So, I finally finished it, and entertaining read! Kind of a slow burn, just like Flacon 1 development. By the time I hit mid book, I couldn't put it down.
Berger made an interesting choice in that Elon is barely a character in the book. He gives the backstories and detailed exploits of pretty much everyone else who had a major part in Flacon 1, but only includes little quotes from Elon here and there about the current scene he is describing. Elon only becomes a character when Berger talks about the dire financial situation SpaceX was in after the failure of the third launch in 2008.
The reason for this is that the book mostly concentrates on the exploits taking place at either the launch site in the middle of the pacific, or at the MacGregor testing site. Very little attention is paid to the Los Angeles HQ where the rockets were designed.
This book is all about Falcon 1 and its five flights (four test/lost flights, and a little remembered fifth and final flight for a paying customer, Malaysia's planetary observation satellite, their first successful payload, and it was a commercial payload, something many people don't realize). Indeed, as the story progresses through 2007 and 2008, very little is mentioned about Falcon 9 development which SpaceX had pivoted to since they had won a $278M COTS contract in 2006 to design the Falcon 9.
The thing that saved SpaceX's bacon was the NASA CRS contract awarded December 22, 2008. And the successful fourth flight of Falcon 1 was probably a key part to winning that contract, or at least the book, maybe for dramatic reasons, makes it out to be.
