Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, a place of sharp sun, vast open spaces, and unnoticeable walls of intolerance. His nonage did n’t look extraordinary from the outside — a middle- class family, a quiet boy, a normal home but what was passing inside his head was anything but ordinary. His father, Errol Musk, was an mastermind — brilliant, violent, and deeply complicated.