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Swimming Across: A Memoir

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Set in the cruel years of Hungary's Nazi occupation and subsequent communist regime, the bestselling "Swimming Across" is the stunning childhood memoir of one of the leading thinkers of our time, legendary Intel chairman, Andrew S. Grove. Photos throughout.

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

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About the author

Andrew S. Grove

31 books362 followers
Andrew Stephen ("Andy") Grove (born 2 September 1936), is a Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer, and author. He is a science pioneer in the semiconductor industry. He escaped from Communist-controlled Hungary at the age of 20 and moved to the United States where he finished his education. He later became CEO of Intel Corporation and helped transform the company into the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors.

In 1968, As a result of his work at Intel, and from his books and professional articles, Grove had a considerable influence on the management of modern electronics manufacturing industries worldwide. He has been called the "guy who drove the growth phase" of Silicon Valley.Steve Jobs, when he was considering returning to be Apple's CEO, called Grove, who was someone he "idolized," for his personal advice. One source notes that by his accomplishments at Intel alone, he "merits a place alongside the great business leaders of the 20th century."

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5 stars
187 (38%)
4 stars
168 (34%)
3 stars
107 (21%)
2 stars
23 (4%)
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3 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
334 reviews15 followers
December 26, 2018
Simple writing.
Andy's childhood was super fun to read about; and I might even say that the story is not that amazing. It felt as though he lived quite a cushy life in Hungary, but when the Soviet way started getting more pronounced, although he kept succeeding, society was crumbling.
His journey of getting out of Hungary is not anywhere near what a grueling life or struggle might be - but what I experienced as a reader was amazing.
I could see myself traveling with him across Hungary and Germany, and the relief when he came near American help; and when he finally landed in the US - and how he hated it - and thought "These homes have never heard bombs or artillery" ; that was a revelation.
A new sense of admiration for what the US way was - give me your hungry and poor; and see how that has paid such rich dividends to the American society.

Wish I read it as a kid.
Profile Image for Diane.
417 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2018
Andrew Grove, was born András Grof, in Budapest to a Jewish family. He survived World War II and the occupations of the Nazis and then the Russian communists. It was during the vicious crackdown after the failed 1956 revolution that his aunt admonished him "Andris, you must go, and you must go immediately."
Swimming Across tells the story of his childhood with the usual challenges of growing up complicated by political turmoil and terror.
Grove is the name he took because Americans pronounced it closest to the Hungarian pronunciation of his original surname.
His earlier books are business classics and his writing style is clear and concise and still entertaining. A fascinating story well told.
Profile Image for Kenneth.
248 reviews3 followers
February 17, 2019
This is an amazing book. Written by Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel about his early life. This is not some puff piece but a harrowing tale written in direct clear style. Grove was born in Budapest in 1936 and survived the German occupation, the holocaust and the Russian invasion but roundups and deportations of military age men after the 1956 Hungarian uprising convinced him to flee. He paints the world as he saw it, through the eyes of a child which makes the story much more touching as you know what must be going through his mothers mind as she turns the world upside down to shield him from the horrors around them all of which she bears fully. The book is dedicated "To my mother, who gave me life. More than once." And man, is that ever true. In spades.
Profile Image for Lisa.
Author 5 books22 followers
March 4, 2010
Interesting account of life in Hungary from WWII through the '56 revolutions. The prose and structure leave much to be desired, but it is kind of like listening to your father or grandfather tell stories of the old days. Since mine aren't around, I am trying to imagine what of this they might have experienced as I piece together a clearer family history.
Profile Image for Kimberly.
22 reviews
December 6, 2008
Interesting but style of writing is very simplistic. He wrote this for his grandkids which makes sense since it seems to be written as a way of letting them know the interesting young life of their grandad, rather than as a deep-thought analysis of his early life in Hungary.
Profile Image for Andy Anderson.
423 reviews10 followers
June 4, 2012
Fast reading book about Andrew Grove who left Hungary just after the 1956 revolution. The highs and lows of living in a country that survived WW2 and Communism. He eventually help start Intel and became very successful. Not bad for a Hungarian immigrant. Good read....
4 reviews
October 27, 2018
Childhood of Andrew S. Grove, founder of Intel. Covers 1930s- mid 1950s, Nazi occupation of German, rise of Communism in Hungary through Hungarian uprising in 1956.

