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This Book is Humbling, Janv. 3 2004
I gave the book four stars because I thought that is what it deserves as a piece of literature. But of course his "story" is five stars. That goes without saying. He is the second best known computer guy after Bill Gates and a modern Horatio Alger.Here is a person that leads by example. He has shown to have as superior intelligence and combined that with hard work, and outstanding communication and leadership skills. Obviously there are elements of luck in his success in computers and being at the right place - Intel - at the right time, but it is possible that if he had entered another field he still might be just as well known. An awe inspiring and humbling story of an immigrant to America. Jack in Toronto.
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Intel Chairman Andrew Grove Reminds Us of Our Roots, Aoû 30 2002
...Intel Chairman Andrew Grove Reminds Us of Our Roots It is a rare book by a corporate CEO that isn't either a trumpet blasting his visionary insight and strategic brilliance or a dramatic and mawkish retelling of his climb to the top from unimaginably humble origins. Swimming Across: A Memoir - Andrew Grove's simple, elegant recounting of the first 20 years of his life - is that rare exception. Grove, one of the founders of Intel and still its chairman, was born Andras Grof in Hungary in 1936, the only child of parents who were in the dairy business. We tend to forget that prior to 1945 there was no Iron Curtain, and countries we think of now as post-Communist had vital histories of their own before the Soviet Union stitched together its empire following World War II. Grove recounts a happy childhood in Budapest, the country's largest and most cosmopolitan city. The specter of war loomed large in Europe in the late 1930s, but Grove was too young to be aware of its darker aspects. His family was Jewish and even as a young child he knew that many Jews were forced to live separately in ghettos. But to the young Grove and his playmates, this reality was simply material for another schoolyard game, much to the horror of their kindergarten teacher. Grove's early years, before the full force of the war descended upon Europe, were comfortably middle class. Budapest was actually two distinct communities, the wealthier Buda on one side of the Danube River and the more commercial Pest on the other side. Grove's family moved to Pest in 1938 when his father expanded the dairy business. In 1942, Grove's father was drafted into the Hungarian army. He and other Jewish conscripts were sent to the Russian front not as regular soldiers, but rather as part of a support team sent ahead to clear roadways and build camps, fortifications and other facilities. In 1943, Grove and his mother learned that his father "had disappeared at the front." The Hungarian army was unable to provide the family with any additional information regarding his father for the balance of the war. While his mother never gave up hope, Grove, who had been six at the time of the draft, had a more difficult time holding onto memories of his absent parent. In one of the book's most moving moments, Grove tells us of the doorbell ringing in their apartment one day in the fall of 1945. His mother opened the door and found "an emaciated man, filthy and in a ragged soldier's uniform standing at the open door." As his mother embraced the man, Grove thought, "this must be my father." Scenes like this, however poignant, are the book's chief disappointment. The writing is bland and devoid of emotion. Grove describes everyday life in the middle of a war zone and under the tightening noose of communism and even tells of his mother's rape by Russian soldiers, but all in prose that is more redolent of a corporate brief than an evocative memoir. The meatiest part of the book can be found in Grove's recounting of life in Hungary in the middle 1950s. We see a country that was being slowly strangled by the politburo in Moscow. In 1956, Grove, who had found his passion for chemistry, was looking forward to starting his second year at the university. He was already part of a small class of individuals destined for leadership within Hungary. But in October 1956, Russian troops and tanks rolled into Budapest and clamped down on what had been an incipient, but weak, effort to throw off the Soviet chains. We can imagine the agony Grove felt at watching his country being overrun by soldiers intent on enforcing a police state. He knew that many of his friends were in fact fleeing Hungary; Grove's parents urged him to get out before the borders were sealed. He and two friends made the difficult decision to leave, undertaking a journey to Austria and eventually to America that is the stuff of movies. Grove found his way to this country through the combined efforts of numerous relief and charitable organizations. Relatives in New York City took him in and helped him adapt to his new life. Grove entered City College of New York and graduated in 1960 with an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering followed in 1963 by a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. The rest, as they say, is history. Grove ends this memoir with his move to California. In an interview in Esquire magazine in 2000, Grove spoke about his life as an immigrant in this country. In an era when many would have the U.S. close its borders and eject every "foreigner," Grove's presence and success is a reminder that the U.S. has been the place for those seeking a better life for almost 400 years. "It is a very important truism that immigrants and immigration are what made America what it is," Grove writes. "We must be vigilant as a nation to have a tolerance for differences, a tolerance for new people."...
