| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Adventures of a Bystander (Trailblazers) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Drucker′s autobiography is a joy to read because of the mix of intriguing characters, momentous events and sharp insights we′ve come to expect from one of the most original management theorists."–Upside magazine
Financial Times, 12 December 1998
John Wiley deserves congratulating for re-issuing two management classics ...Adventures of a Bystander is impressively eclectic, leaving most readers gasping for intellectual breath and questioning the comparative poverty of their own lives.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
I had not been back for almost twenty years when I visited Vienna in 1955 to give one or two lectures. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I had not been back for almost twenty years when I visited Vienna in 1955 to give one or two lectures. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Peter Drucker takes his place along with Josephj Schumpter, JM Keynes, and FA Hayek among the great economic and business thinkers of the century. Yet he is increasingly unknown, I think because his thought is not easily categorized as part of any one discipline. Much of his work has been about the emerging discipline of management, but he is far from being a mere 'business writer', dipping into economics, history, sociology, jurisprudence, and even theology to lend insight into the complex workings of organizations.
This wonderful book provides us with much of the missing context. Drucker grew up in the rich Viennese cultural life which produced many of the signal thinkers of our century (Freud, Schumpeter, Jung, Hayek, et all). His parents were of that circle and knew many of these people. Too young to fight in WWI, Drucker grew up in a Mittle Europe denuded of young men which therefore offered exceptional opportunities to men of his generation.
As a young man Drucker worked as a merchant banker in London, as a journalist in Germany, and took a law degree in Germany. When Hitler came to power he emigrated to the US and wrote two compelling books "The End of Economic Man" (1939)and "The Rise of Industrial Man" (1942) while teaching at Bennington College. These books sought to explain the social and economic conditions which brought the world to it's present pass (two world wars). "Concept of the Corporation" (1946) was an analysis of General Motors, then the world largest and most successful enterprise. While controversial, the book springboarded Drucker into a position as the world's foremost management consultant and thinker in the period between WWII and the 1970's.
Two pieces of advice: Read Drucker. This review cannot possibly do justice to this man. And read this book. Drucker becomes human, and his thought more comprehensible.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read nearly all of Drucker's books on the subject of Management during the last half century and having recently heard of the great man's death, I decided I should catch up on this autobiographical book from 1978.
Instead of being a normal story of a life it is a collection of absorbing essays on some of the extremely interesting and talented people Drucker knew during his long life. The journey takes us through pre-war Austrian and Germany and England before his later fame in the United States as a management guru.
We meet his grandmother, his school teachers, bankers, journalists and businessmen. We get an insight into the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany and many other aspects of 20th Century history.
Occasionally we get a reminder of Drucker's philosophy. When he talks of really 'great men' and genuine 'leaders' he says they
"do not lead by 'charisma'- an abomination and phoney, even when it is not a press agent's invention. The truly strong man leads by hard work and dedication. He does not centralise everything in his hands but builds a team. He dominates through integrity, not through manipulation. He is not clever, but simple and honest."
The sharpness of Drucker's brain and the clarity of his writing make this book as delightful as it is informative.
It has now been translated into German (2001) with the title of "Schluesseljahre" and I have sent a German friend of mine a copy for his birthday.
Instead of being a normal story of a life it is a collection of absorbing essays on some of the extremely interesting and talented people Drucker knew during his long life. The journey takes us through pre-war Austrian and Germany and England before his later fame in the United States as a management guru.
We meet his grandmother, his school teachers, bankers, journalists and businessmen. We get an insight into the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany and many other aspects of 20th Century history.
Occasionally we get a reminder of Drucker's philosophy. When he talks of really 'great men' and genuine 'leaders' he says they
"do not lead by 'charisma'- an abomination and phoney, even when it is not a press agent's invention. The truly strong man leads by hard work and dedication. He does not centralise everything in his hands but builds a team. He dominates through integrity, not through manipulation. He is not clever, but simple and honest."
The sharpness of Drucker's brain and the clarity of his writing make this book as delightful as it is informative.
It has now been translated into German (2001) with the title of "Schluesseljahre" and I have sent a German friend of mine a copy for his birthday.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Whoever appreciates Peter Drucker als author of 39 books focusing predominantly on the various subjects of management should also read his "Adventures of a Bystander". This book is a very important key to Peter Drucker's development and personality. Add his two novels "The Temptation to Do Good" AND "The Last of all Possible Worlds" and you
will discover Peter Drucker's qualities as excellent novelist. There you will find very important additions to his management thinking and practice in terms of profiles of psychological dynamics of people in action.
will discover Peter Drucker's qualities as excellent novelist. There you will find very important additions to his management thinking and practice in terms of profiles of psychological dynamics of people in action.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1901 Onwards
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Historical > Social & Urban History
- Books > Biography > Historical > United States > Social & Urban History
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Accounting
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Biographies & Histories > Biographies & Memoirs
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Biographies & Histories > Business & Economic History
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Professional Finance
- Books > History
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
