Billionaire Elon Musk credits his success to these 8 books

tl;dr:

When asked how he learned about rockets, Musk reportedly said, "I read books."

Here are eight books that shaped the revolutionary entrepreneur:

1. "Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down" by J.E. Gordon "It is really, really good if you want a primer on structural design," Musk says

2. "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" by Walter Isaacson "You can see how [Franklin] was an entrepreneur," Musk says.

3. "Einstein: His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson Musk tells Rose he was influenced by the biography of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein

4. "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies" by Nick Bostrom "worth reading" Musk tweeted in 2014.

5. "Merchants of Doubt" by Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes

6. "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding "The heroes of the books I read always felt a duty to save the world," he says

7. "Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" by Peter Thiel Musk says that his Paypal co-founder's book offers an interesting exploration of the process of building super successful companies.

8. The "Foundation" trilogy by Isaac Asimov Musk says Asimov's books taught him that "civilizations move in cycles," a lesson that encouraged the entrepreneur to pursue his radical ambitions. "Given that this is the first time in 4.5 billion years where it's been possible for humanity to extend life beyond Earth," he says, "it seems like we'd be wise to act while the window was open and not count on the fact it will be open a long time."