Ori &Rom Brafman are brothers and did some broad research before coming up with this book. Like other books of its genre it states something that is obvious to most but a little difficult to overcome. Very easy to read as one can identify with many of the situations. Although easy to read, the authors sometimes follow a train of thought, then trails away from it and fails to come back in time. By the time they do, the reader is engaged in the new events. You may not learn anything new but it could be interesting/comforting to know that most people in the world are in the same boat as you when making irrational decisions:-) The power of sway is somewhat similar to 'first impressions are the best impressions'. People are easily swayed by outward appearences as evidenced by how they totally ignored world class violinist Joshua Bell playing on his 3.5 million worth Stradivarius because he was playing on the New York Subway dressed as a street musician. They would pay through the nose to hear him if only it was in a concert hall! Or how an investor refuses to sell a stock that is slowly going underwater against the advise of his agent and lost all his investment in the process. I know many can empathise with this one including me.
All of this reminded me of a story I had read in India when little. I believe it was about Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar but I have heard many variations of it. The story : One day this well respected scholar was travelling in a train with a youth. The youth did not find it amusing to go with this person in simple attire and showed his displeasure in many ways. The guy was going to attend a lecture by the famous Vidyasagar after all and belonged to the higher echelons of education. Imagine his surprise and remorse then, when on reaching the destination he saw people waiting to garland the simple guy who travelled with him as the famous scholar! To my delight I found a version of this story as well as more details on Vidyasgar here. I love telling this story to my kids. So the book Sway is a collection of many such instances helpful for the new generation where the old adages 'all that glitters is not gold' or 'think before you leap' etc. may not suffice.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Kaffir Boy & Lying Awake
True, I'd been MIA the past few weeks but books were never far away. Reading is my favorite form of relaxation. Yes, above eating, sleeping and shopping! I see at least a few heads nodding in agreement. So I got to finish a bunch of extraordinary books which will be shared as time permits. Time to go to the first of the two books featured today.
Kaffir Boy By Mark Mathabane
Mark Matahabane's Kaffir Boy strikes you with such force in the first paragraph that you feel as if you have no choice but to read it. And read is what I did. A visiting relative brought it with him and me being me, could not keep my hands off the book. He kindly decided to leave it behind. It is a painful read but you are forced to go on wanting to know how this incredibly strong person survived the tough life he was dealt.
This is an autobiography and Mathabane's is a success story but the pitfalls and sufferings he had to overcome simply blows the mind. Born in Alexandra, South Africa inside one of the numerous black ghettos that surround the city Mathabane had to live each day as it came. Apartheid was at its height and if it was not for his Mom & Grandma he sure would have ended up dead in some tsotsi gang fight or another. As it was, he managed to put himself through school, developed a voracious reading habit and had the lucky break of being introduced to Tennis through his Grandma's white employers. Tennis was the ticket that got him to America. The land where he knew black players like Arthur Ashe were admired and roamed freely. He has written a few books since then but none compares to the forcefulness of the events of his difficult life in this book. His relationship with Mom & Dad are also explored in depth. It simply had to have been cathartic for him to finally be able to express all the pent up feelings of living as a black man in oppressed South Africa.
Each page takes us through the abject poverty and utter cruelty that the black people had to weather just for the bare minimum of survival. Think Dharavi and add to it a totalitarian state against the black people.
Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton has long been a favorite of mine for the story it tells as well as the almost lyrical, down to earth portrayals of both the beautiful country and its people. Hands going up. Yes I own it. Beautiful, beautiful book. In contrast, Mathabane's book talks of a similar plight but with a force that makes it impossible to look away. It took me a while to finish but couldn't dream of abandoning it. To do so would be a betrayal. The book is being used as school reading material as well as at College levels I believe.
Lying Awake By Mark Salzman
Having read his Soloist before I didn't hesitate one bit to pick up this Mark Salzman book. And what a read it was! If you liked "To Kill A Mocking Bird" or "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" then I need to say no more. Just find the book and read please. As for the content, Cronin's "The Keys of the Kingdom" comes to mind. It might appeal to you only from a certain stage in your life. It came to me at this right moment and I loved every single line. It reads like King David's Psalms. Sister John of The Cross goes through duelling phases of total faith and serious doubts in a cloistered Carmelite Monastery. Salzman seems very attuned to spirituality in general. His portrayal of Zen Buddhism in The Soloist was revealing. I'd be getting any of his books that are available with the confidence of a fulfilling read.
