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Einleitung
Viktor Frankls Sinn
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First Thoughts
Adventures of a Bystander
Taking part in Peter F. Drucker's early years
At the beginning of his book, the author talks about his plan to write a
history book on the era between the first and second world war, which is
the time he witnessed in his early years. When he realized he wouldn't get
around to digesting his insight into the form of a history book, he decided
to provide us with his raw material, which are his actual, direct and
personal experiences of that time. They are encounters with a little more
than a dozen of people who in some way or another influenced the events of
the time directly or represented an aspect of the era to Mr. Drucker's own
little life - of a bystander. Naturally, we learn a lot about his own way
of very subtle perception of his environment through his detailed memories
of a life in an other time usually obfuscated by the glare of the war
before and after.
First of all, reading this book was discovering history. I was impressed
by the depth of understanding emerging from such a simple account on
specific individual characters. Some of the stories are just interesting
(people who shaped the fate of communism), some are funny and entertaining
(Mr. Drucker's grandmother), and some are staggering (little nuts and bolts
of Hitler's Reich). But all of them are interesting and insightful. Mr.
Drucker also seems to share my personal obsession with slow changes in
people's lives. How a meek little journalist of a local newspaper can
become a Nazi "monster", or how a most intelligent and clearvoyant thinker
of his time can turn into a paranoid meaningless source of noise.
A consistent personality radiates even into darkest times and places. It
was a very refreshing and uplifting experience for me to see a period of
anxiety and danger and chances and challenges through the eyes of such a
careful, respectful, optimistic, and intelligent man.
If you are interested in the perspective of a very intelligent man on
the time between the first and second world war in all its hope and
despair, this is a book for you.
I would definitely read this book again myself if I hadn't done so yet.
