The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

About the book

Published in 2018, the book traces the new commercial space race, with particular attention to the rivalry between SpaceX and Blue Origin, the founders' different strategies, engineering setbacks, government relationships, and ambitions beyond Earth.

Why read it

Best if you want to compare contrasting founder approaches to a shared ambition, especially if you are interested in how deliberate, stepwise work can coexist with unusually forceful long-term goals.

Evidence and original sources

Sources: official Founders episodes — #38, #39, #40, #44, #48, #52, #114, #154, #164, #172, #179, #321

David explicitly recommends listeners buy the book and praises Davenport as an author.

• The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos — David opens the episode by reading from the introduction of The Space Barons and explicitly names it as the book for the episode.
• Walt Disney: An American Original — David identifies The Space Barons as the previous week's book.
• Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid — David explicitly points back to his Space Barons podcast.
• A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft — Host references his prior Space Barons episode and definitively attributes Jeff Bezos's quote about passions choosing people to that book.
• Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson — The host references Space Barons as a previously covered podcast episode, connecting it to the discussion of Burt Rutan and the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer.
• The Republic of Tea: The Story of the Creation of a Business, as Told Through the Personal Letters of Its Founders — David names the prior Space Barons podcast.