Breaking Twitter
Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History
Ben Mezrich
“In October 2022, Elon Musk marched through Twitter’s front doors after buying the digital giant for $44 billion. His takeover came with the promise of fundamental change, but nothing could prepare the company for the chaos to come – brutal mass firings, an exodus of advertisers and ‘blue-tick’ celebrities and a vicious battle for control. With unique access to Twitter insiders and Musk’s confidants, this is the astonishing story from all sides. Why did Elon overhaul Twitter’s blue-tick system, and how did it lead to the near-collapse of the company’s revenue? Will Twitter – now X – survive? How has the constant negative press coverage affected Elon? With a wealth of hidden details, Breaking Twitter gives ringside seats to one of the most dramatic and compelling business stories of our time.”
I went into Breaking Twitter hoping for a sharp, insightful account of one of the most chaotic corporate takeovers in recent history. What I got instead was something far thinner, messier, and frankly exhausting.
This book is largely about the people who worked at Twitter before and during the Musk era. While that could have been interesting, it never quite lands. It is not a comprehensive or deeply researched story of the takeover itself, nor does it offer much meaningful insight into how or why things unfolded the way they did. For a book tackling such a huge, controversial moment in tech and media, it surprisingly does not have much to say.
I did not like Elon Musk before reading this, and I definitely do not like him now. Even that takeaway feels obvious and unearned. The narrative jumps constantly between perspectives and characters/employees, many of whom are difficult to keep track of and even harder to care about. I found myself repeatedly asking who this person is and why they matter. Too often, the answer was that they do not.
The book feels unpolished and directionless, with a judgmental tone that replaces analysis. Rather than building a clear argument or storyline, it follows several vaguely unlikeable characters who ultimately add very little to the broader picture. They seem to exist mostly for cinematic moments rather than because they meaningfully advance the story.
There is also an underlying irony that is hard to ignore. The author condemns Musk’s narcissism, yet the book itself suffers from a similar problem. There is an inflated sense of importance about Twitter, its internal dramas, and the people orbiting it. I genuinely cannot believe how much anyone cares about Twitter at all, from the tweets to the drama to what Musk might say next, or the crowds willing to follow him off a cliff because of it. The obsession feels baffling.
By the end, I felt worse for having read this book, the same hollow and irritated feeling you get after spending too much time doom scrolling on social media. 1 star.
This book was not what I expected and not in a good way. I thought I was picking up something about how leaders make decisions, but instead it turned out to be a bunch of short stories that had nothing to do with ‘how’ to make decisions.
I was pretty pumped when I first saw this book because, well, it’s red! I had high hopes for an exciting read, but boy, was I let down. The beginning of the book dragged on with long-winded chapters all about military stuff. It was like the words were just sliding off the page instead of getting into my head. Sure, we needed some background info, but that was way too much. I get that the principles are based on military history, but a little less history and a little more about applications of those principles would be usefu.
Built on the idea that being a virgin is about having had sex between a boy and a girl, this short story attempts to prove that it’s different for boys who have sex with boys. Unforunately, that’s not what I took away from it. All I saw was a boy refusing to admit he was gay, one poor kid who is clearly gay, one (potential) Ally and one homophobic but horny boy.
A Life in Trauma
Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas
Made in China
This book is very slow. It spends a good chunk of the start of the book “rethinking leadership” in a modern way. Although I agree that some leaders do need to rethink how they lead, the people that have picked up this book would already agree with the title and modern leadership and do not need to be convinced.
I could not bring myself to finish this book. I felt pretty grimey while reading it, and I just couldn’t get the point of it. Everything was so passionate and big that I didn’t know what the actual important parts were. Oh no, Kia has to turn to prostitution. Yes, it’s a dangerous ‘job’. She feels like she has responsibility for the boy next door, yet doesn’t invite him into her own home? So like, paying twice the rent she needs to?
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Believe – Sam Frost
Angel Mage – Garth Nix
Once Upon a Crime
This book is filled with references to the past. It’s jumps straight into Simon’s last year at Watford School of Magicks (a boarding school of course), and the background of battling the Humdrum is just tossed in there. I couldn’t work out why I was reading it – there seemed to be no real plot at all. Thus it’s a DNF for me – I gave up and went and read something else.