Kaffir Boy By Mark Mathabane
Mark Matahabane's Kaffir Boy strikes you with such force in the first paragraph that you feel as if you have no choice but to read it. And read is what I did. A visiting relative brought it with him and me being me, could not keep my hands off the book. He kindly decided to leave it behind. It is a painful read but you are forced to go on wanting to know how this incredibly strong person survived the tough life he was dealt.
This is an autobiography and Mathabane's is a success story but the pitfalls and sufferings he had to overcome simply blows the mind. Born in Alexandra, South Africa inside one of the numerous black ghettos that surround the city Mathabane had to live each day as it came. Apartheid was at its height and if it was not for his Mom & Grandma he sure would have ended up dead in some tsotsi gang fight or another. As it was, he managed to put himself through school, developed a voracious reading habit and had the lucky break of being introduced to Tennis through his Grandma's white employers. Tennis was the ticket that got him to America. The land where he knew black players like Arthur Ashe were admired and roamed freely. He has written a few books since then but none compares to the forcefulness of the events of his difficult life in this book. His relationship with Mom & Dad are also explored in depth. It simply had to have been cathartic for him to finally be able to express all the pent up feelings of living as a black man in oppressed South Africa.
Each page takes us through the abject poverty and utter cruelty that the black people had to weather just for the bare minimum of survival. Think Dharavi and add to it a totalitarian state against the black people.
Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton has long been a favorite of mine for the story it tells as well as the almost lyrical, down to earth portrayals of both the beautiful country and its people. Hands going up. Yes I own it. Beautiful, beautiful book. In contrast, Mathabane's book talks of a similar plight but with a force that makes it impossible to look away. It took me a while to finish but couldn't dream of abandoning it. To do so would be a betrayal. The book is being used as school reading material as well as at College levels I believe.
Lying Awake By Mark Salzman
Having read his Soloist before I didn't hesitate one bit to pick up this Mark Salzman book. And what a read it was! If you liked "To Kill A Mocking Bird" or "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" then I need to say no more. Just find the book and read please. As for the content, Cronin's "The Keys of the Kingdom" comes to mind. It might appeal to you only from a certain stage in your life. It came to me at this right moment and I loved every single line. It reads like King David's Psalms. Sister John of The Cross goes through duelling phases of total faith and serious doubts in a cloistered Carmelite Monastery. Salzman seems very attuned to spirituality in general. His portrayal of Zen Buddhism in The Soloist was revealing. I'd be getting any of his books that are available with the confidence of a fulfilling read.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Harry Potter - Yes, again!
I can't thank reflections enough for being staunch in her stand about the Potter books. I have finished all 7 of them and am completely bowled over. I guess it is one series that I don't need to waste words on for people to read it. This is for those with this giant block to get over when thinking of reading a fantasy book that seems infiltrated with magic. What can it offer other than wild creatures and things that do not make sense to the normal person? JK Rowling deserves all the accolades she has received and more. She has woven this fantastic tale about the young boy who always chooses love so well that I could not imagine the series coming to an end. Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore and Severus Snape are all still very much part of conversations with my son as we pull out imaginary wands and throw out spells at each other whenever. It is great fun I'd say. 'expelliarmus', impedimenta', 'stupefy', 'crucio' and 'avada kedavra' seems to be the most popular around here. Rowling skillfully wove together Harry's magical world with an easy to relate school life full of pranks and teachable moments. She structured the books ingenuously and brought the whole story together with ease. Harry's trips on the Hogwarts Express to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry reminded me of all those train journeys that I took during the undergrad years. We were divided into 4 houses in my school too but with names likes Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. I know, I know, nothing like Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherins or Hufflepuffs but it brought back some wonderful memories:-) Rowling's usage of every word as it refers to magic are chosen with care for their simple elegance. She is quite unparalleled in her command on words and ability to unerringly create the right environment for each of the events. I can go on and on but of course it is not necessary. If you Muggles haven't read one, it is time to go look for one. It will bring out the child in you and yet the adult in you is equally mesmerized . The Lady is awesome! She knows her material and knows what it does for her readers. The dementors of Azkaban was particularly interesting.
