Walter Isaacson

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Introduction

I hope with my books I'm saying, "This isn't a how-to guide, but this is somebody you can walk alongside." You can see Einstein growing up Jewish in Germany. You can see Jennifer Doudna growing up or as an outsider, or Leonardo da Vinci or Elon Musk, in really violent South Africa with a psychologically difficult father, and getting off the train when he goes to an anti-apartheid concert with his brother and there's a man with a knife sticking out of his head, and they step into the pool of blood and it's sticky on their soles. This causes scars that last the rest of your life. The question is not how do you avoid getting scarred, it's how do you deal with it. The following is a conversation with Walter Isaacson, one of the greatest biography writers ever, having written incredible books on Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, Jennifer Doudna, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger, and now a new one on Elon Musk. We talked for hours, on and off the mic. I'm sure we'll talk many more times. Walter is a truly special writer, thinker, observer, and human being.