I am reading the chapter on Generics from Effective Java[Item 27].

There is this paragraph in the book:

It is permissible, though relatively rare, for a type parameter to be bounded by some expression involving that type parameter itself. This is what’s known as a recursive type bound.

and this:

// Using a recursive type bound to express mutual comparability
public static <T extends Comparable<T>> T max(List<T> list) {...}

What is recursive type bound and how does the above piece of code help achieve mutual comparability?

java generics effective-java
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