In the 1980s Pre­to­ria, at the age of ten, Elon Musk made the con­se­quen­tial deci­sion to live with his father, Errol, in Johan­nes­burg, leav­ing behind his moth­er and sib­lings. This move, dri­ven by a blend of altru­ism towards his lone­ly father and admi­ra­tion for his grand­par­en­t’s rea­son­ing, marked a piv­otal chap­ter in his life. Despite the allure of his father’s seem­ing­ly grand life, com­plete with lux­u­ry cars and a wealth of knowl­edge and tools, Elon soon real­ized the grav­i­ty of his mis­take. The nar­ra­tive sug­gests a blend of adven­ture and hard­ship, with Elon and his broth­er, Kim­bal, engag­ing in projects such as build­ing a lodge in the Tim­ba­vati Game Reserve which brought them face-to-face with the wilder­ness.

Elon’s child­hood was pep­pered with both won­der and per­il. From trips that spanned the Unit­ed States to the pecu­liar free­dom bestowed upon him and his sib­lings in Hong Kong, Elon expe­ri­enced the highs of adven­ture but also the lows, such as the absence of adult super­vi­sion in poten­tial­ly dan­ger­ous set­tings. Back in South Africa, the dynam­ic with­in the extend­ed fam­i­ly pro­vid­ed a rich tapes­try of rela­tion­ships and expe­ri­ences. Togeth­er with his cousins, Elon engaged in ven­tures that ranged from the mis­chie­vous to the per­ilous, devel­op­ing a rep­u­ta­tion for fear­less­ness and com­pet­i­tive­ness.

Aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly, Elon was com­pe­tent but not excep­tion­al, often crit­i­cized for his slow pace and ten­den­cy to day­dream. His report cards reflect­ed a mix of high achieve­ment in areas of inter­est like Eng­lish and Math, jux­ta­posed with less stel­lar per­for­mance in sub­jects he found less engag­ing. After a trou­bling inci­dent at a pub­lic high school, his father enrolled him in Pre­to­ria Boys High School, a change that led to an improve­ment in his grades, despite con­tin­u­ing chal­lenges in sub­jects he deemed irrel­e­vant.

Through­out these for­ma­tive years, Elon’s dis­tinc­tive traits—his inven­tive­ness, curios­i­ty, and resilience—began to emerge. Under­tak­ing projects such as build­ing rock­ets and mas­ter­ing mag­ic tricks, he cul­ti­vat­ed a blend of sci­en­tif­ic curios­i­ty and cre­ative prob­lem-solv­ing. These years, filled with both fond and painful mem­o­ries, under­scored the com­plex­i­ties of his rela­tion­ship with his father and shaped the tra­jec­to­ry of Elon Musk’s life, instill­ing in him a relent­less pur­suit of explo­ration and inno­va­tion.