Er.. Did you know that the members of the Black family are all named after stars from the constellation? The Weasley family names came mostly from King Arthur. The charming and intelligent Hermione whose portrayal was what first pulled me into the series is loosely based on the author herself. Ok I have to stop somewhere and this is as good a place as any....
Er.. Did you know that the members of the Black family are all named after stars from the constellation? The Weasley family names came mostly from King Arthur. The charming and intelligent Hermione whose portrayal was what first pulled me into the series is loosely based on the author herself. Ok I have to stop somewhere and this is as good a place as any....
Sunday, April 11, 2010
March by Geraldine Brooks
By now books in our Library seem to know what it is that I am searching for. There is no other explanation for how this book jumped into my hands. True, there was the golden Pulitzer Prize sticker on the front page but still... It must be the dog eared look that did it.
It was surprising to find out that the 'March' of the title is not the month and not a parade event but Mr.March from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Yes, Geraldine Brooks has made this irreproachable book around the mostly absent father of the four delightful girls. Brooks is generously endowed with talent which is evident as soon as you read a few pages. Soon we shed all the inhibitions of reading about a known character because the story that evolves can stand very well on its own. We rarely meet the family except through the letters from Mr. March. He writes regularly from the war front (American Civil War) on the side of the Yankees where he serves as a Chaplain. It is is his second time in the South which he had traversed as a salesman in his youth. This time around however, things are different and circumstances more complicated. As the war progresses we move with March to learn of his past and how it changes his present relationships. Family endures and by the time we meet Mrs.March coming to take care of her invalid husband in the hospital we would have gone through a lifetime worth of experiences ourselves. A classic of a book where the literary environment created by the author is simply not to be missed.
A second book
BTW, I just finished Gentleman &Players by Joanne Harris. It is a riot of a read. A fun yet serious murder mystery woven around an old prep school called St. Oswalds. In this Kazuo Ishiguro'esque novel Harris relies on her British background and it has paid off. Please guys, if you are in for a light and fun read, look no further.
It was surprising to find out that the 'March' of the title is not the month and not a parade event but Mr.March from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Yes, Geraldine Brooks has made this irreproachable book around the mostly absent father of the four delightful girls. Brooks is generously endowed with talent which is evident as soon as you read a few pages. Soon we shed all the inhibitions of reading about a known character because the story that evolves can stand very well on its own. We rarely meet the family except through the letters from Mr. March. He writes regularly from the war front (American Civil War) on the side of the Yankees where he serves as a Chaplain. It is is his second time in the South which he had traversed as a salesman in his youth. This time around however, things are different and circumstances more complicated. As the war progresses we move with March to learn of his past and how it changes his present relationships. Family endures and by the time we meet Mrs.March coming to take care of her invalid husband in the hospital we would have gone through a lifetime worth of experiences ourselves. A classic of a book where the literary environment created by the author is simply not to be missed.
A second book
BTW, I just finished Gentleman &Players by Joanne Harris. It is a riot of a read. A fun yet serious murder mystery woven around an old prep school called St. Oswalds. In this Kazuo Ishiguro'esque novel Harris relies on her British background and it has paid off. Please guys, if you are in for a light and fun read, look no further.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Irving Stone - Lust For Life
Irving Stone was a biographer of immortals. I had read Stone's Agony & Ecstasy on Michael Angelo a while back and was on my way into another round when this post in pareltank came to my attention. Thanks! Afterwards, I had to visit a neighborhood library to get a copy of 'Bridge To Terabithia' for my 4th grader's class project. (A wonderful book. Do read the book or watch the movie of the same name.) Wandering around I found 'Lust For Life' grinning at me from the shelves. Grabbed that along with some for my Kindergartner and we left happy customers.
Stone's ability to inhabit the people and events of the period that he writes about is uncanny. He must really love/respect his subjects to be able to do that. This is probably why he was able to portray Vincent Van Gogh's life so realistically. This painter strove to capture real life characters and places into his canvass. At the height of his painting days it was imperative for him to finish a painting the same day that a scene or people caught his imagination. Irving Stone succeeded very well in making the reader understand the agony of creation that goes on inside a painter's head. To be a true artist one should have no inhibitions in the expression of the art. Van Gogh's paintings were ridiculed for being childlike and for portraying a lower class of people. He lived during a time of renaissance in painting but people were just getting used to the Impressionists and Vincent's time was still in the future.
