Page 47 - Silver Lakes Issue 8_2022

BOOK REVIEWS

POWER PLAY: ELON MUSK, TESLA AND THE BET OF THE CENTURY

By Tim Higgins

Elon Musk is among the most controversial onlookers saw only failure, a small band of
titans of Silicon Valley. To some, he’s a genius Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs
and a visionary; to others, he’s a mercurial saw potential and they pitted themselves
huckster. Billions of dollars have been gained against the biggest, fiercest business rivals in
and lost on his tweets and his personal the world, setting out to make a car that was
exploits are the stuff of tabloids. But for all his quicker, sexier, smoother, and cleaner than
outrageous talk of mind-uploading and space the competition.
travel, his most audacious vision is the one
closest to the ground: the electric car. A story of power, recklessness, struggle, and
triumph, Power Play is an exhilarating look at
When Tesla was founded in the 2000s, electric how a team of eccentrics and innovators beat
cars were novelties, trotted out and thrown the odds . . . and changed the future.
on the scrap heap by car manufacturers
for more than a century. But where most Recommended Price: R265.00

SURROUNDED BY SETBACKS
By Thomas Erikson

Not everything goes the way we want fact, useless to try to control everything
it to - the world or people around us happening around you.
sometimes just spin out of control. So
how do you handle everything life throws This book will help you pinpoint the
your way when you’d really prefer to tell approach that works for you and will
everyone to get stuffed? entertain and empower you in equal
measure.
Thomas Erikson will help you turn
adversity into success with the help of Recommended Price: R240.00
the behavioural model made famous in
his previous book, Surrounded by Idiots.
Starting by reminding us that life is as
it is, Erikson helps you see that it is, in

SABOTAGE: ESKOM UNDER SIEGE
By Kyle Cowan

After unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic alone. Chief Operating Officer, Jan Oberholzer
pylon near Lethabo Power Station in the Free and other trusted allies in Eskom have also
State in November 2021, almost causing the come under intense fire. Amid this onslaught,
country to plunge into stage 5 load shedding, it has become clear that their enemies will
Eskom’s Chief Executive Officer, André de take any measures necessary to have them
Ruyter, declared: “This was clearly now an removed from office.
act of sabotage and I think we can call it as
such.” Who was behind this, and what is their Based on exclusive interviews with De Ruyter,
ultimate goal? Oberholzer and other key figures, Sabotage:
Eskom Under Siege is a story of conspiracy
Since his appointment in January 2020, De and subterfuge at South Africa’s ailing power
Ruyter has faced intense opposition from utility, uncovering the power struggles that
within the power utility as he attempts to threaten the country’s very survival.
clean up corruption and return the company
to a semblance of its former glory. He is not Recommended Price: R280.00

INTRAMUROS SEPTEMBER 2022 | 45