Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Biggest Bet of the Century: Power Play

BenRB: Tesla has become a phenomenal success in a relatively short time and has recast what electric cars can be - this is a very readable and well written account of the history of Tesla with plenty of details of the various ups and downs

United Kingdom on Jul 28, 2023

Tsewang Thar: His personal thinking , perception of the world, how he got the inspiration every morning at his first day gave me a lot to think ,not only about money but the all human beings , who gonna suffer after all the fights and wars for self-Center attitude. Insightful book.

India on Apr 26, 2023

Amazon Customer: Whether Tesla was over valued or not is a matter of fact, but the story of Tesla is one of belief. Whether Elon is right for Twitter or not must not take away from the amazing story of this company.

Overcoming so many odds, and succeeding.. it's a story of resilience,just hanging in there when everything else is failing, it's worth reading!

India on Jan 05, 2023

T. E. Zsolt: Very detailed story of the most important new business on earth. Well written. Interesting. Cuts all the FUD out.

Canada on Apr 07, 2022

Nick Foster: OK this is going to be a difficult review to write because although I found the book gripping and felt as though I'd learned a lot, it felt as though I knew less at the end than the beginning. Let me try to explain. Overall I got the impression that Tesla has succeeded almost despite Elon Musk, rather than because of him. Not just through his management style but by his own admission, his blind spots over eg the Model X design and Model 3 production plan. And this is the problem. In a seemingly relentless series of challenges and own goals there is so little to praise, and the innovative technologies literally unmentioned (the Octabottle, the giga presses, the heat pumps, Dojo etc) that such things become noticeable by their absence. The book might have benefitted from a chapter on engineering innovations. And sure, people who were fired will have (justified) reason to complain. But it would have been interesting to have some positive insights. Glad I read it, but equally glad to have had info from other perspectives, such as Herbert Diess of VW saying that Tesla can make a car in about a third the time, and inviting Elon to their 'crisis meeting', or Sandy Munro talking about...

United Kingdom on Nov 02, 2021

Amazon Customer: Reading "Power Play," the less than positive account of Elon Musk and Tesla as viewed by the author Tim HIggins, in tandem with Eric Berger's "Liftoff," the story of SpaceX, one gets an entirely different picture of Musk. While both portray him as a hard driven, hands on nanomanging CEO, Higgins takes pains to accent the negative, portraying Musk as bizarrely behaving raging bull at times, and never letting his positive projections or optimistic predictions for the future go without questioning and a warning of worst case scenarios ahead. By comparison, the Elon Musk in "LIftoff" comes off as a far more benevolent and understanding boss, though no less driven to achieve his aims and no less relentless in driving others toward that goal as well, but with far less animosity than suggested by Higgins with Tesla. Given the odds, how both the once unimaginable successes of both Tesla and SpaceX could have been accomplished by one man at the same time, is an entrepreneurial saga for the ages. However, it is the "Power Play" that is being reviewed here, not Musk.

HIggins credentials as an automotive and technology reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a frequent contributor to...

United States on Aug 14, 2021

C: This book has three parts, and 28 total chapters, with about 335 pages, not including the Notes section.

This first few chapters of the book, discuss the early ideas of JB Straubel, and the plans for an electric car developed by Martin Eberhard, who later went on to found Tesla Motors. The early days of Tesla are described, with most of the funding coming from Musk, who had already made millions from the sale of PayPal and had recently started SpaceX. Higgins covers Musk's relationship with his first wife Justine, early fund raising efforts, Musk's request for Antonio Gracias to join Tesla, early Roadster issues, and Michael Marks eventually replacing Eberhard as CEO.

Part Two focuses more on Musk's time as CEO, and staving off bankruptcy after the financial collapse of 2008. There are also chapters that discuss the contributions of Peter Rawlinson, Musk's divorce, lawsuits, CFO Deepak Ahuja, Tesla's IPO, and George Blankenship.

Part Three documents the next phase in the evolution of Tesla. Chapters discuss battery development, supercharger stations, the Gigafactory, Jerome Guillen, the shorting of Tesla stock, SolarCity, a potential deal with Apple, the Model...

United States on Aug 03, 2021