“The heroes of the books I read always felt a duty to save the world,” says Musk of this best-selling fantasy novel in which a hobbit goes on a quest to destroy a weapon of evil.A supercomputer finds the “answer” to meaningful life is the number 42, but the question was never figured out. Musk says that the book taught him that “if you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part.”Musk says of the inventor and founding father of the USA, “He was an entrepreneur. He started from nothing. He was just a runaway kid.”Picture: BCCLMusk has said that he learnt a lot from this biography, which documents Einstein ’s transformational impact on science, his intelligence and ambition.This popular take on structural engineering by a British material scientist is “good if you want a primer on structural design,” says Musk.This 1972 book explains how rocket science works. “It’s fun,” says Musk.Bostrom examines what would happen if computational intelligence surpassed human intelligence. Musk says that the book made him realise that “we need to be super careful with AI” because it is “potentially more dangerous than nukes”.Picture: BCCLBillionaire investor Thiel shares his insights on startup philosophy, including the idea that Silicon Valley should be less obsessed with disruption. “Peter Thiel has multiple breakthrough companies, and this book shows how,” says Musk.Picture: BCCLThis is what this biography of the offbeat filmmaker and aviation tycoon showed Musk: “Definitely want to make sure I don’t grow my fingernails too long and start peeing in jars”.Picture: BCCL