Simply told recollections but of an incredible time period. History come to life.
Profile Image for Guillermo DeLeon.
9 reviews1 follower
July 16, 2013
A great story of adversity and ultimate redemption. Grove's story is truly inspirational.
Profile Image for William Schram.
1,923 reviews79 followers
April 7, 2018
Swimming Across is a memoir by Andy Grove about his early years and eventual emigration to the United States. Born in Hungary on September 2, 1936, Grove was no stranger to troubles and tribulations. With the opening of the Second World War, Hungary decided to side with the Axis Powers when Germany attacked Russia. With a somewhat detached air, Grove goes through his experiences with the Hitler army and Stalinist Russia. Not that he wasn’t affected by any of these happenings, but I don’t know if I could keep my cool with recalling some of these events; especially when he starts talking about the disappearances.

In any case, the book is very good, but I skimmed a lot of it. I do know that Grove never returned to his native Hungary as of the printing of this book. Grove states that it is because Hungary is no longer what it once was and I can understand that.

I had not heard of Andrew S. Grove either when I started with this book, so I am pretty bad with the names of recent famous people. Now I know that Grove, born Grof Andris, was a founder of Intel and one of its most celebrated chairmen.
Profile Image for Coffee & books.
97 reviews18 followers
January 6, 2019
I've heard about Grove when I read a book about Intel. As someone that has a laptop with the "intel inside" logo on it, I was curious to read about the founders of Intel. When I've read about Grove, I knew I wanted to know more. I'm glad I got this book because it was fascinating.

I've read stories about Jews during the Holocaust, but I didn't read books about Jews during the Communist era. He presents the Communism realistically. Even the jokes were spot on, like the one with the car. His struggle to get to University was something I knew about, as my grandmother was in a similar situation to his, but she was less lucky.

The book is about one person's story in the 50s, but as now we are faced with so many migrants, it made me wonder, how many Groves stayed in the Jungle in France or drowned in a capsized boat a few miles from the coast? How could our lives be better if a few policies were made different and a few more charities involved in rescuing people?

Full review on my blog: Coffee & Books
Profile Image for Jon Theisen.
120 reviews1 follower
March 28, 2019
Having read this book I find it a very interesting story of life during and after WW-2 of a young boys life as he and his family seek to survive the war and the aftermath of political turmoil in his home country of Hungary up to the Revolution. He soon escapes to Austria and them to the USA where he resumes his studies and builds a life for himself and works to get his parents to join him in his new home land. It’s a refreshing look at how a person can do well and succeed no matter what life throws at you. And yes while what he went through was no where near as bad as many suffered during this period it’s nice to read just what people who lived through it actually faced during our darkest hours. I very much enjoyed reading “Andy’s” story, I think many of you will too.
Profile Image for Diana.
636 reviews8 followers
December 26, 2019
This is the autobiography of Andy Grove, founder and CEO of Intel. But it tells almost nothing of his life in American. Instead, he tells the story of his childhood before and during WWII in Hungary. I didn't know much about the lives of Hungarian Jews during WWII, other than near the end of the war, many (most) were deported to Auschwitz and died there. Grove was lucky that his mother was able to protect him during WWII and that he was able to protect himself during the Hungarian revolution in 1956. The more stories that I read and hear about the Shoah, the more I realize that survival was dependent upon, luck, timing and internal fortitude.
Profile Image for Irene Koch.
24 reviews1 follower
December 25, 2020
Overall, I liked this book. I was a little bit more interested in Grove's experiences in the Hungarian Revolution and his living through major historical events. However, this is a pretty in-depth memoir of his life in Hungary, so while I understand why he wanted to include as much as possible, such as minute details about his friends from school, those parts understandably dragged more than others. The chapters that focused more on his responses to the political environment and his experiences fleeing Hungary were wonderful, but other parts could have been omitted.
Profile Image for Trina.
393 reviews
May 4, 2023
Andrew wrote his story well; the way he inserted details added to the understanding of what was happening around him. I was most drawn to how he wrote from a child like perspective for his childhood years. As an adult, you could tell exactly what was happening, but he told the story in the way he remembered it as a child and that limited understanding.

