diff --git a/src/effectivejava/chapter5/item30/RecursiveTypeBound.java b/src/effectivejava/chapter5/item30/RecursiveTypeBound.java
index e3419dfc..694c0863 100644
--- a/src/effectivejava/chapter5/item30/RecursiveTypeBound.java
+++ b/src/effectivejava/chapter5/item30/RecursiveTypeBound.java
@@ -10,14 +10,14 @@ public static <E extends Comparable<E>> E max(Collection<E> c) {
 
         E result = null;
         for (E e : c)
-            if (result == null || e.compareTo(result) > 0)
-                result = Objects.requireNonNull(e);
+            if (e != null && (result == null || e.compareTo(result) > 0))
+                result = e;
 
-        return result;
+        return Objects.requireNonNull(result);
     }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) {
         List<String> argList = Arrays.asList(args);
         System.out.println(max(argList));
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}