Come on, spill the beans on Sol

Biography fails to provide the promised insider's view, remains thin on detail

- Siyavuya Madikane

Sometimes it's better to take no action than to take the wrong action. Peter Venison should have rather used his retirement to improve his golf handicap or something. At the beginning of this biography, he confirms that the only reason he put pen to paper was that he had been searching for a Sol Kerzner biography at an Exclusive Books store and hadn't found any.

Being the man of action that he portrays himself to be, Venison took on the task of waxing lyrical about one of South Africa's greatest sons. Sol Kerzner! The Sol Kerzner! Remember him? If you're a 1980s baby like me and whenever you asked your parents for soccer boots and they said, "I just paid for your school fees, I don't have money for soccer boots ... I can't buy everything, I am not Sol Kerzner!"

Yes, that guy.

Venison thought we needed to immortalise him with a half-cooked book that features half the writer's family emigrations and important promotions.

It was a gonzo journalism-inspired idea. Put the writer at the centre of the story, push the subject to the edges and Hunter S Thompson has competition.