The Wealthiest Person on Earth Still Reads Every Day. Here Is What That Habit Actually Looks Like.
Elon Musk is now the wealthiest person in the history of recorded wealth. A trillionaire. A number so large it barely fits in a sentence. And yet, by every account, the habit that has never left him - through PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, and beyond - is the same one he had as a child growing up in Pretoria, reading through his local library twice over.
He is a lifelong learner. Not as a brand. Not as a talking point. As a daily practice.
The question worth asking is not how Musk got so rich. It is: what does his reading habit actually look like - and is there a way for the rest of us to follow it?
The answer, it turns out, is yes. And it takes about 15 minutes a day.
What the World's First Trillionaire Reads - and Why It Matters
Blinkist distills the most powerful ideas from nonfiction into 15-minute reads and listens - across 9,000+ titles and 27 categories, from entrepreneurship and AI to philosophy and science. More than 43 million people are already learning with Blinkist, among them Apple CEO Tim Cook, who visited the Blinkist office and praised the team for helping people learn despite having too little time.
Even Apple has taken notice, giving Blinkist a permanent Editors' Choice badge and naming it one of the top apps for lifelong learners.
"Blinkist encourages you to read more nonfiction books. The app contains cleverly written digests - called blinks - where books are broken down into their main arguments." - The New York Times
So what exactly does the reading habit of the world's richest man look like - and what can we learn from it?
1. He Taught Himself Rocket Science From Books. Not a Classroom.
When Musk decided to start SpaceX, he had no aerospace engineering degree. He read textbooks. He absorbed the fundamentals of rocket propulsion, orbital mechanics, and materials science the same way most people read novels - voraciously, and with intent.
"I read books," he said, when asked how he did it. Not "I hired experts." Not "I took a course." Books.
The trillionaire's self-education is not a myth or a PR story. It is documented, repeated, and consistent across decades. And it points to something important: the gap between where you are and where you want to be is often a reading gap.
Blinkist will not turn you into a rocket engineer in 15 minutes. But it will give you access to the same quality of ideas Musk has spent a lifetime absorbing - starting today.
2. The Richest Man Alive Does Not Have More Hours Than You. He Uses Them Differently.
Musk runs multiple companies simultaneously. He sleeps. He has children. And he still reads.
Most Americans find just 17 minutes a day to read, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. At that rate, a single nonfiction book takes over a month to finish. Musk has spoken about reading two books a day as a child. The gap is not time. It is habit.
Blinkist was built for exactly this gap. The most powerful ideas from nonfiction - distilled into 15-minute reads and listens. Forty new titles added every month. Available on your commute, at the gym, doing the dishes.
"This has been the biggest boost to my productivity and lifelong learning ever. Honestly, I can't think of a better habit to start than Blinkist." - 5-star review on the App Store
3. A Trillionaire's Reading List Is Not What You Would Expect
Musk does not read business books. He reads physics. Philosophy. History. AI. Economics. The books on his recommended list range from Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom to The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - books that change how you see the world, not just how you run a meeting.
That breadth is not accidental. It is the source of his ability to connect ideas across disciplines - to see a solution in aerospace that came from a book about biology, or a business model that came from a book about history.
All of them are on Blinkist.
Superintelligence
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
4. The Wealthiest Person on Earth Replaced Distraction With Depth
Musk has spoken about the importance of protecting your attention. In a world designed to fragment it, the people who guard their focus most carefully tend to be the ones who build the most.
80% of Blinkist users say they are more likely to spend time on Blinkist than scroll through social media. The app does not just give you something to read. It gives you something worth replacing the scroll with.
"This app should be in Essentials. I have been a member for 6+ years and I don't think I will ever stop. This is a learning experience that truly enhances my life." - 5-star review on the App Store
"One of the best apps I have ever purchased. I use it every single day." - 5-star review on the App Store
5. The Habit That Compounded Into a Trillion Dollars
Musk did not become the wealthiest person on earth overnight. He compounded. Ideas on top of ideas. Books on top of books. Decade after decade of absorbing, connecting, and applying.
