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Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) Notice

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Home | Reviews

Reviews

Bruce Test Review

You already have a view on Elon Musk. Your view may have been shaped by the allure of his achievements, or perhaps a repulsion at something he said, or even by a sense of patriotism – one of our South Africans has achieved so much.

Whatever your view, it probably isn’t right.

Elon is a stranger beast than I had ever imagined. It is to our great benefit that one of our generation’s best biographers, Walter Isaacson, was allowed into an almost boundary-crossing intimacy with Musk. And it’s to Musk’s credit that he clearly didn’t care what Isaacson wrote.

The result is an extraordinarily intimate telling of the life of Elon Musk up to 2023. It avoids the oversimplifying traps of villainising or glorifying. Isaacson’s guiding light as a biographer is that the answer to every question the reader asks is, “Let me tell you a story,” and man, are there stories.

It leaves us with an unusual paradox. Elon is way more impressive than I had realised. One can almost feel the intensity he creates, enjoy the hierarchy he crashes, admire the new thinking he forces. The insane focus and drive are just breathtaking. At the same time, he seems wracked by his trauma, leaving a wake of personal destruction. I am not at all drawn to be like him, and I don’t want to work with anyone like him.

This is the twist at the heart of the Musk story. It is so unusual to see an impressive performance and yet be repelled. Normally, achievement triggers inspiration – but not here. And we are left with that sad feeling that the trauma inflicted on Musk, and now passed on by Musk to those around him, might just be a necessary condition for his particular type of achievement.

Since this book, Musk’s influence has only grown. If you want to understand the awkward, crazy cipher that seems built for the meme generation, this book is a great place to start.

One enduring reminder from this book: Beware of people with enormous moral goals. Any sacrifice is worth it to achieve such a goal, but you might be the sacrifice.

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Reviews

Musk by Walter Isaacson

You already have a view on Elon Musk. Your view may have been shaped by the allure of his achievements, or perhaps a repulsion at something he said, or even by a sense of patriotism – one of our South Africans has achieved so much.

Whatever your view, it probably isn’t right.

Elon is a stranger beast than I had ever imagined. It is to our great benefit that one of our generation’s best biographers, Walter Isaacson, was allowed into an almost boundary-crossing intimacy with Musk. And it’s to Musk’s credit that he clearly didn’t care what Isaacson wrote.

The result is an extraordinarily intimate telling of the life of Elon Musk up to 2023. It avoids the oversimplifying traps of villainising or glorifying. Isaacson’s guiding light as a biographer is that the answer to every question the reader asks is, “Let me tell you a story,” and man, are there stories.

It leaves us with an unusual paradox. Elon is way more impressive than I had realised. One can almost feel the intensity he creates, enjoy the hierarchy he crashes, admire the new thinking he forces. The insane focus and drive are just breathtaking. At the same time, he seems wracked by his trauma, leaving a wake of personal destruction. I am not at all drawn to be like him, and I don’t want to work with anyone like him.

This is the twist at the heart of the Musk story. It is so unusual to see an impressive performance and yet be repelled. Normally, achievement triggers inspiration – but not here. And we are left with that sad feeling that the trauma inflicted on Musk, and now passed on by Musk to those around him, might just be a necessary condition for his particular type of achievement.

Since this book, Musk’s influence has only grown. If you want to understand the awkward, crazy cipher that seems built for the meme generation, this book is a great place to start.

One enduring reminder from this book: Beware of people with enormous moral goals. Any sacrifice is worth it to achieve such a goal, but you might be the sacrifice.

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Reviews

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Sometimes the mere knowledge of the existence of a phrase is enough to change you.

This was my experience the first time I read Kim Scott’s excellent book, Radical Candor. It’s a brilliant framework for understanding how to best give feedback. And don’t be fooled by the name, Radical Candor is not aggressively sharing every piece of feedback that occurs to you.

At the heart of this book is a 2×2 (ok, I am a sucker for a 2×2) which plots “Care Personally” against “Challenge Directly.” I think she highlights the impact of direct feedback, when it isn’t clear that the giver of feedback cares. Maybe they don’t care. Or maybe they just aren’t making enough effort to show that they care. But this feedback often fails because it comes across as “Obnoxious Aggression”.

But the quadrant that really struck me was on the other side of the grid. What does it look like if you care personally but fail to share directly? This is “Ruinous Empathy.” Out of a misguided sense of care you fail to share directly and you ruin the relationship.

I have heard someone describe this as “You care so much about the person that you have to fire them because you never gave them feedback.” This is a huge concept that has shifted how I give feedback and how much I give. My danger zone is that I drift into ruinous empathy, and so I need systems to make sure I am always sharing directly. But often I have to help people on my teams, who can’t understand why their feedback is being taken as obnoxious aggression. It’s not enough to care, you have to really show you care.

This book is full of great concepts. Scott differentiates between a rockstar and a superstar. Both of these are top performers, but the one is aggressively seeking new opportunities while the other is happy to keep performing where they are. And as we go through different seasons, we might shift between a rockstar and a superstar based on our life situation.

A last cracking nugget from this book. When giving feedback, Kim Scott suggests we think:

Situation, Behaviour, Impact.

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E: john@nonfictionbookclub.co.za

T: 082 784 3678

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T: 082 784 3678

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About us

Meet
John
Bradshaw
Host of the Non Fiction Book Club

John Bradshaw is a business leader, retailer and lifelong reader. 

He founded the Non Fiction Book Club to share his passion for applying the wisdom found in non-fiction books, and as a way to make sure he better remembered the best parts of his favourite ones.  John loves chatting to people who read and apply what they learn.  He has not starting limiting himself to 2 book recommendations per conversation as he realised he was getting annoying. 

John’s Favourite books

Home | Reviews

Reviews

Read, Reviewed, Recommended.

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

17th June 2025

Sometimes the mere knowledge of the existence of a phrase is enough to change you.

This was my experience the first time I read Kim Scott’s excellent book, Radical Candor. It’s a brilliant framework for understanding how to best give feedback. And don’t be fooled by the name, Radical Candor is not aggressively sharing every piece of feedback that occurs to you.

Musk by Walter Isaacson

You already have a view on Elon Musk. Your view may have been shaped by the allure of his achievements, or perhaps a repulsion at something he said, or even by a sense of patriotism – one of our South Africans has achieved so much.

Bruce Test Review

You already have a view on Elon Musk. Your view may have been shaped by the allure of his achievements, or perhaps a repulsion at something he said, or even by a sense of patriotism – one of our South Africans has achieved so much.

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The Podcasts