Boredom Leads to Great Things 38
several times. “I was completely mesmerized by how Verne
presented glimpses into the future, and envisioning things,
such as submarines, spaceships, and space voyages, ahead
of their times,” Elon said.^62
Many years later, his favorite books would include the
biography on Benjamin Franklin and the biography on
Steve Jobs – both written by Walter Isaacson. He especially
enjoyed Franklin’s entrepreneurial spirit.^324
Elon read all the comics available, fromBatmantoIron
Man, fromSupermantoGreen Lantern.^324 Little did he
know that whenIron Manbecame a movie in 2008, Elon
himself was the inspiration for the movie version of the
comic’s superhero Tony Stark.
When Elon ran out of books and comics to read,
he began reading encyclopedias, and he read the entire
Encyclopedia Britannica. Maye recalled how her son re-
membered large parts of the encyclopedia after finishing
it.^117 His sister Tosca gave him the nickname “genius boy”
because she thought her brother was a genius who could
remember everything.^327
Because he read so much, Elon gained knowledge other
children around him didn’t have. One story took place
outside of his grandmother’s house. Elon played together
with his siblings in the garden. It was about to get dark,
so everyone except Elon went inside the house. “Come on
Elon. Let’s go,” they told him. But Elon refused to listen
to them. He thought the night was beautiful. Tosca said,
what everyone except Elon thought, that the dark scared
her. But Elon didn’t remain outside in the dark garden to