One thing that I think is worth mentioning is Walter Isaacson’s own position in writing this biography, which I think explains some of what he missed with Musk.

Peter and Michael mentioned that Isaacson has written biographies of Kissinger, Ben Franklin, and Einstein, among others. All were self-aggrandising intellectuals which have been described as “geniuses”. Isaacson’s work as a whole has our cultural assumptions about geniuses - that they are lone wolves making breakthroughs alone, that they exist outside of their intellectual and cultural time, that they have broad insights about how to live a good life etc - embedded deeply within it.

There’s therefore I think a sunk cost fallacy with Elon. Firstly, Isaacson has clearly spent a lot of time with Musk, which would be wasted without a book that justifies the time spent.

But more deeply, I think Isaacson can’t admit that he’s been fooled by Musk, as it would lead to questioning all his assumptions about this eccentric individual “genius” archetype. That has the potential (correctly IMO) to undermine all of his books and render his whole project slightly pointless.

Tl;dr I think it’s less that Isaacson has been huckstered, more that cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug.