What do you think?
Rate this book
Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter
“the bird is freed”
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, commentators were rooting for the visionary behind Tesla and SpaceX to succeed. Here was a tough leader who could grab back power from Twitter’s entitled workforce, motivate them to get “extremely hardcore,” and supercharge Twitter’s profit and potential. And it was all out of the goodness of his own heart, rooted in his fervent belief in the necessity of making Twitter friendlier to free speech. “I didn’t do it to make more money,” Musk said. “I did it to try and help humanity, whom I love.”
Once Musk charged into the Twitter headquarters, the command-and-control playbook Musk honed at Tesla and SpaceX went off the rails immediately. Distilling hundreds of hours of interviews with more than sixty employees, thousands of pages of internal documents, Slack messages, presentations, as well as court filings and congressional testimony, Extremely Hardcore is the true story of how Musk reshaped the world’s online public square into his own personal megaphone.
You’ll hear from employees who witnessed the destruction of their workplace in real-time, seeing years of progress to fight disinformation and hate speech wiped out within a matter of months. There’s the machine-learning savant who went all-in on Twitter 2.0 before getting betrayed by his new CEO, the father whose need for healthcare swept him into Musk’s inner circle, the trust and safety expert who became the subject of a harassment campaign his former boss incited, and the many other employees who tried to save the company from their new boss’s worst instincts. This is the story of Twitter, but it’s also a chronicle of the post-pandemic labor movement, a war between executives and a workforce newly awakened to their rights and needs.
Riveting, character-driven, and filled with jaw-dropping revelations, Extremely Hardcore is the definitive, fly-on-the-wall story of how Elon Musk lit $44 billion on fire and burned down Twitter. It’s the next best thing to being there, and you won’t have to sleep in the Twitter office to get the scoop.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, commentators were rooting for the visionary behind Tesla and SpaceX to succeed. Here was a tough leader who could grab back power from Twitter’s entitled workforce, motivate them to get “extremely hardcore,” and supercharge Twitter’s profit and potential. And it was all out of the goodness of his own heart, rooted in his fervent belief in the necessity of making Twitter friendlier to free speech. “I didn’t do it to make more money,” Musk said. “I did it to try and help humanity, whom I love.”
Once Musk charged into the Twitter headquarters, the command-and-control playbook Musk honed at Tesla and SpaceX went off the rails immediately. Distilling hundreds of hours of interviews with more than sixty employees, thousands of pages of internal documents, Slack messages, presentations, as well as court filings and congressional testimony, Extremely Hardcore is the true story of how Musk reshaped the world’s online public square into his own personal megaphone.
You’ll hear from employees who witnessed the destruction of their workplace in real-time, seeing years of progress to fight disinformation and hate speech wiped out within a matter of months. There’s the machine-learning savant who went all-in on Twitter 2.0 before getting betrayed by his new CEO, the father whose need for healthcare swept him into Musk’s inner circle, the trust and safety expert who became the subject of a harassment campaign his former boss incited, and the many other employees who tried to save the company from their new boss’s worst instincts. This is the story of Twitter, but it’s also a chronicle of the post-pandemic labor movement, a war between executives and a workforce newly awakened to their rights and needs.
Riveting, character-driven, and filled with jaw-dropping revelations, Extremely Hardcore is the definitive, fly-on-the-wall story of how Elon Musk lit $44 billion on fire and burned down Twitter. It’s the next best thing to being there, and you won’t have to sleep in the Twitter office to get the scoop.
330 pages, Hardcover
Published February 13, 2024
177 people are currently reading
1811 people want to read
About the author
Zoë Schiffer
1 book23 followersZoë Schiffer is the managing editor of Platformer where she covers Twitter, X Corp., and Elon Musk. Previously, she was a senior reporter at The Verge where she reported on the labor movement in Silicon Valley. Her work has been featured in New York Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Vox. She’s appeared on CNN, NBC, CNBC, and the BBC.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
February 16, 2024
It’s a strangely exciting experience to have a part of your life codified in a book. The slack messages, the emails quoted in this book are ones I received. I lived through the ordeal outlined here so it will always have a special place on my bookshelf.
Objectively, the book is very well sourced, contains almost no speculation and reads more like a factual account of what transpired. In any other book about a corporation, that would be dull but what unfolded at Twitter was inherently full of drama and doesn’t require embellishment.
I’m awestruck by the folks brave enough to have shared their personal stories here and how Zoe has managed to execute this book in such a short timeframe. My only gripe is that it doesn’t fully bring to light the emotional upheavals that everyone involved went through and leaves out some of the more outrageous grievances that former employees went through, but that might have been an intentional choice to make the book more “neutral” sounding and/or Zoe might have been personally asked to not share some of those stories.
A true reporter, Zoe reserves her own opinions and presents what occurred quite objectively.
Highly recommend!
Objectively, the book is very well sourced, contains almost no speculation and reads more like a factual account of what transpired. In any other book about a corporation, that would be dull but what unfolded at Twitter was inherently full of drama and doesn’t require embellishment.
I’m awestruck by the folks brave enough to have shared their personal stories here and how Zoe has managed to execute this book in such a short timeframe. My only gripe is that it doesn’t fully bring to light the emotional upheavals that everyone involved went through and leaves out some of the more outrageous grievances that former employees went through, but that might have been an intentional choice to make the book more “neutral” sounding and/or Zoe might have been personally asked to not share some of those stories.
A true reporter, Zoe reserves her own opinions and presents what occurred quite objectively.
Highly recommend!
February 20, 2024
Very solid chronicle of Musk's takeover of Twitter (so far).
It has a good pace, many details, and a reasonable level of objectivity. The main drawback is that ... if you were paying attention to publicly available information, you would learn very little new. In fact, I was really surprised that Platformer's journalist dedicated pretty much solely to Twitter at that point didn't have access to more internals.
Another drawback was that, in fact, the history remains w/o conclusion. At this point, it is still unclear whether:
- Musk has saved or doomed Twitter
- X will become an everything app or not
- the quest for free speech is just a b*llshit or a real mission for Musk
etc.
In the end, it was a nice, fast, meaty read. But keeping in mind the intensity of the shitstorm at Twitter, my expectations were much higher.
It has a good pace, many details, and a reasonable level of objectivity. The main drawback is that ... if you were paying attention to publicly available information, you would learn very little new. In fact, I was really surprised that Platformer's journalist dedicated pretty much solely to Twitter at that point didn't have access to more internals.
Another drawback was that, in fact, the history remains w/o conclusion. At this point, it is still unclear whether:
- Musk has saved or doomed Twitter
- X will become an everything app or not
- the quest for free speech is just a b*llshit or a real mission for Musk
etc.
In the end, it was a nice, fast, meaty read. But keeping in mind the intensity of the shitstorm at Twitter, my expectations were much higher.
April 8, 2024
‘Extremely Hardcore’ tries so hard to be a critical analysis of Elon Musk but ends up feeling more like a misguided hit piece, dripping with a kind of childish spite that’s more laughable than insightful.
And then there’s the whole nostalgia trip for Twitter’s ‘golden era,’ which is baffling. It’s glaringly obvious that Twitter was far from flourishing; a new CEO shaking things up and nudging people towards productivity shouldn’t be controversial, but it’s evident that the author doesn’t really understand how capitalism works
The lengths to which the author goes to champion the underperforming former employees is bewildering, to say the least. Anyone with even a sliver of business acumen can see that it’s a flawed argument, but then again our writer seems to have 0 knowledge around how companies function.
Finally waving goodbye to the Platformer newsletter was a relief. I’m keen to steer clear of anything else written by the author, or his often-mentioned boss, Casey Newton. Their “perspective” won’t be missed.
And then there’s the whole nostalgia trip for Twitter’s ‘golden era,’ which is baffling. It’s glaringly obvious that Twitter was far from flourishing; a new CEO shaking things up and nudging people towards productivity shouldn’t be controversial, but it’s evident that the author doesn’t really understand how capitalism works
The lengths to which the author goes to champion the underperforming former employees is bewildering, to say the least. Anyone with even a sliver of business acumen can see that it’s a flawed argument, but then again our writer seems to have 0 knowledge around how companies function.
Finally waving goodbye to the Platformer newsletter was a relief. I’m keen to steer clear of anything else written by the author, or his often-mentioned boss, Casey Newton. Their “perspective” won’t be missed.
Read
January 24, 2025A phenomenal series of unforced errors by one of god’s least cool children
April 7, 2024
The definitive book on the Twitter->Saga. Well-reported, lots of good access, and actually covers details and things that you wouldn’t necessarily know even if you closely followed this mess as it unfolded in real time.
February 17, 2024
When the events in this book were unfolding, I mostly followed them through Schiffer's blogs and articles on Platformer. To some degree, this book is reliving that drip-feed of real time news in an all at once deluge. But there is also room to breathe now and to marvel at the amount of corporate damage Musk achieved in a scant year. From October 2022 to October 2023, Musk and then Musk and Yaccarino took a company, its employees, advertisers, and customers through every level of ineptitude — and in the case of two Trust and Safety team members, actual physical danger — that only overweening hubris coupled with novice-level tech expertise can achieve. It is truly breathtaking and I can only imagine that the GOP laments that Musk cannot be their Presidential candidate.
The book doesn’t answer - perhaps no one can - if the whole business was a colossal blunder. A shitpost with an arbitrary figure named turned into an offer that the Twitter Board had a fiduciary duty to accept. But Schiffer provides more detail leading to that moment that suggests Musk was intent on doing Twitter harm in some fashion.
The story of Randall Lin, which was not covered in real time, is especially sobering and feels like something that would happen in a Stalinist regime. And, apparently, in an American corporation.
The book doesn’t answer - perhaps no one can - if the whole business was a colossal blunder. A shitpost with an arbitrary figure named turned into an offer that the Twitter Board had a fiduciary duty to accept. But Schiffer provides more detail leading to that moment that suggests Musk was intent on doing Twitter harm in some fashion.
The story of Randall Lin, which was not covered in real time, is especially sobering and feels like something that would happen in a Stalinist regime. And, apparently, in an American corporation.
March 17, 2024
Zoë Schiffer does a great job reporting out the experience of Elon Musk buying Twitter (I won’t call it X!) and what that was like for the company’s employees. As a dude who thought a lot about the hell site in the mid-2010s, this book was a nice way to say goodbye to the dream of what that site once was and could have been
May 16, 2024
An engaging and in-depth account of musks time as the owner of twitter, now X. I was interested in reading this after finishing Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk. That book touched briefly on the start of Musk’s takeover, but ended before a lot of the juicy stuff. This book did a great job covering everything I was interested in, but failed to get as deep into things as Isaacson’s book. I felt that most of it was a rehashing of the headlines I’ve seen over last couple of years. Perhaps my expectations were too high going in.
Read
April 13, 2024Read 1/2 only.. pretty much a play-by-play account dishing out how it went down on Twitter, through the anecdotes of key internal employees and tech journalists
April 8, 2024
absolutely incredible. spiciest internet drama i've read in a good long while. i cant believe musk bought twitter for a weed joke
October 1, 2024
"Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter" by Zoë Schiffer provides a detailed exploration of the turbulent events that unfolded following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter. The book begins by examining Musk’s obsession with his online presence and how a seemingly trivial incident during the 2023 Super Bowl sparked his desire to manipulate Twitter’s algorithm. His frustration with President Joe Biden's tweet outperforming his own initiated a series of drastic changes to Twitter's structure, marking the start of Musk's chaotic leadership.
Musk’s fascination with Twitter and social media can be traced back to his first tweet in 2010, but the origins of his ambition go further. His entrepreneurial journey began in 1999 when he sold Zip2 for $300 million and used the profits to launch X.com, which later became PayPal. Even after his departure from PayPal, Musk pursued grander visions, like space exploration through SpaceX and reshaping the automotive industry with Tesla. However, his controversial actions on Twitter, including his tweet about taking Tesla private, revealed the significant role the platform would play in his future.
Twitter, under Jack Dorsey's leadership, had already become a battleground for political discourse and misinformation. Content moderation was central to the platform’s stability, especially since its revenue depended on advertisers who avoided controversial or violent content. When Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s account after the January 6th Capitol riot, it became clear that content moderation was critical to its brand. Musk, however, viewed himself as a free speech crusader and, in early 2022, began buying Twitter shares with the intent of changing the platform's approach to governance.
By April 2022, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter became official after several months of negotiations, where he initially hesitated to complete the deal. His offer of $54.20 per share, valuing Twitter at $44 billion, was accepted, and despite his reservations about bots on the platform, Musk ultimately followed through with the acquisition in October 2022. However, his entrance into Twitter's headquarters, carrying a sink and making a viral statement, was only the beginning of a tumultuous period for the company.
Musk immediately implemented deep cuts, firing about half of Twitter’s staff and key executives, including CEO Parag Agarwal. This drastic cost-cutting approach aimed to save money but undermined Twitter's core functions, particularly in content moderation, brand safety, and compliance. Advertisers began pulling their ads, causing a significant drop in revenue. Musk’s introduction of Twitter Blue, a subscription-based verification system, further alienated users and advertisers. The system allowed anyone to purchase a blue checkmark, leading to a flood of fake accounts, such as one impersonating Eli Lilly, which caused real-world financial consequences.
Musk’s leadership style, characterized by impulsive decisions and a disregard for bureaucracy, resulted in more employee resignations and firings. His infamous email, demanding that employees commit to an “extremely hardcore” work ethic, led to a mass exodus, with Twitter’s staff dwindling from 7,500 to 2,700 within a month. Musk's commitment to his cost-cutting measures even led him to refuse to pay rent for Twitter’s offices, creating unsanitary working conditions.
As Twitter's workforce shrank and critical departments were gutted, Musk reinstated controversial figures like neo-Nazis, further damaging Twitter’s reputation and driving advertisers away. While Musk claimed to champion free speech, his actions showed otherwise. He suspended the @ElonJet account, which tracked his private jet, and banned reporters who covered the story. His compliance with the Turkish government's censorship requests during their elections further exposed the contradictions in his free speech advocacy.
By late 2022, Twitter’s financial situation had deteriorated, and the platform was plagued by outages and technical failures. Musk's focus on speed over safety, coupled with the failed subscription model, led to minimal revenue generation. Despite this, Musk remained determined to push Twitter Blue, even announcing plans to remove verification badges from users who didn’t subscribe.
Ultimately, Schiffer's book portrays Musk's takeover of Twitter as one of the most significant debacles in Silicon Valley’s history. What began as Musk’s dream of transforming Twitter into a dynamic platform evolved into a disaster marked by erratic leadership, financial losses, and the alienation of both employees and users. The transition from Twitter to X, as Musk had envisioned, signaled the end of Twitter as it was once known—a platform that thrived on cultural impact but struggled under the weight of Musk’s impulsive decisions and his personal pursuit of influence.
Musk’s fascination with Twitter and social media can be traced back to his first tweet in 2010, but the origins of his ambition go further. His entrepreneurial journey began in 1999 when he sold Zip2 for $300 million and used the profits to launch X.com, which later became PayPal. Even after his departure from PayPal, Musk pursued grander visions, like space exploration through SpaceX and reshaping the automotive industry with Tesla. However, his controversial actions on Twitter, including his tweet about taking Tesla private, revealed the significant role the platform would play in his future.
Twitter, under Jack Dorsey's leadership, had already become a battleground for political discourse and misinformation. Content moderation was central to the platform’s stability, especially since its revenue depended on advertisers who avoided controversial or violent content. When Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s account after the January 6th Capitol riot, it became clear that content moderation was critical to its brand. Musk, however, viewed himself as a free speech crusader and, in early 2022, began buying Twitter shares with the intent of changing the platform's approach to governance.
By April 2022, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter became official after several months of negotiations, where he initially hesitated to complete the deal. His offer of $54.20 per share, valuing Twitter at $44 billion, was accepted, and despite his reservations about bots on the platform, Musk ultimately followed through with the acquisition in October 2022. However, his entrance into Twitter's headquarters, carrying a sink and making a viral statement, was only the beginning of a tumultuous period for the company.
Musk immediately implemented deep cuts, firing about half of Twitter’s staff and key executives, including CEO Parag Agarwal. This drastic cost-cutting approach aimed to save money but undermined Twitter's core functions, particularly in content moderation, brand safety, and compliance. Advertisers began pulling their ads, causing a significant drop in revenue. Musk’s introduction of Twitter Blue, a subscription-based verification system, further alienated users and advertisers. The system allowed anyone to purchase a blue checkmark, leading to a flood of fake accounts, such as one impersonating Eli Lilly, which caused real-world financial consequences.
Musk’s leadership style, characterized by impulsive decisions and a disregard for bureaucracy, resulted in more employee resignations and firings. His infamous email, demanding that employees commit to an “extremely hardcore” work ethic, led to a mass exodus, with Twitter’s staff dwindling from 7,500 to 2,700 within a month. Musk's commitment to his cost-cutting measures even led him to refuse to pay rent for Twitter’s offices, creating unsanitary working conditions.
As Twitter's workforce shrank and critical departments were gutted, Musk reinstated controversial figures like neo-Nazis, further damaging Twitter’s reputation and driving advertisers away. While Musk claimed to champion free speech, his actions showed otherwise. He suspended the @ElonJet account, which tracked his private jet, and banned reporters who covered the story. His compliance with the Turkish government's censorship requests during their elections further exposed the contradictions in his free speech advocacy.
By late 2022, Twitter’s financial situation had deteriorated, and the platform was plagued by outages and technical failures. Musk's focus on speed over safety, coupled with the failed subscription model, led to minimal revenue generation. Despite this, Musk remained determined to push Twitter Blue, even announcing plans to remove verification badges from users who didn’t subscribe.
Ultimately, Schiffer's book portrays Musk's takeover of Twitter as one of the most significant debacles in Silicon Valley’s history. What began as Musk’s dream of transforming Twitter into a dynamic platform evolved into a disaster marked by erratic leadership, financial losses, and the alienation of both employees and users. The transition from Twitter to X, as Musk had envisioned, signaled the end of Twitter as it was once known—a platform that thrived on cultural impact but struggled under the weight of Musk’s impulsive decisions and his personal pursuit of influence.
May 11, 2025
Great recap of the wildness that was twitters acquisition. Think more distance would help the book be more of an analysis and less long-form news recounting. Will Elon kill Twitter? What new platforms will come up? What happens to micro blogging? Etc
March 19, 2024
Below average read. An average stitching of surface events. This book could’ve been a series of articles. Wouldn’t recommend
March 4, 2024
Not nearly as good or dishy as I had hoped. And the book is far leaner than one is led to believe. I finished the book at like 60-some percent. The rest was notes. Disappointment all around. I wanted to love this book, too.
February 26, 2024
if you ever used twitter in a meaningful way, this shit hits different. bravo zoe
October 1, 2024
A rough summary of what happened when Musk took over Twitter in October 2022
Does innovation trump humanity?
- On February 12, 2023, Elon Musk was at the Super Bowl, and he was confounded by the fact that President Joe Biden's tweet in support of the Philadelphia Eagles was outperforming his own similar tweet.
- In 2010 he tweeted to simply confirm that his handle, at Elon Musk, was indeed him, making sure everyone knew the real Musk from the fakes. It would be completely forgettable if not for the fact that, for the next decade plus, he would continue to have an obsession with fake Twitter users.
- Musk's rise to fame and fortune started earlier, in 1999, when he sold his startup Zip2 to Compaq for a cool $300 million. With his new wealth, Musk bought a McLaren F1 sports car and invested heavily in X.com, an online financial services startup that eventually became PayPal.
- Even as Musk ventured into the final frontier with SpaceX, on Earth he stayed rooted in tech. He invested heavily in Tesla, becoming a central figure in the electric car company's success. By 2020, Tesla was the world's most valuable automaker and Musk had become the richest man in the world.
- A Bumpy Acquisition On April 4th, 2022, Elon Musk disclosed the fact that his buying spree of Twitter shares equaled a 9.1% ownership of the company.
- How could someone like Agarwal, who barely tweeted at all, understand what the platform needed? At the same time, Musk's public interest in Twitter caused the stock to surge by 27%, making everyone happy. However, some weren't so thrilled. Many employees, known internally as Tweeps, were concerned about his controversial reputation and how it aligned with Twitter's values.
- Deep Cuts and a Blue Backlash When Musk finally took over Twitter, he didn't come alone. He arrived with a team of advisors and engineers from his other ventures like Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink.
- Musk fired about half of Twitter's staff overnight, which amounted to around 3,700 people. To expedite this process, the goons gave managers a list of their employees and tasked them with quickly coming up with one sentence to explain why each one shouldn't be fired. On his first night, he also fired key executives, including CEO Parag Agarwal, CFO Ned Siegel, Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadi, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
- The cuts went deep, affecting the trust and safety team, brand safety team, and the team responsible for FTC compliance. Whole departments were eliminated, such as the ethical AI team.
- Companies were under immense pressure to prove their worth, and they were urged to focus on execution rather than strategy.
- Twitter's staff went from 7,500 in October to just 2,700 in November.
- By late November 2022, ad bookings plummeted by 49 percent. Was Elon Musk a true champion for free speech? Or did he only take this stance when it suited him?