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A non-detailed look back, Jui 22 2002
To those of you that might read this book, I do recommend it. I was interested in this book because it took place during a lifetime I did not live and a place I will more than likely never visit. Andrew Grove tells of his life growing up and tends to leave details out. His life growing up was difficult as he had to experience war, communism and the flight from his homeland to a bustly NYC. He starts the story at a very young age and finishes just after college. If you are looking for an easy quick read to make you laugh, cry and just feel good about growing up as a kid, than this book is it.
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A Must Read For Every Native Born American., Fév 5 2002
I agree with Tom Brokaw on the back cover, "It should be required reading in schools." but it will also appeal to adults as well. An easy read and after reading it, you'll know why people risked their lives to come to the United States. To escape evil and find freedom. Read how he dodged the Arrow Cross, Nazi's and Communism, three big evils!
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Simplicity is splendor, Janv. 5 2002
Par Un client
As I was reading Andrew Grove's book a strange sensation came over me. Would it be possible that I had been cloned back in the prewar years? The life and experiences he describes are very familiar, for I lived only one block away from his family, and shared a great deal of his experiences being very much in the same predicament. His book is not for those who are looking for eloquence, grand dialogues, or pages of description of a sunset. It is a very matter of fact description of growing up Jewish in Budapest during the 30's and 40's. Grove, who eventually escaped and landed in America, became the CEO of INTEL and also Time Magazine's Man of the Year '97. Anyone who is interested in a measured and perceptive historical autobiography of a very talented and,to some extent self assured,person, will find this book fascinating. Naturally, as a fellow witness to those times I appreciated the fact that his facts and figures were always on target. He did not paint himself a hero of the Hungarian Revolution of '56, as was the case with almost anyone else during that period, and did not hesitate to admit some of his own shortcomings. As I finished the book I could not help but to think that I would have considered myself very lucky had our paths ever crossed.
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Powerful Scenes from a Remarkable Life!, Déc 13 2001
Regardless of what you think about this book, everyone will agree that Dr. Grove has accomplished a great deal in his life. He is clearly a five-star person!Although I knew that Dr. Grove had been one of the most successful CEOs ever (having studied his work at Intel for many years) and that he was a Hungarian refugee, I knew little else. Apparently, that was a purposeful decision that Dr. Grove began to reverse in 1997 when he was interviewed for Time's Man of the Year award. The book is not the sort of autobiography that most of us are used to reading. Swimming Across is mainly different in that it builds around a series of anecdotes and scenes, which provide an indelible flavor without showing the whole story. Many of the scenes are not particularly important, but all combine to provide a piece of the puzzle of who Dr. Grove was and how he became who he is today. The material is almost totally focused on the first 20 years of his life, from the time he was born in Hungary through the first few months of his arrival in the United States. The book is above all very inspiring. This occurs at several levels as you consider the obstacles that he had to overcome. Dr. Grove had physical disabilities to overcome (the loss of 50 percent of his hearing at four and a weak heart from Scarlet Fever at the same age). In Hungarian society, his family's Jewish background led to severe challenges (his father being sent off with a labor battalion in World War II in which only 10 percent survived after maltreatment by both Hungarians and then by the Soviet military forces, many relatives being sent to Auschwitz and killed there, and anti-Semitism in day-to-day life and official actions) which had to be surmounted. Due to the disruptions of World War II, Soviet hegemony, and repression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, his education was often disrupted. He escaped Hungary with very little money, and not enough knowledge of technical English to do university-level work, at a time when tens of thousands were seeking a way into the United States. I came away feeling very grateful that Dr. Grove chose to come to the United States, and that so many people helped him to get here and prosper. The book's title is well developed in the book. Because of operations on his ears at four, Dr. Grove avoided the water as a youngster. He eventually decided to learn to swim, and got good ear plugs to help keep his ears clear of potential infections. In these days, it was very easy to develop polio from swimming, so there was a double danger. Self-taught as a swimmer, he came to enjoy it very much. To his surprise, while in the college preparatory program of the Gymnasium in Hungary, one of his teachers, Mr. Volenski, identified Dr. Grove as the student who was most likely to swim across the big lake of life. The book ends with the observation, "I still like swimming." Prior to this book, Dr. Grove's most famous work was Only the Paranoid Survive. I can now see how his first twenty years of life in Hungary prepared him to develop and become effective in living that philosophy. Many readers will also be impressed by the book's candor. With an active imagination and a lively sense of fun, Dr. Grove usually got into mischief and the book describes many escapades. Many well-known people would not have been willing to share these stories that make him seem very human, but far less than perfect. Ultimately, I was impressed by the importance of persistence. Despite having no reason to expect that her husband was still alive, Dr. Grove's mother kept looking for him and prepared their home again after World War II. All the spare time she had was spent asking people if anyone knew where he was, and visiting the train station. After being on the brink of being rejected from the university in Budapest because of Communist social classifications, Dr. Grove's father kept looking for connections until he found someone who could get the classification changed. On the brink of being rejected from entry into the United States, Dr. Grove charged in and wouldn't take "no" for an answer from a group screening people to sponsor. The first two U.S. universities that would accept him wouldn't let him take as much chemistry as he wanted, so he kept going until he got into a more appropriate program at New York City College. I was not surprised to see that Dr. Grove had as a child been a fan of C.S. Forester's books about the fictional naval hero, Horatio Hornblower, who evidenced much the same strong character and persistence. Where in your life can persistence make an important difference? What contributions can you make to the world and to those you love as a result of being more persistent?
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His Private Young Life, Nov. 20 2001
Andrew S. Grove is one of the few people whose contributions to his profession not only change the means by which societies function, his deeds have additionally earned him a place in history. The machine on which I type, and with which many of you will read these thoughts contain elements from Intel. The combination of brilliant science and management, while not perfect, has brought Intel to a position of leadership in international business. Mr. Grove stepped down from active management of Intel several years ago, however he maintains the position of Chairman. If you are interested in the story of a young man who arrives in America and rises to the heights of this country's business elite, and becomes Time Magazine's Man Of The Year, this is not the book you seek."Swimming Across", covers a remarkable though rather brief time of Mr. Grove's life. The memoir recounts memories from the age of 4, and ends when he completes college in New York City. After the close of the book he summarizes the 40 plus years the book does not mention, and while interesting to say the least, it is even more frustrating. Mr. Grove has always been a private man, and he states this book came about because of the arrival of his grandchildren. This may account for the time period covered, for even as a graduate of college, the papers of the city noted his remarkable academic accomplishments. As I read I hoped that a sequel would be readily perceived, however after reading why he wrote the book, and the summary of the balance of his life he offered, a definitive biography will be likely be written by another. The book is still enjoyable albeit brief, and almost exclusively confined to his years in Hungary. Those years are filled with events that have appeared in other memoirs of those who managed to survive not only the Holocaust, but also The Soviet Occupation that arrived as the former ended. Born in 1934 his recollections are necessarily spare due to his young age, however what he does recount are the memories of a very precocious child driven to succeed well before he arrived in America. Some of his earliest memories, and a few that he recalls from his early teen years, are remarkable in their candor for a man so normally private. His stories are candid, innocent, and at times remarkably funny. I have read many biographies of noted people that never seemed to have much of a childhood, much less decided to share the thoughts of their youthful hearts and minds. His ability to survive the Nazi's and then thrive during the Soviet Union served him well when he chose to escape and make his life in America. The drive that was so channeled and restrained by the occupation and by his religion predictably launched a career in America from the moment he arrived. I enjoy reading autobiographies like that of Mr. Grove, not because he eventually became a success by most measures personal and professional that are held in high regard in this country. I enjoy being reminded of just how remarkable this country was and continues to be to attract people from across the globe. Mr. Grove speaks of how he has never faced any resentment for his success because he was an immigrant. He explains why that for the over 4 decades that have passed since his escape from Hungary, he has never returned. Most of us are fairly recent immigrants to this nation. Mr. Grove did not arrive until the 1950's. And while his success has been very public and unusually great, the millions who found their way here usually contributed with the enthusiasm he did. Our nation is not perfect nor are all its citizens or those who have emigrated here. However we are a nation of immigrants, and books like this continue to keep the history of this country fresh, and by doing so always make for important reading.
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