Elon Musk’s Top 5 Must-Read Books Flashcards
Autodidact
noun
A person who teaches himself / herself without the help of a teacher
* He has been a committed autodidact all his career.
* Quentin Tarantino is a famous autodidact.
Devour
verb
To read something quickly and eagerly
* He devours at least six books every month.
* She devoured her first-year textbooks.
A popular take on …
phrase
A popular opinion / perspective on something
* This is a popular take on health and wellness.
* He has a popular take on that issue.
A primer
noun
A basic text for teaching something
* This book is a great primer for learning basic French grammar.
* We give new recruits a basic primer on company policy.
An account
noun
A description of an event
* His account of the Kennedy assassination is very well know.
* I read her account of the war with great interest.
Track something down
phrasal verb
To find something after a long search
* I was able to track that information down eventually.
* She was able to track his phone number down.
Spur one’s enthusiasm
verbal phrase
To encourage someone’s interests in a subject
* As a teacher he was always able to spur his students’ enthusiasm.
* This book really spurred my enthusiasm for science.
Misguided
adjective
Unreasonable because it is based on wrong information / beliefs
* They failed because of their misguided business plan.
* His misguided attempt to restructure the department is not going well.
Plow through something
phrasal verb
To finish reading or dealing with something with difficulty
* She’s been plowing her way through her emails all day.
* He has plowed his way through all those IT textbooks.
Anarchist
noun
Someone who does not believe in authority / laws
* He has been an anarchist most of his adult life.
* Nietzsche was a famous anarchist.
Utopian
adjective
Relating to a perfect society
* North Korea is a good example of a failed utopian vision of society.
* His utopian views on life is very popular.
Existential threat
noun
Something that can destroy something else completely
* Musk believes that AI is our greatest existential threat.
* North Korea is becoming an existential threat.
Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of …
verbal phrase
To carefully consider the good and bad points of something
* We need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of this proposal.
* They will need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of their plan.
Catastrophic
adjective
Something that causes great destruction
* His catastrophic decision started the war.
* We will see some catastrophic changes in the climate.