- The End of Twitter By the end of 2022, it was clear that Musk's decision to prioritize speed over safety wasn't working out very well. It was causing numerous platform outages. And despite his efforts to shift to a subscription-based model, it failed to gain traction, generating minimal revenue compared to the company's needs. And yet, Musk was determined to make Twitter blue a thing.
Does innovation trump humanity?
- On February 12, 2023, Elon Musk was at the Super Bowl, and he was confounded by the fact that President Joe Biden's tweet in support of the Philadelphia Eagles was outperforming his own similar tweet.
- In 2010 he tweeted to simply confirm that his handle, at Elon Musk, was indeed him, making sure everyone knew the real Musk from the fakes. It would be completely forgettable if not for the fact that, for the next decade plus, he would continue to have an obsession with fake Twitter users.
- Musk's rise to fame and fortune started earlier, in 1999, when he sold his startup Zip2 to Compaq for a cool $300 million. With his new wealth, Musk bought a McLaren F1 sports car and invested heavily in X.com, an online financial services startup that eventually became PayPal.
- Even as Musk ventured into the final frontier with SpaceX, on Earth he stayed rooted in tech. He invested heavily in Tesla, becoming a central figure in the electric car company's success. By 2020, Tesla was the world's most valuable automaker and Musk had become the richest man in the world.
- A Bumpy Acquisition On April 4th, 2022, Elon Musk disclosed the fact that his buying spree of Twitter shares equaled a 9.1% ownership of the company.
- How could someone like Agarwal, who barely tweeted at all, understand what the platform needed? At the same time, Musk's public interest in Twitter caused the stock to surge by 27%, making everyone happy. However, some weren't so thrilled. Many employees, known internally as Tweeps, were concerned about his controversial reputation and how it aligned with Twitter's values.
- Deep Cuts and a Blue Backlash When Musk finally took over Twitter, he didn't come alone. He arrived with a team of advisors and engineers from his other ventures like Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink.
- Musk fired about half of Twitter's staff overnight, which amounted to around 3,700 people. To expedite this process, the goons gave managers a list of their employees and tasked them with quickly coming up with one sentence to explain why each one shouldn't be fired. On his first night, he also fired key executives, including CEO Parag Agarwal, CFO Ned Siegel, Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadi, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
- The cuts went deep, affecting the trust and safety team, brand safety team, and the team responsible for FTC compliance. Whole departments were eliminated, such as the ethical AI team.
- Companies were under immense pressure to prove their worth, and they were urged to focus on execution rather than strategy.
- Twitter's staff went from 7,500 in October to just 2,700 in November.
- By late November 2022, ad bookings plummeted by 49 percent. Was Elon Musk a true champion for free speech? Or did he only take this stance when it suited him?
- The End of Twitter By the end of 2022, it was clear that Musk's decision to prioritize speed over safety wasn't working out very well. It was causing numerous platform outages. And despite his efforts to shift to a subscription-based model, it failed to gain traction, generating minimal revenue compared to the company's needs. And yet, Musk was determined to make Twitter blue a thing.
May 15, 2025
After reading Careless People, the scathing takedown of Facebook from the inside, I seem to be on a social media app tell-all kick. This book was written not by an insider but by an investigative journalist who has focused on Twitter/X for years, particularly as Elon Musk has insidiously taken it over and driven it downward. At times I felt like I was reading a real-life version of Emma Rosenblum's book Very Bad Company, which is supposed to be satire? So, not a great look, there, Elon. A lot of what she describes took place at Twitter after he took over echoes what he pulled with the government and DOGE, which is, again, maddening/problematic/wtf. This dude is crazy in the worst way, but I didn't realize what bad shape Twitter was in before he got there, either. Frustrating, appalling, gasp-inducing? All of the above! Dinged one star because the book sometimes feels more like a series of vignettes than a coherent narrative, but otherwise, definitely worth a read.
January 3, 2025
Elon Musk is quite possibly the least savvy business person to ever be in business LMFAO. Breezed through this newsy tell-all about Musk running Twitter into the ground. It didn’t ask any big questions but it was tons of fun. schadenfreude at its finest
March 1, 2024
Great read! The most common notes I added in the margins were “wow” and “lol”. I was following this story as it unfolded but still learned a lot, especially from the interviews with former employees.
March 11, 2024
The reporting was great but wow I wish I knew less about Elon Musk.
April 12, 2024
Incredible chronically and reporting. Bird app is a mess. But the person who read this audiobook sounded so rigid which made it kinda annoying/dull to listening.
