Elon Musk Surprises Young Tweeter With An Inspirational Response

Anybody who follows Pretoria boy – and international billionaire businessman – Elon Musk, knows his favourite book is ‘Lord of the Rings’ by JRR Tolkien (who was also born in South Africa).

But not many people have stopped to ask Musk just why it inspires him so much… until Wednesday when a young student, Subham, who’s into coding, tweeted Musk saying: “I was just wondering how #LordOfTheRings book inspired you!!”

Subham only has 23 followers and probably never expected a response, but Musk always surprises and the father of six young boys didn’t fail this time either.

The South African expat (and Canadian-American) replied saying: “Don’t give up if the cause is important enough, even if you believe you are walking into doom. Good friends really matter.”

Musk – founder of Tesla and SpaceX – has long attributed his business success (with a net worth of over $21-billion according to Forbes) to his passion for reading.

He has told media in the past that when he was growing up in South Africa he was called ‘Muskrat’ and that in his loneliness, he read a lot of fantasy and science fiction which helped shape him to become the inventor and engineer he now is.

The man, who now wants to take humans to Mars, told the New Yorker that “the heroes of the books I read always felt a duty to save the world.”

Musk’s other favourite books include ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ and ‘Benjamin Franklin: An American Life’.

Don't give up if the cause is important enough, even if you believe you are walking into doom. Good friends really matter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 20, 2017