Power Play

Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century

By: Tim Higgins

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BUSINESS BESTSELLER • The riveting inside story of Elon Musk and Tesla's bid to build the world's greatest car—from award-winning Wall Street Journal tech and auto reporter Tim Higgins.

“A deeply reported and business-savvy chronicle of Tesla's wild ride.” —Walter Isaacson, New York Times Book Review

Tesla is the envy of the automotive world. Born at the start of the millennium, it was the first car company to be valued at $1 trillion. Its CEO, the mercurial, charismatic Elon Musk has become not just a celebrity but the richest man in the world.

But Tesla’s success was far from guaranteed. Founded in the 2000s, the company was built on an audacious vision. Musk and a small band of Silicon Valley engineers set out to make a car that was quicker, sexier, smoother, and cleaner than any gas-guzzler on the road. Tesla would undergo a hellish fifteen years, beset by rivals—pressured by investors, hobbled by whistleblowers. Musk often found himself in the public’s crosshairs, threatening to bring down the company he had helped build.

Wall Street Journal tech and auto reporter Tim Higgins had a front-row seat for the drama: the pileups, breakdowns, and the unlikeliest outcome of all, success. A story of impossible wagers and unlikely triumphs, Power Play is an exhilarating look at how a team of innovators beat the odds—and changed the future.

©2021 Tim Higgins (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"[A] sweeping history of the electric-car juggernaut.... I’ve covered Tesla as a reporter since 2016. When Higgins writes about facts and situations I’m familiar with, I can attest he’s right on the button, every time.” (Los Angeles Times)

"Tim Higgins’ compelling and deeply reported history of Tesla addresses the essential question of how this upstart automaker came from nowhere to become one of the most valuable companies on Earth.... An exceptional work of business journalism." (Washington Post)

“Tense, detailed and well-crafted...Power Play is a business thriller for real.... A clear, deeply reported and engaging account of how Musk launched a truly transformational car.” (Associated Press)

Awesome detailing of a crazy startup story

A deep dive into Tesla, not just Elon, which is incredibly inspiring and entertaining. Highly recommend.

If you know nothing of Tesla

Highly recommended book that goes into the company’s wild ride.

It does go into a lot of the dark side of Tesla:

-Battle with Labor Unions (personally I side with Tesla, as Unions are useless to society)

-Relentless drive to be the best, produce the highest quality cars at scale and affordable as well.

-At times Elon Musk would have a temper as he would get angry at things he didn’t want to hear.

However, given what Tesla has accomplished and contributed to the world, that is also important and everyone that starts at this point in Tesla.

Be forewarned, if you are not ready for the hardest but most rewarding career at Tesla, then Get Lost!!

How did we get here? Question answered

Good layout and explanation of how events progressed so far. A good read if you care about Musk and TLSA, although this should not be the only book on the subject.

Detailed story of Tesla’s development, but not all that interesting

I don’t really feel I learned a whole lot that I didn’t know. Let’s just say I’m glad I listened at 1.5x speed.

Insightful

Love him or hate him Musk is a doer. Higgins does a good job explaining the challenges of creating my the Tesla - new technology and a tyrant genius.

Riveting, entertaining, informative

Having not read the other Musk biography, most of this was new information to me. I was loosely aware of Tesla’s history and the fact that Elon was not one of the original founders, but the documented history of all of Tesla’s struggles to get a vehicle to market, the many times they avoided bankruptcy at the last minute, and the many roadblocks thrown up to prevent the success of the company all along the way were things I hadn’t realized and made for an extremely fascinating listen. Highly recommend.

Fascinating and entertaining

A well presented and engrossing history of Tesla. Elon Musk comes across as the erratic driven genius that he is. In summary, this is a fascinating account of what it takes to revolutionize an industry.

proofread

The end of chapter 20 uses incorrect wording. Solar system, not universe... sort of irritating

Tesla Haters & Fans should read

This is a pretty good comprehensive story about all the inner workings of Tesla motor Corp. which then became Tesla. It talks about all the dynamics involved and it is pretty amazing to read how Elon musk was able to group together so many people from different backgrounds and motivate them to meet ridiculous deadlines.

Great story about the evolution of Tesla

I mostly enjoyed the start of the book about the development of the battery and the vision that made Tesla at its start. Overall I really enjoyed the book and how it chronicled the inception of Tesla and Elons role. It’s kinda newsy so if you don’t have an interest in the auto or manufacturing industry may be hard to follow.