Elon Musk: The Evening Rocket

The story of Elon Musk, the way it's often told, makes him sound like a fictional character, a comic-book superhero – or, especially lately, a supervillain. As the world's richest man, the US President’s right-hand man, and the owner of X, he’s possibly the world’s most powerful man. 

Musk wants to build robots and colonise Mars and appears to be dismantling sizable parts of the US government. His vision of the future seems to stem from the science fiction that has fueled his imagination since he was a boy. But what's the real story, the true history, behind Musk’s sense of destiny? 

Back in 2021 Harvard history professor and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore became fascinated by this question. So she made a podcast that tried to explain Musk through the science fiction he grew up with. A lot has happened in the four years since. So she’s gone back in to bring the story up to date.

“X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story” is a production of the BBC and distributed by Pushkin Industries.

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Recent Reviews

Andydabossupinhere

Very one sided

I was hoping for a life review with facts from both sides. Her distaste for Elon shines through and skips most of historical information
Listenerrrr😁

Enjoyed the series with a dose of salt

The writing is really fantastic and speaking engaging. Love the research that is done and connecting the dots. Seems like there is a biased against people with influence. Reason I say that is because she does mention the good and bad, but dwells on the bad.
CarieSky

Musk needs to be sent back to SA.

A superhero? Disgusting. Lots of lies here
LindseyMicheleLMT

Reverence for Mediocrity, the Peter Principle and Nepotism

There you go. I just summed up what everyone obsessed with Elon Musk embodies.
scunns

Thoughtful and fair

As someone who sees extremism on both sides of the aisle, I appreciate that the host explicitly says she is tired of the N*zi accusations, and that she does not think that of Elon. She also later says she too sees the extremism Elon is worried about. The show certainly takes a literary perspective and I’d quibble with certain word choices and sentences, but overall I found it really interesting. While it does take a more critical position of Musk, it actually could have been much more harsh by looking at his many lies and unfulfilled promises in service of his businesses. So, it really can’t be called a hit piece.
Juanita Winklestein

Fantastic writing

Great music and audio clips. Loved this show. WOW!
school of law school

Really disappointing

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Dusty Baker Street Irregulars

Ignore the Musk Bros

It’s clear the original series triggered the Musk Bros who treat him as untouchable. Both series are excellent examples of cultural/intellectual history. Lepore does a great job placing Musk into a broader context and asking important questions.
ShaolinPlex

Terrible

Don’t waste your time with this podcast it’s terrible. just another leftist calling Elon a n*zi. Stop spreading hate and do something positive for the world.
Tracyhmv

Not to be rude but…

This is one of the worst podcasts I’ve ever heard. I gave it a couple episodes too. Podcasts are 100% a good place to express opinions, but when you do it under the guise of history and fact, it comes off as either ignorant or evil. Obviously, there are some facts given, about Elon (whether in general or specific) but from there they play that game from Office Space….. jump to conclusions.
Apartstar

A Lepore Bore

Thankfully, Jill appeared on the The World radio program to advertise this podcast and gave us a preview of the academy gobbledygook it will contain. Her loathing of Mr. Musk is clear and personal, and her conclusions and “isms” are absurd. And yes, she even coined an insult for those who might disagree. Glad I won’t have to waste my time.
gghgggggggggggggggggg

E

Very interesting 🤨
HVAC CXer

Fair and somewhat balanced

Ms Lepore generally covers the brand that is Musk. She covers the good briefly and the bad more extensively. She makes some tenuous ties to science fiction which is interesting but not necessarily truthful. I found some of the statements rather strained. Generally good though as it brings up things that Musk has said and done that are less optimal. Musks vision does seem to be limited by mot including the poor and marginalized. Hopefully he will broaden his vision to include the entire human race not just those that can afford to go to Mars.
Mujtaba Syed

Incredibly well researched

This podcast is very well researched and produced. It compellingly links the inspiration of rocketeer tech billionaires like Musk and Bezos to 1950s-era science fiction and pokes holes in their myopic vision of the future (occupy Mars, live in the Metaverse, AI for automation).
Phineas😎

Trash

Trash
parishilton42069

Really interesting!

Ignore the reviews from sad musk fanboys lol. This podcast isn’t even really about him as a person, it’s about the cultural figure.
ghidora77

Had potential

Good concept - excited to learn some new things about tech and science, psychology of building a business. But podcast quickly becomes an irritating rehash of forcing the race, gender, capitalism themes that you can get plenty of somewhere else if that’s what you’re interested in.
SocSlptpf

Love the attitude

I love this podcast, the research, the vibe and the history sterling. I recommend this podcast because I am always left with a story that deserves repeating. Great work.
Bittner of the Alps

Liberal trash

Pure liberal trash. An attack on Musk by idiots.
Everything Bacon

Hit job

So, by the end of the second episode we’ve: 1) extrapolated Musk’s complete set of motivations from two science fiction novels he was fond of and, 2) tied the SpaceX program to racism due to the coincidental timing of a particular launch with the George Floyd riots and some jokes cracked by Trever Noah (actually quite funny). The show wants to present itself as investigative reporting, but it’s editorial at its worst. The author makes no attempt to hide her contempt for Musk.
Mizmaia

Excellent

Jill Lepore is always a great host and never more so than in this reflection on technology-driven “future” and Silicon Valley. Brava!
danbeyer

This is cringe

Unlistenable
likitmtrs

Really well done

Great production. Jill Lepore is always fun to listen to. Highly recommend.
cjl2441

Drag. Him!

Looking forward to this.

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