Page 42 - Waterfall City September Issue 2023

Waterfall City Book Reviews

Rassie: Stories of Life
Elon Musk and Rugby
By Walter Isaacson By Rassie Erasmus and David
O’Sullivan
From the author of Steve
Jobs and other bestselling Rassie Erasmus has been called a
biographies, this is the genius. He’s been called reckless. All
astonishingly intimate story of his life, he’s done things differently.
Elon Musk, the most fascinating Now, with his trademark candour,
and controversial innovator Rassie talks openly about his
of our era – a rule-breaking adventures and misadventures. He
visionary who helped to reveals the turmoil of living with an
lead the world into the era alcoholic father and growing up in
of electric vehicles, private the conservative town of Despatch.
space exploration and artificial
intelligence. Oh, and took over He looks back on an exemplary
Twitter, renaming it X. career as a player whose innate
rugby instincts, ability to read a game differently and appetite for hard work set
When Musk was a child in South him apart. While his teammates relaxed, he preferred to watch hours of videos
Africa, he was beaten regularly to devise winning strategies. When given the opportunity to lead his country as
by bullies. One day, a group pushed him down some concrete steps Springbok captain, he refused this honour.
and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in
the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared Rassie recalls how he became an important cog in Nick Mallett’s record-
to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue and breaking Springbok team of the late 1990s. He remembers the anguish of the
charismatic fantasist. 1999 World Cup and the devastating injuries that cut short his playing career.
He discusses his revolutionary coaching methods, which were initially laughed
His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a off and then eagerly adopted, how he fought the rugby establishment at the
tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde Stormers and earned the grudging respect of Irish fans at Munster.
mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving
for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was Rassie talks about his greatest contribution to South African rugby: appointing
callous and at times, destructive. its first black captain, Siya Kolisi, without much fanfare or controversy, as his
bold plans for effective racial transformation of the national team achieved
At the beginning of 2022 – after a year marked by SpaceX launching immediate success, culminating in triumph at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
31 rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and Musk becoming
the richest man on earth – he spoke ruefully about his compulsion to Readers will enjoy the behind-the-scenes information about interactions and
stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis controversies and previously untold stories from a truly maverick life.
mode, which it has been for about 14 years now, or arguably most of
my life,” he said. Price R380.00

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said Abundance: The
it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate Inner Path to Wealth
playground.
By Deepak Chopra

Over the years, whenever Musk was in a dark place, his mind went
back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to Discover the keys to a life of
own the playground. success, fulfilment, wholeness and
plenty.
For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings,
walked his factories with him and spent hours interviewing him, his Many of us live in a mindset of lack
family, friends, co-workers and adversaries. and limitation, focusing on the
things we don’t have. Too often
we allow our egos to drive our
The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of
triumphs and turmoil, that addresses this question: Are the demons thoughts and actions, preventing
that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress? us from reaching something
greater: a true sense of inner
Price: R605.00 peace, acceptance and fulfilment.
In Abundance, international
bestselling author Deepak Chopra
offers a simple seven-step plan
to help you reset your focus, become the agent of your own life and strive for
life’s unbounded possibilities. Demonstrating how to work past self-generated
feelings of limitation and providing meditations to help you focus your
attention and intuition, this is your guide to a life of true power, prosperity and
plenty.
Price: R420.00

40 Waterfall City Issue 9 2023