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Power Play

Elon Musk, Tesla, and the Bet of the Century

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Power Play

By: Tim Higgins
Narrated by: Will Damron
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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 15 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.

©2021 Tim Higgins (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Business Engineering Science & Technology Transportation Wall Street

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It’s quite a Power Play

An interesting story of the origin of The Tesla electric vehicle. The enormous amount of money required to fund such an operation.
The enormous risks, tough management style and the character of Elon as described in the book. Above all the absolute unadulterated persistence of Elon.

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An enthralling listen

Simply an incredible storey, well researched and read, tracing the Tesla from its beginnings until today.

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Fascinating unveiling and detailed analysis

Huge amount of research went into this. Shout out to the author. Musk’s rejection of the veracity however should have been stated at the beginning rather than at the end. Nonetheless, the detail and analysis give this book high veracity. Extremely well-constructed. Narrator got the tone just right.
I found this immensely entertaining as well as educational.

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Great book

Very interesting story and well worth the read. Great way to learn more about Tesla and Elon Musk.

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