Van Gogh's story is never complete without that of his brother Theo Van Gogh. It was Theo who stood by this lunatic of a brother - to ordinary standards - when he wanted to take up painting around the tender age of 27. An age when most men were established and married. The world would not have heard of a Vincent Van Gogh if it was not for Theo's ardent financial and moral support. I'd like to watch the movie Vincent & Theo someday.
Van Gogh was born in Holland and was part of a well known family. His father's five brothers were all well known in politics and in the arts. Two of the Van Gogh brothers had controlling interest in art galleries in London, Paris, Brussels, The Hague etc.. Vincent's father was the least known Van Gogh but was the beloved and intelligent curate of a small parish. His parents wished their son would be like others but stood by him as much as they could in all the decisions he took. He started off as an art salesman in a London art-gallery owned by his uncle and namesake Vincent Van Gogh. He was doing well and was even thought to inherit the Van Gogh art kingdom some day. Unfortunately Vincent was a man of strong passions and an initial unrequited love pushed him off the path of normalcy and into his ultimate destiny. He left the gallery and wanting to become a curate which eventually lead him to the disparate lives of miners in utter poverty in the Borinage. True to character Vincent tried to do them justice by giving up all he had for their betterment but it was more than anything he could do. When Emile Zola wrote about miners in his book 'Germinal' he mentions having met many in the Borinage area who spoke highly of a Christ like Van Gogh who lived among them and loved them.
When he could not be a successful minister Vincent got depressed and unhappy. He spent days barely eating and always in the clutches of a fever that stayed with him ever since. One day the urge to bring to life the raw people around hit him and that was the beginning of the artist. Theo who was starting as an art dealer in Paris, stood by him in this with an understanding that defied norms. He promised to send Vincent a monthly allowance from his salary as Vincent had no other means of support. This was single most thing that let Vincent pursue his art in his own way. Unlike the existing norms Vincent was trying to capture the essence of true people - as he called it - into his canvass. He considered himself to be a peasant like his subjects. He lived in the outdoors or found models from real life such as laborers, and washerwomen when indoors. He spent every franc to pay the models and on painting supplies. This often left no money for food towards the last days of the month which in turn would bring the fever and the cycle will stat again.
He lived with his parents for a while in Etten and fell in love with a widowed cousin. This was not acceptable to the families but at least this time he had his painting to look forward to. He went to the Hague where he got some guidance from Mauve who was a maternal uncle through marriage. Here he lived with a woman Christine and her children for a year or two while trying to rescue her from street life. This was the only semblance of family life he had in his entire life. Running out of money does not conduit to a stable life and he was driven out of this life back to his father's new parish in Nuenen. There he painted prolifically while getting mildly frustrated in search of that painting that could ultimately satisfy the artist in him. He went out with easel and supplies in the morning and got back only in the evening. A routine he kept through the remaining years.
From Nuenen Theo took him to Paris where by now he was a successful art dealer. This is where Vincent met most of his friends and was introduced to Impressionism. Paintings used to be generally dark till then but the exposure to Impressionism gave Vincent a new perspective.Theo was well loved for taking the side of new artists against established gallery practices. He fought hard to give the Impressionists a display space in the walls when the art buying world had not woken up to them yet. Vincent made friends with Georges Seurat, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Gauguin, Zola and the likes. He was very fond of Gauguin and they hit it off well.
Vincent developed his own style after at first futilely attempting to copy the impressionists. The time had come to settle down. From Paris he went to Arles which is a sun baked little town with olive trees and vineyards. Here he rented a small yellow house that he loved and started on his famous sunflowers. The scorching Arles sun could not stop his relentless pursuit to capture life with character on canvass. His most satisfactory and productive years were spent here. The grueling routine and the inevitable lack of food got to him and started his epileptic spells. It was around this time that Paul Gauguin came to live with him. They each harbored a solitary temperament which did not bode well for the relationship. It ended one day when Vincent cut off his ear while they were quarreling. Gauguin left and Vincent's doctor admitted him to a peaceful mental asylum in the countryside with Theo's permission. There at St. Remy's he painted the surroundings but the fire inside was slowly dying down. He also figured that the epileptic bouts came about once every three months. The waiting and the uncertainty of the attacks brought him further down but knowing an approximate time also gave him a certain amount of confidence. After a year, he went back to Paris to be near Theo who had married and had a child named Vincent. Theo placed him under the care of Dr. Gachet and Vincent chose a cheap place in Auvers where he stayed till his untimely death.
One page biographies will give you a vague idea of the person but Stone's book will make you a close acquaintance. At the end Stone mentions that almost all the events described are true based on his extensive research. It helped that Theo Van Gogh kept every single letter written to him by his brother. About 700 of them I believe. This is available as a book. Vincent died of self inflicted gun shot wounds in the arms of his brother at the age of 37. Theo died 6 months later. Theo's wife Johanna - herself the sister of a painter - loved Vincent as much and was instrumental in bringing Vincent's life and painting to public attention.
Needless to say, I am on quest to read all of Stone's books. Oh and don't forget to listen to Starry Starry Night.
Stone's ability to inhabit the people and events of the period that he writes about is uncanny. He must really love/respect his subjects to be able to do that. This is probably why he was able to portray Vincent Van Gogh's life so realistically. This painter strove to capture real life characters and places into his canvass. At the height of his painting days it was imperative for him to finish a painting the same day that a scene or people caught his imagination. Irving Stone succeeded very well in making the reader understand the agony of creation that goes on inside a painter's head. To be a true artist one should have no inhibitions in the expression of the art. Van Gogh's paintings were ridiculed for being childlike and for portraying a lower class of people. He lived during a time of renaissance in painting but people were just getting used to the Impressionists and Vincent's time was still in the future.
Van Gogh's story is never complete without that of his brother Theo Van Gogh. It was Theo who stood by this lunatic of a brother - to ordinary standards - when he wanted to take up painting around the tender age of 27. An age when most men were established and married. The world would not have heard of a Vincent Van Gogh if it was not for Theo's ardent financial and moral support. I'd like to watch the movie Vincent & Theo someday.
Van Gogh was born in Holland and was part of a well known family. His father's five brothers were all well known in politics and in the arts. Two of the Van Gogh brothers had controlling interest in art galleries in London, Paris, Brussels, The Hague etc.. Vincent's father was the least known Van Gogh but was the beloved and intelligent curate of a small parish. His parents wished their son would be like others but stood by him as much as they could in all the decisions he took. He started off as an art salesman in a London art-gallery owned by his uncle and namesake Vincent Van Gogh. He was doing well and was even thought to inherit the Van Gogh art kingdom some day. Unfortunately Vincent was a man of strong passions and an initial unrequited love pushed him off the path of normalcy and into his ultimate destiny. He left the gallery and wanting to become a curate which eventually lead him to the disparate lives of miners in utter poverty in the Borinage. True to character Vincent tried to do them justice by giving up all he had for their betterment but it was more than anything he could do. When Emile Zola wrote about miners in his book 'Germinal' he mentions having met many in the Borinage area who spoke highly of a Christ like Van Gogh who lived among them and loved them.
When he could not be a successful minister Vincent got depressed and unhappy. He spent days barely eating and always in the clutches of a fever that stayed with him ever since. One day the urge to bring to life the raw people around hit him and that was the beginning of the artist. Theo who was starting as an art dealer in Paris, stood by him in this with an understanding that defied norms. He promised to send Vincent a monthly allowance from his salary as Vincent had no other means of support. This was single most thing that let Vincent pursue his art in his own way. Unlike the existing norms Vincent was trying to capture the essence of true people - as he called it - into his canvass. He considered himself to be a peasant like his subjects. He lived in the outdoors or found models from real life such as laborers, and washerwomen when indoors. He spent every franc to pay the models and on painting supplies. This often left no money for food towards the last days of the month which in turn would bring the fever and the cycle will stat again.
He lived with his parents for a while in Etten and fell in love with a widowed cousin. This was not acceptable to the families but at least this time he had his painting to look forward to. He went to the Hague where he got some guidance from Mauve who was a maternal uncle through marriage. Here he lived with a woman Christine and her children for a year or two while trying to rescue her from street life. This was the only semblance of family life he had in his entire life. Running out of money does not conduit to a stable life and he was driven out of this life back to his father's new parish in Nuenen. There he painted prolifically while getting mildly frustrated in search of that painting that could ultimately satisfy the artist in him. He went out with easel and supplies in the morning and got back only in the evening. A routine he kept through the remaining years.
From Nuenen Theo took him to Paris where by now he was a successful art dealer. This is where Vincent met most of his friends and was introduced to Impressionism. Paintings used to be generally dark till then but the exposure to Impressionism gave Vincent a new perspective.Theo was well loved for taking the side of new artists against established gallery practices. He fought hard to give the Impressionists a display space in the walls when the art buying world had not woken up to them yet. Vincent made friends with Georges Seurat, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Gauguin, Zola and the likes. He was very fond of Gauguin and they hit it off well.
Vincent developed his own style after at first futilely attempting to copy the impressionists. The time had come to settle down. From Paris he went to Arles which is a sun baked little town with olive trees and vineyards. Here he rented a small yellow house that he loved and started on his famous sunflowers. The scorching Arles sun could not stop his relentless pursuit to capture life with character on canvass. His most satisfactory and productive years were spent here. The grueling routine and the inevitable lack of food got to him and started his epileptic spells. It was around this time that Paul Gauguin came to live with him. They each harbored a solitary temperament which did not bode well for the relationship. It ended one day when Vincent cut off his ear while they were quarreling. Gauguin left and Vincent's doctor admitted him to a peaceful mental asylum in the countryside with Theo's permission. There at St. Remy's he painted the surroundings but the fire inside was slowly dying down. He also figured that the epileptic bouts came about once every three months. The waiting and the uncertainty of the attacks brought him further down but knowing an approximate time also gave him a certain amount of confidence. After a year, he went back to Paris to be near Theo who had married and had a child named Vincent. Theo placed him under the care of Dr. Gachet and Vincent chose a cheap place in Auvers where he stayed till his untimely death.
One page biographies will give you a vague idea of the person but Stone's book will make you a close acquaintance. At the end Stone mentions that almost all the events described are true based on his extensive research. It helped that Theo Van Gogh kept every single letter written to him by his brother. About 700 of them I believe. This is available as a book. Vincent died of self inflicted gun shot wounds in the arms of his brother at the age of 37. Theo died 6 months later. Theo's wife Johanna - herself the sister of a painter - loved Vincent as much and was instrumental in bringing Vincent's life and painting to public attention.
Needless to say, I am on quest to read all of Stone's books. Oh and don't forget to listen to Starry Starry Night.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
HP - Look who is here!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Intel's Andy Grove - Swimming Across (A Memoir)
It is rare to find a computer user who does not remember the famous 'Intel Inside' logo. During Andy Grove's tenure as Intel's CEO the company grew to its heights. Grove's earlier book Only The Paranoid Survive was well received in the business world. It offers great insights into redefining and conquering new markets while never sitting pretty with a measure of current success. Sounds tough but 'no pain no gain' is something anyone can agree on.
Swimming Across is a well written and highly readable memoir of this remarkable leader. My husband picked it up when he took the kids to Intel's Tech Museum as it was being offered for free there! Call me a snob but something about the 'free' froze me every time I tried to pick up the book to read. The presumption of a boring book was a high wall which I just couldn't jump over at least for a while. When I did I was quite taken aback by the simple and engaging style with which the book was written. The guy knows a thing or two about selling stuff I guess:-) I was taken with the book from the first page. It starts at his birthplace in Hungary (Budapest) at the age of three and goes through all those early years. The time that saw Hungary under Fascism, Nazi Germany and Stalin and the Soviet Red Army. He had me at 'I was born in Budapest':-) (Yup, loved Jerry Mcguire)
Grove talks of the war years under Nazi Germany when his father had to work in a labor battalion and he and his mother had to live as hideaways under non-Jewish sounding names. Fortunately although tortured and ravaged with illness, his father managed to return about 6 months after the war. Like son later, the father was a true soldier of spirits and went on to rebuild his life despite being under a slowly stifling Stalinist Russia. They had some semblance of a normal life for a while.
He tried his hand at journalism during school years and was successful. The country then being under the Soviets, he could not see much of a chance to succeed at it while also being true to the profession. Not to worry since he loved Physics and Chemistry too. Andy (born Andras Grof) takes us through his adolescent boyhood years with a self awareness that makes it a useful reading tool for parents. He was in his second year at the university as a Chemistry student when Hungarian Revolution hit the streets. He had to find a way out of the place if he was to keep from being rounded up and shuttled off.
Grove sets of on his life changing journey to America, the dreamland of many an immigrant before and since. He was lucky to have family in New York but it was his own persistence and willingness to work harder towards a higher level of Academics that got him where he is now. From wanting to be a Chemist to becoming a Chemical Engineer, he succeeded with flying colors. Together with wife Eva, he drives to California after Graduation and never looked back. The last chapter where he dealt with being a first time arrival in the US and of life in an American University sounded a lot like mine sans the refugee part and I enjoyed it much. His parents eventually migrated to America. From his first job in Fairchild Semiconductors, Grove went onto be a founding member of Intel - the largest maker semiconductors- its CEO and its Chairman.
He never returned to Hungary. But the idea of writing this memoir retelling his life there took root with the arrival of grand kids. I am so glad he did as the world would have missed a rare peek into this successful and intelligent personality. I'll keep the book lying around in the hopes that both my son and daughter will pick it up to read as they get older. My son did make me a sort of a bookmark/memento with a picture of this book on it! I was rather pleased:-)
I hope you too will make time to read this bestseller at some point. You will be as fascinated as I was to read all about the boy who later oversaw the deployment of Intel's microprocessors (computer brains) to computers across the world to the tune of 85% of the market share!! Not being a natural swimmer he took pains to master the art on his own in a small wild pond which was a harbringer of things to come. It makes this an aptly named book.See here for amazon reviews.
Swimming Across is a well written and highly readable memoir of this remarkable leader. My husband picked it up when he took the kids to Intel's Tech Museum as it was being offered for free there! Call me a snob but something about the 'free' froze me every time I tried to pick up the book to read. The presumption of a boring book was a high wall which I just couldn't jump over at least for a while. When I did I was quite taken aback by the simple and engaging style with which the book was written. The guy knows a thing or two about selling stuff I guess:-) I was taken with the book from the first page. It starts at his birthplace in Hungary (Budapest) at the age of three and goes through all those early years. The time that saw Hungary under Fascism, Nazi Germany and Stalin and the Soviet Red Army. He had me at 'I was born in Budapest':-) (Yup, loved Jerry Mcguire)
Grove talks of the war years under Nazi Germany when his father had to work in a labor battalion and he and his mother had to live as hideaways under non-Jewish sounding names. Fortunately although tortured and ravaged with illness, his father managed to return about 6 months after the war. Like son later, the father was a true soldier of spirits and went on to rebuild his life despite being under a slowly stifling Stalinist Russia. They had some semblance of a normal life for a while.
He tried his hand at journalism during school years and was successful. The country then being under the Soviets, he could not see much of a chance to succeed at it while also being true to the profession. Not to worry since he loved Physics and Chemistry too. Andy (born Andras Grof) takes us through his adolescent boyhood years with a self awareness that makes it a useful reading tool for parents. He was in his second year at the university as a Chemistry student when Hungarian Revolution hit the streets. He had to find a way out of the place if he was to keep from being rounded up and shuttled off.
Grove sets of on his life changing journey to America, the dreamland of many an immigrant before and since. He was lucky to have family in New York but it was his own persistence and willingness to work harder towards a higher level of Academics that got him where he is now. From wanting to be a Chemist to becoming a Chemical Engineer, he succeeded with flying colors. Together with wife Eva, he drives to California after Graduation and never looked back. The last chapter where he dealt with being a first time arrival in the US and of life in an American University sounded a lot like mine sans the refugee part and I enjoyed it much. His parents eventually migrated to America. From his first job in Fairchild Semiconductors, Grove went onto be a founding member of Intel - the largest maker semiconductors- its CEO and its Chairman.
He never returned to Hungary. But the idea of writing this memoir retelling his life there took root with the arrival of grand kids. I am so glad he did as the world would have missed a rare peek into this successful and intelligent personality. I'll keep the book lying around in the hopes that both my son and daughter will pick it up to read as they get older. My son did make me a sort of a bookmark/memento with a picture of this book on it! I was rather pleased:-)
I hope you too will make time to read this bestseller at some point. You will be as fascinated as I was to read all about the boy who later oversaw the deployment of Intel's microprocessors (computer brains) to computers across the world to the tune of 85% of the market share!! Not being a natural swimmer he took pains to master the art on his own in a small wild pond which was a harbringer of things to come. It makes this an aptly named book.See here for amazon reviews.
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