... Striking.
Confident and brisk without ever feeling hurried ... It’s a well-written, sharp book ... Enlightening but ultimately limited in its approach to understanding the pathologies of the present. It would benefit from situating Musk in the broader nest of institutions and practices that have allowed him to flourish and discussing his relationship to the broader right. Given all that, I found Muskism more suggestive than revelatory and was left feeling the definitive left-wing critique has yet to be written ... Muskism makes for bracing reading, and its brevity and subject matter ought to earn it a wide audience. This would be a good thing since, as Slobodian and Tarnoff show, his philosophy and its impact are corrosive.
In their new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, historian Quinn Slobodian and tech writer Ben Tarnoff dig into the mindset of Silicon Valley’s most gauche tycoon and touch on science fiction more tangentially, but their firmer grasp of just what flavor of capitalism Musk and his cohort represent sheds a brighter light on the topic.
Well-sourced and appropriately fleet-footed ... They argue convincingly ... Wven those who are bored by Musk and his dominance of the 24-hour news cycle will find Muskism compelling. It’s a well-researched account of how we have arrived at a point where so many resources are concentrated in the hands of just one man, and how this fact alone will inevitably shape the future, long after he’s gone.
Does this book work as a 'guide for the perplexed' as its subtitle promises? Even readers familiar with the biographies by Ashlee Vance and Walter Isaacson should find it thoughtful and illuminating ... But sometimes the book is too clever by half ... The authors try too hard to make sense of late-phase mad Musk ... It is, presumably, quite stressful being Elon Musk. That human element is missing from this book.
Slobodian and Tarnoff probe Musk’s business decisions and public statements. Their more abstract focus keeps Musk the character at arm’s length and makes the account a little dry ... Reminds us of Musk’s pernicious and often shameless influence on recent history. ... In all, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed reiterates, if that were needed, just how extreme and volatile Musk’s worldview is. It is the opposite of reassuring.
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff have a go at trying to define 'Muskism' in a new book of that name. The authors don’t pretend that Musk himself has a coherent philosophy, but instead point to a set of behaviours via which tech utopians like him try to subvert the state for their higher purpose.
Muskism is a brisk read, just 167 pages, with a lively and well-edited narrative. Nonetheless for this Londoner it was a huge relief to put it down and never have to return.
Not another biographical study ... The great value of Muskism is that it is brief, easy to read and yet packed with insights about why we find ourselves in such a perilous situation in which a handful of unelected individuals exert unprecedented domestic and global power.
Capably and cleverly attempts to recognize the world that produced Elon Musk as well as how he became an icon and later, a political firebrand. Pithy and informative from beginning to end.
Muskism is a perceptive introduction, though the book has plenty of flaws ... Sometimes the authors indulge in dark insinuations or criticize Musk for things outside his control ... These missteps are a good reminder that we shouldn’t get distracted by Musk’s flamethrowers and memes.
A searching look into Elon Musk’s quest to rule the universe ... While their dive isn’t as deep as Michael Steinberger’s in The Philosopher in the Valley, the two books are of a piece in warning that such a technocracy can turn fascist on a dime, and backed by a robot army at that ... Dystopian isn’t a strong enough word for the technocratic future the authors prophesy in this bleak but urgent book.