A quick read that gave me a better understanding of immigration into the US during the period after WWII.
Profile Image for Rippen Liu.
27 reviews1 follower
January 25, 2020
A completely different side of Andy Grove from the famous "Only the Paranoid Survives". The Nazis, the Russians, the bomb attacks, the losing relatives and friends to "camps", etc., he wrote the memoir in such an unpretentious and non-complaining tone, while the stories still left one in tremendous shock and awe nonetheless.
22 reviews
October 19, 2022
An interesting read of an autobiography of NYT Man of the year 1997. A success story of an immigrant facing challenges, new experiences and successes that will sound familiar to those who were blessed to escape war to Freedom.
An interesting read to those who haven't experienced immigration too. Perhaps highlighting the privileges and luxuries in the West.
Profile Image for Ted Alling.
140 reviews3 followers
June 18, 2018
A chilling tale of a Hungarian immigrant that comes to America. The details, he remembers about his childhood are unreal. He ends up becoming the CEO of Intel.

"Haunting and Inspirational. It should be required reading in schools." Tom Brokaw
4 reviews1 follower
April 13, 2019
A masterful, sweet memoir of a great leader

Andy Grove is my idol. I hope to be
Like him some day at the helm of a company at the top of its industry.
36 reviews2 followers
June 1, 2019
Really boring autobiography of a person I didn't care the life story of. Interesting to see old Hungary though.
Profile Image for Umbra.
68 reviews2 followers
November 14, 2019
A great memoire with genuine recollection of personal stories having as circumstances major historical events: WWII, Communism, Hungarian Revolution.
Profile Image for Manas Saloi.
277 reviews839 followers
March 26, 2020
I was more interested in his early years in Tech. This turned out to be a memoir about his childhood in Hungary. Not a bad read
1 review
May 23, 2020
Reminds me of my escape also in 1956. I read this book after doing my memoirs and thought of the many parallels between our early life altho I am four years younger.
Profile Image for Colin Weil.
26 reviews3 followers
July 3, 2020
A small, personal tale among the millions of Holocaust survival stories. Still moving.
Profile Image for LT.
396 reviews1 follower
Want to read
July 19, 2021
John Doerr, Intel
July 2021, Tsingyuan
Profile Image for David P.
60 reviews8 followers
November 28, 2012

Andy Grove was born in Budapest in 1936, named Andris Groff. Hungary is a beautiful country, rich in culture and history, with superior schools--but 1936 was a bad time, especially for a Jewish boy. A Fascist government held power--one which willfully joined the Nazis in 1941, when Hitler declared war on Russia. Andy's father was conscripted to a "labor battalion"--slave labor on the front lines--and a while later his wife was informed he had "disappeared." As the tide of war turned, Germans occupied the country, deporting Jews to death at Auschwitz, and then the Russian army arrived, putting Budapest on the front line for about three months.

After the war, Andy's father reappeared, emaciated but alive, telling about ordeals which many with him did not survive. The Communist party gained power and set up its police state, then in 1956 the Hungarians revolted, only to be crushed by the Soviet army. That was when the author decided to escape to the West, walking at night across the border and towards the bright lights of Austria.

It all sounds frightening, yet the story is largely upbeat. Life is brighter when one is young, healthy and watched over by caring parents (especially Andy's mother). Apart from bombs and persecution, there were also warm relations with friends, a large web of relatives ready to help, dedicated teachers, excursions, studies, music and chemistry--the latter studied in school and also experimented with at home.

Beyond all these, here was a young man blessed with a sharp and sensitive mind, which bestows extra benefits and rewards, such as observations and conversations to broaden one's horizon. Life can be quite rich for a person willing to try out a wide range of experiences, just as it can be dull for one happy to stay on a routine track. Underlying it all, too, was Andy's drive for excellence--for earning and getting top marks in class, for analyzing a chemical mixture no student had successfully resolved before. No wonder his physics teacher once told a parent-teacher conference: "Life is like a big lake. All the boys get into the water and start swimming. Not all of them will swim across. But one of them, I'm sure, will. That one is Groff."

The same metaphor also fits Andris Groff's journey from Budapest to his relatives in New York, where he enrolled in City College. His colleagues soon shortened his first name to Andy, and since his second name was generally mispronounced, he changed it to "Grove" which in English comes close to the original pronunciation. His first big physics test earned him an "F" grade and a meeting with his professor, who suggested dropping the course. No, no--he was just caught off-guard, because the test was conducted with closed texts, not as in Hungary. On the next test, his grade was "A."

This is a story of Andy Grove's youth. It ends with his early studies in New York, a densely written short book brimming with warm emotion and insights into human character. Did this boy make it to the other side of the lake? You bet. He became one of the founders of Intel and chairman of the corporation. He also brought his parents to the US and had the satisfaction of giving the manuscript of this book to his aging mother for review. One could hardly ask for more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

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