''Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century'' is Tim Higgins's book about

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from h ...

, published on February 11, 2021, that focuses on the company under the management of

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

. The book does not contain any interviews with Musk himself, but many anonymous current and former executives from Tesla. In response to the book in general, Musk tweeted "Higgins managed to make his book both false ''and'' boring".

Reception

The Minnesota Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'' wrote that it "has done an outstanding job ndperformed a deep dive into the nuts and volts of Tesla." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Tesla reporter Russ Mitchell reviewed the book and stated "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. If there's any nonsense in ''Power Play'', Higgins isn't the source of it." The ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' review remarked that "Higgins takes an in-depth and well-balanced look at the interplay between Musk's swashbuckling mindset of 'building the airplane as ewas heading down the runway' and the hardheadedness of Tesla's veteran engineers and leaders, who understood the rigors of making cars that could kill people if they malfunctioned." ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

'' noted that "the book pays scant attention to Full Self-Driving Autopilot, the controversial self-driving software Musk has long promised is on the verge of perfection" but states that it "is hardly boring".

Tim Cook conversation controversy

Following early coverage of the book, Elon Musk denied a featured anecdote where supposedly he and

Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Cook had previously been the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs. Cook joined ...

spoke about the possibility of

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

acquiring Tesla.

References

Works about Elon Musk 2021 non-fiction books Tesla, Inc. Books about businesspeople Doubleday (publisher) books {{Business-bio-book-stub