Laurence Johnston Peter's rank as an educator and systems analyst has been overshadowed by his popular identification with one book, The Peter Principle (1969), an instantaneous publishing success which led the New York Times best-sellers list for months and which was subsequently translated into many foreign languages. All of Peter's writing, however, is interrelated: it is consistently motivated by concern for the practical application of conceptual models and by care for the efficient direction of life by the individual subject to an institution. The positive reception of his prescriptive, good-humored books by the general public and professionals alike is one testimony to the effectiveness and timeliness of his reflections on the self-defeating aspects of social organizations.

Peter, the son of Victor Peter, an actor, and Vicenta Steves Peter, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, 16 September 1919. After completing secondary school, he began taking courses at the University of British Columbia...