July 26, 2024
If you start this booking keeping in mind that it’s very, very subjective and one-sided, then it’s actually a fun and snarky read. Zoe’s sarcastic comments made me laugh at times; she knew how to spin this story.
July 13, 2024
Very much enjoyed this book it gave a good insight into what happened with Twitter and seemed to come from a good source with an interesting story that was engaging and fun to read
May 19, 2024
Dit is geen biografie van Elon Musk maar een juicy omschrijving van zijn Twitter take-over. Ik heb er van gesmuld. Lezen als je houdt van boeken over bedrijven, politiek en media!
July 29, 2024
Stilius, detalės, istorija - 5*. Man patinka biznio istorijos, čia grynai atskleistas Twitter vidus nuo Musko idėjos perimti Twitter, iki valdymo perėmimo ir pokyčių nuo Twitter link X. Labai įdomu, daug detalių ir, kiek sudariau įspūdį tikrindamas šaltinius, gana tiksliai nušviesta ir paaiškinta. Muskas pats komentuoti ir duoti interviu atsisakė. Nežinau ar dėl to, visgi naratyvas ganėtinai šališkas anti-muskiškas, man asmeniškai neatrodo, jog jo visas takeover tokie "vieni vartai" riedėjimas nuo kalno, kaip bandoma įteigti. Knygos tampa vis labiau šališkos, tai šita viena iš jų.
March 29, 2024
A compelling retelling of the fiasco that was Elon Musk’s takeover of X/Twitter. The string of unforced errors, blatant mistreatment of employees and moments of pure hypocrisy are pretty damning for Musk. Still, if there is another side to the story, I doubt it’s as entertaining as this one.
The tale is thoroughly crafted by a journalist who had a ring side seat to much of the action, but you won’t learn much new if you were following the OG story when it all went down. Of course, we all need to wait and see for ourselves what the ending will be (grabs popcorn 🍿).
What a douche.
The tale is thoroughly crafted by a journalist who had a ring side seat to much of the action, but you won’t learn much new if you were following the OG story when it all went down. Of course, we all need to wait and see for ourselves what the ending will be (grabs popcorn 🍿).
What a douche.
February 26, 2024
Extremely Hardcore
Unfortunately lacks any access or firsthand information. The most work the author seems to have done is paste in some tweets that support her arguments now and then.
The Lin stuff is new I suppose, but mostly uninteresting and irrelevant. If there had been any other direct source willing to work with the author I imagine his role would’ve been cut significantly.
It’s a good enough chronicle of events based on the journalism of others but lacks any new information or insight. Isaacson does a better job on the Twitter stuff than this little book does.
Unfortunately lacks any access or firsthand information. The most work the author seems to have done is paste in some tweets that support her arguments now and then.
The Lin stuff is new I suppose, but mostly uninteresting and irrelevant. If there had been any other direct source willing to work with the author I imagine his role would’ve been cut significantly.
It’s a good enough chronicle of events based on the journalism of others but lacks any new information or insight. Isaacson does a better job on the Twitter stuff than this little book does.
Want to read
July 15, 2024.
-
Vond dit boek in de fysieke krant (eigenlijk een toegift bij een ander). Dit weekend (za 3 maart 2024). Neem aan Volkskrant.
https://www.botuitgevers.nl/product/e... uitgever
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... oorspronkelijke Engelse uitgever met https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... audio 523 minuten
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... url
-
.
-
Vond dit boek in de fysieke krant (eigenlijk een toegift bij een ander). Dit weekend (za 3 maart 2024). Neem aan Volkskrant.
https://www.botuitgevers.nl/product/e... uitgever
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... oorspronkelijke Engelse uitgever met https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... audio 523 minuten
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... url
-
.
Read
March 11, 2024Did not get very far - it just felt like a bunch of insider gossip, which is not for me.
March 16, 2024
I couldn't put this book down!
It read like a best page-turner out there. Probably because I am interested technology / startup stories. But the fast pace of events and surrealism of the whole situation contributed greatly to the experience.
The described events affected me to the extend that I cannot wait for starship launches with the same level of excitement anymore.
It read like a best page-turner out there. Probably because I am interested technology / startup stories. But the fast pace of events and surrealism of the whole situation contributed greatly to the experience.
The described events affected me to the extend that I cannot wait for starship launches with the same level of excitement anymore.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews