Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk

Synopsis

Journalist Faiz Siddiqui, who has been following Elon Musk’s life and career closely for several years, lays out the meteoric rise and beginnings of the puzzling fall of the world’s richest man. How on earth did we get here??

My Review

The past 3 months have felt like a decade, haven’t they? It feels like every time you turn on the news or open a social media app, there’s something new and earth-shattering going on. I live in Canada, but still, American politics is almost all I hear about, even when people are talking about Canada’s current federal election campaign. The names Donald Trump and Elon Musk are everywhere.

With the rapid spin of the news cycle making us all dizzy, it can be easy to forget today what we were shocked and appalled about yesterday, let alone 3 to 7 years ago. That’s what makes a deep-dive like this book so important – Siddiqui calmly recounts the past 7 years of Elon Musk’s roller coaster of a career so that we can get a clear view of his playbook without all the vertigo. Because yes, there is a method to all the Musk madness.

Siddiqui finished writing this book in December 2024, back when DOGE was just a twinkle in Musk’s eye, yet the chapter on his Twitter takeover could have been written about DOGE last week. The mass firings and shutdowns, the “Oops, maybe that one was a mistake… oh well”s, the loyalists from his other companies walking in to take over work they don’t really know how to do… sound familiar? You have to wonder how he thought this method worked well enough for Twitter that it would work great on the government of a global superpower. But then you remember the title of this book, and it all kind of makes sense.

Musk once (allegedly) called himself the reincarnated spirit of Alexander the Great. Like his spirit guide, he seems to think nothing of making mistakes that ruin or end people’s lives if it advances whatever cause he believes in. This book, while managing to avoid outright attacking Musk, and often giving him the benefit of the doubt motivation-wise, reveals dangerous patterns in Musk’s behaviour and mindset that should worry us all.

My one criticism is that the timeline jumps around from chapter to chapter, so at times I found it a bit difficult to follow chains of events. But that’s just a small quibble. This is such an important and timely read. I highly recommend it.

Hubris Maximus hits bookstores on April 22, but I received an advance ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. If you’re in the US and are interested in purchasing this book, please consider using this affiliate link to Bookshop.org. Any purchase you make through that link will earn a small commission both for me and for the local independent bookstore of your choice, without additional cost to you. Don’t forget, April 26 is Independent Bookstore Day!