What is it like to shadow Elon Musk for two years? To sit courtside as he builds a rocket? Or tears apart an engineer? Or couch surfs at the homes of billionaires? And how on earth do you make sense of it all? Walter Isaacson is the biographer of giants: DaVinci, Franklin, Doudna, Jobs...and now Musk, former enfante terrible, rocket launcher, electric car innovator, and Twitter—er, X—disruptor, to put it gently. In this four part series, author Evan Ratliff (Mastermind, Longform Podcast) sits down with Isaacson to draw out the behind-the-scenes stories of this epic biography, and what the writer has learned as an outsider inside Silicon Valley.
Introducing: Afghan Star, hosted by John Legend
From the fall of the Taliban until its return, people all over Afghanistan planned their lives around Afghan Star. People would pack into apartments. Villages would hook up generators to a single tv so crowds could watch. New Year’s celebrations would come to a halt, all to watch this one show. Over its 15 seasons, Afghan Star spotlighted an Afghanistan that could be: women singing without hijabs, Afghanistan’s first rapper, people of warring ethnic groups hugging and cheering for each other on stage. And it launched a cultural revolution. This is the story behind it all– from how a ragtag team scrambled to make the show every week, to the dangers they faced for trying to push the country forward. In Afghanistan, a cultural revolution was televised through a musical talent show, and this is its story. Hosted by John Legend. Listen here or on the iHeartRadio app.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing: The Sicilian Inheritance
Every family has an origin story – for author Jo Piazza (Under the Influence, Wilder) her family's is a murder mystery. For as long as she can remember the Piazzas have told the story of their Sicilian roots going back over a hundred years ago: one by one the sons and then their father sailed off to America to carve out a better life. Their mother, Lorenza Marsala was supposed to join them – but she never made it. She was murdered by the Sicilian mafia, they said. The truth of what happened has morphed like a game of telephone through the generations. Various versions of the story claim she was killed by the Black Hand, others insisted she was a witch, killed over a bad spell. Now, Jo is determined to untangle the twisted narrative which just might bridge the gap from cinematic mob fantasies to an unexpected reality. Join her in Sicily on a family vacation/fact finding mission in which she goes to the scene of the crime, confronts mafia experts, consults mediums, and tracks down Italian officials, determined to set the record straight on her great, great grandmother’s mysterious disappearance. Listen here and subscribe to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Four: What is Musk’s Legacy?
Which of Musk’s efforts will mark his legacy? Will it be Starship and his work bringing Americans back into orbit, or will it be X and his amplifications of the worst of humanity? Isaacson wrestles with his time in Silicon Valley, and relays a comparison of Jobs and Musk that’s sure to stay with you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Three: Storytelling and Hot Takes
Be a storyteller, not a preacher. That was novelist Walker Percy’s legendary advice to a young Walter Isaacson. One he takes to heart in his work as a journalist at Time and CNN, and as a biographer of creative genius across the centuries—and in trying to capture someone as volatile as Elon Musk. He reflects on the challenges of holding the complexity of a character in his mind—and the minds of readers—in the modern age, when everyone just wants to know if the emerald mines were real.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Two: Demons
What kind of titan of industry has a "giddy mode"? Or a "demon mode"? The two aspects of Musk’s personality are forces that drive his choices and behavior at work—and vectors Isaacson finds critical to understanding how Musk operates. From ripping out servers on Christmas Eve on a whim to buying Twitter against better wisdom, and reaming out staff members left right and center, we stare into the darker parts of Musk as chronicled by Isaacson.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode One: Genius
Space travel, electric vehicles, future-powering batteries—the ability to push technology forward and to bring it into the world in a real way is without a doubt the best of Elon Musk. In his 600 page biography, Walter Isaacson chronicles a man with superlative engineering skills, but who “doesn’t have a fingertip feel for social emotional networks.” On this first of four episodes, Isaacson shares the aspects of Musk that gave meaning and muscle to … the rest of Musk.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing: On Musk with Walter Isaacson
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