Elon Musk’s long-awaited biography portrays the tycoon as a man dragged down by the demons of his childhood, obsessed with bringing human life to Mars and demanding that his staff be “unconditional.”

‘Elon Musk’ was written by biographer Walter Isaacson, former editor-in-chief of Time magazine, known for his successful portrait of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his research into the lives of Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci.

US media had access to the more than 600-page book before its official release worldwide on Tuesday, and several excerpts have been released.

Within hours of its launch on Amazon, pre-orders had already made “Elon Musk” the site’s best-selling book in the United States.

Much of the billionaire’s early life is already public knowledge, with attention focused on his abusive and manipulative father Errol, who Musk despises.

The biography suggests that Musk is moved by what his ex-partner, Canadian singer Grimes, calls “demon mode,” which Isaacson says makes him highly productive.

Many of the unknown elements in the story come from a more recent period, when Isaacson closely followed his protagonist and gained direct access to his daily life.

A widely shared passage recounts how Musk personally foiled a Ukrainian military plan to carry out a mega-operation in Crimea by denying internet access to Starlink, his satellite communications company, prompting an angry response from Kiev.

But Isaacson was forced to withdraw his description of the episode after Musk assured that at the time of his decision, access to Starlink was not yet operational in Crimea, a strategic location of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Musk’s chaotic and impulsive takeover of Twitter – now rebranded

Another recurring theme in Isaacson’s account is Musk’s vindictive tendencies toward skeptics and critics.

After acquiring Twitter late last year, Musk and his close associates combed through emails and social media and immediately fired dozens of employees who had criticized the new owner. Ultimately, two-thirds of the 7,500 workers were fired.

In another episode, Musk defied the warnings and, with the help of a small team, moved key servers out of a data center in Sacramento, California, to reduce costs, causing a series of major outages.

He also refused to join forces with Bill Gates on charity projects, because the Microsoft founder had bet against Tesla’s success on the stock market.

The book notes that Musk, who is concerned about the depopulation of the planet, now has ten children, including an unknown one with Grimes.

He also fathered twins as a sperm donor with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink, a company he owns.

Reviews of the biography are mixed: The Washington Post praises the journalistic work but regrets that Isaacson “has prioritized revealing behind-the-scenes anecdotes and chronicles over a refined critical vision.”

Influential American technology analyst Kara Swisher said the biography told the story of a “sad, smart son (who) slowly turns into the mentally abusive father he detests.”

“He’s often right, sometimes he’s wrong, and he’s always a mean-spirited jerk,” Swisher notes of the book’s portrayal of Musk. (JO)