In Hubris Maximus, journalist Faiz Siddiqui unpacks Elon Musk's behavior as a business leader and person, illuminating persistant problematic patterns in his actions. While I appreciate the premise of this book and Siddiqui's journalistic rigor, I found the book to be lacking in the following ways:
- Hubris Maximus only covers a brief portion of Elon Musk's life (mainly from the height of his power at Tesla to the 2024 Presidential election). I wish Siddiqui spent more time on his early days to understand if these patterns stretch back further
- The book is circular, with the same events repeating in multiple chapters. I believe this book could have been better organized to improve readability and persuasion
-In many ways, it felt like an extended long form article instead of a book which pushed the story/thesis further. I appreciate Siddiqui's note that many of his sources only felt comfortable speaking on background, but I did not find any of the evidence presented in the book to be "ground breaking" to my understanding of Elon Musk

"There is a large graveyard filled with my enemies." —Elon Musk. p8

Pre-Read notes

Yikes. Look at that opening quotation and tell me it doesn't make you feel something. For me, it instills wariness and distrust. Who talks about their enemies like this except for people who are completely preoccupied with their enemies? I refuse to play armchair psychologist here, but being obsessed with real or perceived enemies is disordered thinking.

I had to read this for the same reason I read about the current species die-offs, pollution, wars and conflict, climate change and natural disasters, and pretty much everything else we manage to politicize in the U.S.-- books are the only delivery systems of such misery that I can tolerate. So here we go. I'm about to read about the man who is dismantling this country's social services and already making it extremely hard for me to get treatment and medication. (I'm disabled, which is one of the most politicized existences one can possess.) I don't expect this to be a pleasant read. *edit It wasn't.

Final Review

I have long admired Faiz Siddiqui's journalism so I was really excited to read this one. Musk is an interesting figure still, despite being polarizing. I had requested the book before he started working in the government in January, so I now have little tolerance for this subject, due to the fact that he is impossible to escape.

After reading as much of this book as I have, I'm worried some 💩head will dox me. But I still want to share what I've gained from just the little bit that I read. For sure, Musk's thinking is completely disordered in so many of the stories included here. My guess? He needs some sleep. But until he gets some, his absurd wealth will protect him from ever having to act like he's not the only person living here.

So if I can leave you with anything, it's this: Elon Musk is tripping.

I recommend this book to fans or critics of Elon Musk, or fans or critics of long form journalism.

Review summary and recommendations

Reading Notes

Two things I loved:

1. The promise felt big: Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Wasn’t that more important than a few pesky societal norms? p11 No, it's not, because people who deride the rules don't recognize the importance of the public good. They are driven only by their own selfish whims. Speaking once about the nearly four-hundred-foot SpaceX rocket he hopes will take humans to Mars, he said: “I can’t say for sure that Starship will reach escape velocity, but my hubris certainly has.” p14 I mean here he expresses his lack of concern for astronauts' survival in service to his self-proclaimed hubris. This is one unpredictable dude.

2. I have liked Siddiqui's journalism for a long time, used to watch him on CNN. This book contains the professionalism I've come to expect from him. He has a lot of not nice things to say about his subject, but he isn't bashing or even insulting him.

Three quibbles:

1. By the time he was pulling public stunts like erecting a giant, pulsing X logo in the middle of San Francisco to signify Twitter’s rebrand— directing “rave levels of brightness,” as one person put it to me, into residential high-rises (including an apartment complex of senior and low-income residents and people with disabilities)—no one expected him to face any real consequences. p151
This is section is basically going to be a huge collection of evidence that Musk doesn't give a 💩 about anyone or anything.

2. Among Washington officials, Cummings’s story is a cautionary tale of what can happen when one dares to mention Tesla or Musk, whose legions of online fans are extremely sensitive to the slightest hint of criticism. Musk’s tweets to those groups serve to fan the flames, providing a set of marching orders . Today, so many with strong opinions on Musk refrain from expressing them outright for fear of disturbing the hornet’s nest and inviting an online swarm of vitriol turbocharged by Musk’s megaphone. p33 Elon Musk only cares about Elon Musk.

3. Tesla was effectively handcuffing its future to one man, turning a publicly traded company into an automotive fiefdom. p38 Elon Musk cares only about his own pocket.

Notes

1. Siddiqui was so brave to take on this project, honestly. I have the utmost respect for him.

Rating: 💰💰💰💰 /5 men above the law
Recommend? yes, if you're more patient than I am
Finished: May 3, '25
Format: accessible digital arc, Netgalley

Thank you to the author Faiz Siddiqui, publishers St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of HUBRIS MAXIMUS. All views are mine.
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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.

This is a very informative and relevant read! Siddiqui did an incredible job laying out Elon's rise and fall of fame, fumbles, controversies, and neurotic narcissism. There is a lot of information in this book but the explanations were always concise. Siddiqui has a wonderful literary voice, leaving the reader with a good balance of information mixed with humor. It's truly wild to see all of Elon's controversies laid out like this. This book is great for anyone looking to read over Elon's doings for the past 20 years.

As someone who has been very involved in the technology and environmental spaces, it's truly disheartening to see all of the lies we were fed under the guise of advancing tech. Like many, there was a time where I wanted to trust Elon's ideas. But it's obvious now that only a select type of person would benefit from his power.

At the end of the day, life is random. We can try to study and predict every outcome, automate the entire universe, but chaos will always exist. We cannot solve all dangers with machines. But, what else can we expect from someone who refuses to accept fundamental scientific understandings and genuinely thinks they can change the laws of the universe?

ARC provided for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC!

This was a great book - not quite what I imagined going into it, but very informative and full of footnotes. It's a great introduction to Elon's actions, especially over the last decade or so.
I do wish there had been a bit more about possible explanations for Elon, but I'm not sure anyone really knows why Elon does anything.
The introduction was my favorite part of the book - slightly less formal than the rest of the text, which I appreciated. The rest of the text I think mostly tried to follow a chronological arc, but didn't quite get there. It was repetitious in places, and it could have used a stronger anchor point.
However, Siddiqui is a great writer, so even when the text wandered a bit, it was still REALLY INTERESTING reading. And I'd pick up his next book (if he writes one).

The timing of this release couldn't be better: over the past few months, seemingly everyone is trying to understand what happened to that brilliant genius, Elon Musk, who became famous for his sleek cars and bold dreams. If you haven't followed his path closely, this book will give you plenty of insight, recalling many horrible stories from his career and showing how he has always been the man so many people now hate. Since I am interested in technology, I know most of them and the narrative structure was a bit too chaotic for me, but if you want to learn everything about Musk from scratch, this will be a great choice.

Thanks to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.