That is what a reading habit does. It does not pay off in a week. It pays off in a career.
"When we started, most apps were for social media or gaming. We wanted to do something different and build an app that would add genuine value to someone's life." - Holger Seim, co-founder of Blinkist
At Blinkist, a dedicated team of editors sifts through millions of books to find the ones that actually matter - the hidden gems, the timeless classics, the books written for serious thinkers. Once selected, specialist editors extract the key insights and craft them into explainers built on neuroscientific principles that make information easier to absorb and remember.
Here is one of the books that shaped how the world's first trillionaire thinks about the future:
Life 3.0
- 19 min reading time
- audio version available
6. Learn Like The Richest Man Alive
Around 70% of Blinkist users choose to listen rather than read - and research suggests over 30% of people retain information better through audio. The commute, the gym, the dog walk: all of it becomes learning time.
"Perfect for populating your mind with smart thoughts and the latest research. I use the audio format while in transportation." - 5-star review
"Very informative and insightful. I can cook dinner and enjoy the knowledge over audio." - 5-star review
7. A Trillionaire Vets Ideas Before He Commits to Them. You Can Do the Same With Books.
Musk is known for stress-testing assumptions before committing resources. He applies first-principles thinking to every major decision - breaking problems down to their fundamentals before building back up.
Blinkist works the same way for books. Read the 15-minute explainer. If the idea grabs you, buy the full book. If it does not, you just saved 10 hours and learned something anyway.
"I've found that if a book is still interesting after reading the highlights I end up buying the book anyway. I now buy half as many - the ones I do buy are higher quality and more impactful." - @DaleyErvin
"Blinkist has helped me read more - period. I love that I can get the key learnings from 10+ books a week and immediately implement them in my own life." - Hitha Palepu, entrepreneur and author
8. The Books That Keep Appearing on Every Trillionaire's Shelf
Across the reading lists of the world's most successful people - Musk, Buffett, Gates, Bezos - certain books keep appearing. Books on decision-making. On systems thinking. On human behaviour and the long arc of history.
They are not reading the same airport bestsellers. They are reading the books that change how you think, not just what you know.
Blinkist holds a 4.8-star rating across 148,000+ reviews on the Apple App Store. Here is one of the books that appears on more high-performer reading lists than almost any other:
Poor Charlie's Almanack
- 26 min reading time
- audio version available
9. Built by People Who Believe in What They're Making
LinkedIn named Blinkist the best startup employer in Germany, and 95% of employees on Glassdoor would recommend working there. That kind of culture produces a product built with real intention — not just to grow, but to genuinely improve people's lives.
"I moved to Berlin after living in New York City for ten years to work at Blinkist. I knew I would be working alongside some amazing people, building a revolutionary product. This, mixed with an exciting new culture and the way of life Berlin offers, made the move an easy decision." — Carlos Alvarado, Country Manager at Blinkist
10. What the Best Minds Know That Most People Don't
"Blinkist is one of the world's best apps." — Apple
Blinkist has received major recognition from Apple, Google, and the United Nations. It's been featured in the New York Times and Forbes, and recommended by millions of users worldwide.
Musk did not become the world's first trillionaire by working harder than everyone else. He became one by thinking differently - and thinking differently starts with what you read. The books are there. The ideas are waiting. The only question is whether you will make the time.
Download the Blinkist app now and join the 43 million curious thinkers who also love to learn.
Curious to learn more about the sources we have used for our ad creatives? Click here. References (1)
The Blinkist editorial team
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What is Blinkist?
Blinkist is an app that transforms key insights from great nonfiction books into quick, easy-to-understand highlights. The reality is – everyone loves reading, but no one has the time. Blinkist fills this learning gap and makes acquiring new knowledge effortless.
