In the previous article, we learned that in his childhood, Elon Musk was considered weird by his classmates and friends because he frequently entered his "flow state." Now, let's explore what Musk was thinking during those moments.

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Elon Musk Childhood Story

For Musk himself, these moments of "flow state" were wonderful. Starting around 5 or 6, Musk found a way to isolate himself from the world when he focused entirely on something. This unique mechanism stemmed from Musk's distinctive mental processes. He could visualize all his thoughts, essentially using his thoughts as a substitute for real eyes. His mind's eye could replicate everything he had seen and interact with other objects, creating changes. Musk could vividly represent factors like acceleration, power, and kinetic energy on objects.

So, why could Musk think and compute beyond what most children his age was capable of? Another distinctive trait of his was his voracious reading habit. Musk has been practically inseparable from books since his early years. While most kids spent about 5 to 6 hours a day in kindergarten, Musk dedicated more than 10 hours to reading. He could finish two thick books in a single day, and even when his family took him to a store for something else, they'd often find him engrossed in the latest books in the bookstore.

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The Role of Voracious Reading in Musk's Early Life

As he grew older and started attending school, Musk would go to bookstores after class, reading from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. His reading was incredibly diverse, ranging from novels and comics to non-fiction. Since Musk didn't buy books but read them, bookstore staff sometimes had to ask him to leave. Musk fondly remembers books like "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "The Lord of the Rings," "Foundation," and "Rendezvous with Rama" as some of his favorites.

Around the time Musk was in 3rd or 4th grade, he had already read all the books in the school and community libraries. So, he started asking librarians when new books would arrive. When he had no new books to read, he turned to the "Encyclopedia Britannica." Musk realized that this broadened his horizons significantly. He felt his knowledge was too limited, and the world was much broader than he had thought. Remarkably, Musk read the encyclopedia and memorized it because he had an extraordinary photographic memory. It wasn't just the encyclopedia; he could remember everything he had ever read, making him a living and walking encyclopedia.

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A Living Encyclopedia: Musk's Remarkable Memory

One evening, during a family dinner, Musk's younger sister suddenly asked how far it was from Earth to the Moon. Musk could instantly provide the distances between Earth and the Moon from various points. His mother remarked that they could now ask young Musk any question.

Even though Elon Musk knew a lot of stuff, it didn't make him more popular with his friends and classmates. They still thought he was strange because he often got deeply absorbed in his thoughts. But things changed when he was ten years old and got his first experience with computers, which eventually led to his first business venture.

The next article will explore Elon Musk's extraordinary journey and see how he first self-created a product during childhood!

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