Elon Musk, Tesla, and the Bet of the Century

Power Play

*A Wall Street Journal Business Bestseller* 
'A deeply reported and business-savvy chronicle of Tesla's wild ride' --Walter Isaacson 
'A masterclass in narrative journalism' --Bradley Hope 
'Exemplary' --The Times 
'An exceptional work' --Washington Post 
 
 
Inside the outrageous, come-from-behind story of Elon Musk and Tesla's bid to build the world's greatest car and the race to drive the future. 
 
Elon Musk is among the most controversial titans of Silicon Valley. To some he's a genius and a visionary and to others he's a mercurial huckster. Billions of dollars have been gained and lost on his tweets and his personal exploits are the stuff of tabloids. But for all his outrageous talk of mind-uploading and space travel, his most audacious vision is the one closest to the ground: the electric car. 
 
When Tesla was founded in the 2000s, electric cars were novelties, trotted out and thrown on the scrap heap by carmakers for more than a century. But where most onlookers saw only failure, a small band of Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs saw potential and they pitted themselves against the biggest, fiercest business rivals in the world, setting out to make a car that was quicker, sexier, smoother, cleaner than the competition. 
 
Tesla would undergo a truly hellish fifteen years, beset by rivals, pressured by investors, hobbled by whistleblowers, buoyed by its loyal supporters. Musk himself would often prove Tesla's worst enemy--his antics repeatedly taking the company he had funded himself to the brink of collapse. Was he an underdog, an antihero, a conman, or some combination of the three? 
 
Wall Street Journal tech and auto reporter Tim Higgins had a front-row seat for the drama: the pileups, wrestling for control, meltdowns, and the unlikeliest outcome of all, success. A story of power, recklessness, struggle, and triumph, Power Play is an exhilarating look at how a team of eccentrics and innovators beat the odds... and changed the future.

A masterclass in narrative journalism... with inside-the-room detail and color that give it a cinematic feel

Bradley Hope, co-author of the  bestseller BILLION DOLLAR WHALE

Compulsively readable... lively, fun and insightful

William D. Cohan, bestselling author of HOUSE OF CARDS

Tim Higgins's electric narrative takes us through Tesla's every hairpin turn.... [A] case study on the thin line between madness and genius

John Helyar, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

'A deeply reported and business-savvy chronicle of Tesla's wild ride'

Compelling and deeply reported... An exceptional work of business journalism

Simultaneously inspirational and troubling, revealing Elon Musk's risky scrambles to invent the future he's constantly promising to deliver

Sarah Frier, Financial Times prize-winning author of NO FILTER

Readers fascinated by the hype of Tesla history will find a gold mine of facts and foibles in this immersive analysis

"Exemplary...[Higgins] has interviewed hundreds of people associated with Tesla, both past and present. He knows the financial story like the back of his hand.

in-depth and well-balanced ... a sometimes appalling, occasionally inspiring, and always entertaining saga

A well-documented and comprehensive look at Tesla, Elon Musk, and the people involved with its creation and successes

[A] sweeping history of the electric-car juggernaut... [Higgins is] right on the button, every time

Tense, detailed and well-crafted... Power Play is a business thriller for real

Outstanding... a deep dive into the nuts and volts of Tesla

The tale of Tesla's ascent is inherently dramatic and compellingly told

A riveting saga...Power Play reads like a novel

Eminently readable...A must-read for any fan or critic

Inside the outrageous, come-from-behind story of Elon Musk and Tesla's bid to build the world's greatest car and the race to drive the future. 
 
 Elon Musk is among the most controversial titans of Silicon Valley. To some he's a genius and a visionary and to others he's a mercurial huckster. Billions of dollars have been gained and lost on his tweets and his personal exploits are the stuff of tabloids. But for all his outrageous talk of mind-uploading and space travel, his most audacious vision is the one closest to the ground: the electric car. 
 
 When Tesla was founded in the 2000s, electric cars were novelties, trotted out and thrown on the scrap heap by carmakers for more than a century. But where most onlookers saw only failure, a small band of Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs saw potential and they pitted themselves against the biggest, fiercest business rivals in the world, setting out to make a car that was quicker, sexier, smoother, cleaner than the competition. 
 
 Tesla would undergo a truly hellish fifteen years, beset by rivals, pressured by investors, hobbled by whistleblowers, buoyed by its loyal supporters. Musk himself would often prove Tesla's worst enemy--his antics repeatedly taking the company he had funded himself to the brink of collapse. Was he an underdog, an antihero, a conman, or some combination of the three? 
 
 Wall Street Journal tech and auto reporter Tim Higgins had a front-row seat for the drama: the pileups, wrestling for control, meltdowns, and the unlikeliest outcome of all, success. A story of power, recklessness, struggle, and triumph, Power Play is an exhilarating look at how a team of eccentrics and innovators beat the odds... and changed the future.

Tim Higgins

Highly readable... iWar tells the story of how Apple has fended off multiple salvos by games developers, regulators and would-be competitors... iWar lays bare the ugly details of Apple's rise to power.

Fortnite, Musk, Spotify, and the Siege of Apple

Since the invention of the iPhone and App Store, Apple has built a near unassailable market power, controlling not only commerce, but also culture, and - increasingly - the flow of ideas. 
 
In response, a loose rebel alliance of tech entrepreneurs has formed to lay siege to Apple, bringing together X's Elon Musk, WeChat's Pony Ma, Spotify's Daniel Ek and Epic Games' Tim Sweeney. In the trenches of popular opinion and now in the courtrooms of Europe and the United States, this rebellion aims to tear down Apple's walls and dismantle its monopoly. 
 
iWar weaves together the story of Apple's rise and reign with the political and international forces arrayed against it in the fight over control of the global digital economy. The stakes couldn't be higher.

Tim Higgins

Books by Tim Higgins

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