25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
His Private Young Life, November 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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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
pulitzer prize winning, November 12, 2001
By A Customer
Andy Grove writes a poignant account of the first 20 years of his life from an endearing boyhood perspective. Different from Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes (floridly written and unbearably sad), Swimming Across, in a beautifully spare way, recounts in matter of fact detail the story of a mother and son who escaped the Nazis and then later the Communists in Budapest, Hungary. There are several signature memories described by the young boy (abandoned or so he felt in a hospital room due to near fatal brush with scarlet fever or lost in the woods for a terrifying moment during the war)that fill out the picture of the adult man that we have only known until now as a corporate legend in the Silicon Valley. Andy's memoirs provide the rich internal and emotional story that was missing from his books on management and Intel. I am making holiday gifts of this book to family and friends because it is yet another powerful reminder of how lucky we are to live in America.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From Grof to Grove: An Incredible Journey, November 26, 2001
Recently, I have read memoirs/autobiographies of several prominent persons (e.g. Redstone, Jordan, Welch) and none touched my heart as much as did this one in which Grove generously, at times poignantly shares indelible memories of his childhood, youth, and undergraduate years. (He also summarizes more than 40 subsequent years which I hope he will discuss in much greater detail in a sequel to this volume.) Most of this book's focus is on his life in Budapest. Andras Grof somehow survived the Holocaust and then the Russian occupation before departing Hungary just as the Iron Curtain was descending. He lived in constant fear. Eventually, he and a young friend crossed the Austrian border (for me the most exciting portion of the book's narrative) and he finally arrived in America, becoming Andrew Grove. We know him today as the retired CEO of Intel. The book's title refers to a metaphor once invoked by a physics teacher who suggested that life is a lake across which students must attempt to swim. "Not all of them will [succeed]. But one of them, I'm sure, will. That one is Grof." For more than four centuries, millions of others have also completed a perilous journey to the USA, with a majority arriving in New York harbor nourished by the same high hopes and great expectations that young Grof cherished. Few then achieved what he did. (Grove claims "I am still swimming.") Tension and terror have even greater impact because of the matter-of-fact attitude which Grove sustains throughout his account. What I found especially remarkable is the almost total absence of any anger, bitterness, or recrimination as Grove recalls so many life-threatening situations, brutalities, and persecutions. In this instance, less is more. He lets the facts speak for themselves and they are eloquent.
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