Customer Reviews

Adventures of a Bystander

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I did not know about this book until I read Jack Beatty's THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PETER DRUCKER. I thought that the excerpts from ADVENTURES OF A BYSTANDER were the best part of Beatty's book. Thus, encouraged, I ordered a copy on Amazon.com and sat down to read. What a great surprise! I felt I knew a lot of Peter Drucker stories, from having met him many times. It looked like I had missed most of the best ones. I was also impressed to learn the places where he first learned many of his most important observations, such as the power of asking the right questions and following through (from his fourth grade teacher, Miss Sophie). There are several chapters in the book that are worth the price of the book, such as the chapters about Sigmund Freud, General Motors, Henry Luce, and the rise of Nazism in Austria and Germany. As a history major, I felt I knew a lot about the people and places he talks about, but I was wrong. I had been sold a bill of goods by people who were not there, as Professor Drucker was. I finished the book wishing he would write a longer autobiography that would capture more of Professor Drucker's remarkable life. He apparently turned down more good jobs before he was 30 than most people would ever have offered to them in 100 lifetimes. This book also helps explain why Professor Drucker has been a seminal thinker for three generations of Americans. His first bestseller in English came out when he was only 30, and only a few years away from his native Austria. What an amazing life Professor Drucker has lived! Until you read this book, you will not know how amazing, and you will have missed a wonderful book -- probably his most intriguing and interesting. Get this book now! If you have not read much of Professor Drucker's work, I suggest you read THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PETER DRUCKER next. It is an invaluable guide to all of Professor Drucker's writing.

Instead of the usual self-focused auto-biography, Drucker introduces us to the people that have shaped him. Some are famous (Bucky Fuller, Marshal Mcluhan) some are not (his elementary school teacher). Some are good, some evil, but they are are worth meeting, especially through Drucker's eyes. A good read.

Drucker clearly explains how rampant inflation in post WW I Germany influenced the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler. This discussion should be required reading for every 14 year old child! I particularly liked his stories of Willem Paarboom, a sort of Dutch hedge-fund/investment manager who appeared to be a cross between a man and a raven. In his day, Herr Drucker was exposed to some truly elegant and unorthodox thinkers. He adds his own illuminating interpretations and is not afraid to engage in contrary thinking. (Especially when to do so is out of vogue) Read about Dr. Mordecai Johnson and his views on the "American Negro Problem" and you will never contemplate African slavery the same way again. I consider Drucker to be one of the brightest minds of the 20th century, and his genius is on full display here. Certainly, this is one of the most provocative and influential books that I have ever read!

(Drucker particularly liked the "sqwoosh, sqwoosh" sound when jumping in puddles.)

Not really an autobiography, not quite a memoir, part biography, of the people he has known in his life, some famous, some not. And Drucker is still alive, now 95 years old. It was a dense, fact-filled book, but always fascinating. He is an amazingly prolific, gifted, engaging writer. And what he has to say about America and The American Dream in the last pages of the book is no less true today than it was in the late 70's when it was written. He writes of Sigmund Freud (things you haven't read before), Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John L. Lewis, and Buckminster Fuller among a host of other characters. A very rewarding, thought-provoking read. Highly recommended. Especially for those of us who want to read history by the people who lived it.

Wonderful and a joy to read for anyone interested in the life and times of one of our best and among our first great management consultants. Drucker's stories are so enlightening in both a historical context and in terms of the develoment of the profession of management. Nothing has so thrilled me in appreciating this short history of western industrial civilization from the eyes of this original thinker. I review 10-20 books a year for different professional management journals but this is one of the most enjoyable as well as educational book I have ever read. Far beyond the work of Tom Peters and other known pundits, this is the work of a man with experience that easily transcends six decades. In a world of rush, rush and fads ad nauseaum this work is full of wisdom. Few other books would satisfy as well for anyone wanting to know about the man, his times and the forces that have created the management profession. Please tell Peter to get this book out to a wider audience and to bring several hundred copies to the 1998 Academy of Management meetings in San Diego this summer and I will try to bring my copy for his signature. This is the one book I have gotten up in the middle of the night to read just for the pure pleasure of reading. In fact last night at 4:30am I had to circle his commentary of "self governing workplace communities" so that in my own work I dont fail to cite the original source of ideas that many of us are researching and talking about today. Peter was only 50 years ahead of the field on this theme and I personally hope he will be around to help us develop these ideas for the next half century. ken

Drucker's "autobiography" is actually a series of short essays describing his encounters with various characters from his life. Filled with a yarn-weaver's charms, the stories each capture the spirit of their subjects in all of their complexity. Invariably this means advocacy for common sense, compassion, and the transcendent uniqueness of each one of us. Meeting the people of the book may not change your life like it did Drucker's, but it will leave you enriched and thankful

I laughed and I cried as I read Adventures of a Bystander. I have always had enormous respect for Professor Drucker, but this book has taken my respect and awe of him to another plateau. To learn how and what Professor Drucker thought as a child and how many momentous decisions he made by the time he was fourteen helps us understand him as a person and the environment from which all of his other works come. My grandmother also grew up in Austria and the "Grandmother stories" brought back very precious memories. Once again, even as a youngster, we see Professor Drucker uncannily knowing what will happen by studying (by living) the events of the times. One cannot really understand and appreciate Professor Drucker and his other works withour reading this book, and yet, reading many of his other works first, made me appreciate Adventures of a Bystander even more.

Drucker's most captivating book, Adventures of a Bystander, is a dynamic memoir of the singular Americans and Europeans of Drucker's life. They include Fritz Kraemer, the historian who "invented" Henry Kissinger; Reinhold Hensch, a newspaper editor so mediocre his only career path was to become the "monster" of the Third Reich; John L. Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, and the visionary early chiefs of General Motors. (Yes, General Motors.) Most importantly, you meet Peter Drucker, whose offhand insights into the world surrounding his characters make every page of this book reward rereading. ....

This book tells stories about figures in Drucker's life that influenced his thinking. The book is partitioned in episodes relating to the times he spent in Vienna, Frankfurt, London and the US. Drucker was forced to make up his mind on the Nazi threats while living in Vienna and Frankfurt. He left for England and later for the US, when the Nazis came to power in 1933. He realized that the liberal 19th century had definitely come to an end and that not only his future but that of Western civilization was at stake. Some of his intellectual companions portrayed in the book shared his concerns but came to different conclusions on how to abate the danger facing Germany and Europe.
The book opens with portraits of Viennese people like his grandmother and teachers that inspired him in later life. Intellectual forces in his youth like Freud, Marxism, Stalinism, rural sociology and Prussian Junckerdum are discussed by describing persons holding these ideas. However, he rejects them all as ideologies that wanted to achieve salvation by society. The world of investment banking he encountered in his London years is painted by pictures of men, who made decisions unbridled by ideology. His US years also portrays men of action. Drucker's management theory can be understood as a theory of decision making. Management wants to achieve results and not heaven on earth. His ideas on management were influenced by practitioners like Alfred Sloan of GM. This book gives interesting insights on how Drucker's ideas on management evolved in a discourse with other people and ideas.

I first read Drucker in Business College in the early 70's. Then I found this book. I would recommend it. It isn't like other books he has written. It is a great History of some unique individuals, and a peak behind the scenes.