The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman

Jun 10, 2007 Daniel rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fireplaces, doors that need stopping, houses without coasters, etc.

Shelves: non-fiction

I tried to plow through this book, but Thomas Friedman is the most brain-dead parrot of the ruling class I have ever known, so I couldn't finish it.

His view of globalization is that now, thanks to the paternalistic global order constructed by US multinational corporations, there is cultural and monetary things of worth out there in the vast unexplored jungles of savagery called "not the United States." As an ahistorical text that ignores the fact that elites have been trading from Occident to an...more

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Aug 22, 2007 Punk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Non-Fiction. Friedman explains to us, over and over, how globalization has effectively turned the world into a very very small place -- I was okay with his metaphor of a flat world at first, but over time it started to irritate me. It's neither elegant nor practical. No matter how many virtual conference rooms you have, in a flat world it's still going to take forever to get material goods moved from China to the US, unlike our current round model; later he even starts to talk about how some par...more Non-Fiction. Friedman explains to us, over and over, how globalization has effectively turned the world into a very very small place -- I was okay with his metaphor of a flat world at first, but over time it started to irritate me. It's neither elegant nor practical. No matter how many virtual conference rooms you have, in a flat world it's still going to take forever to get material goods moved from China to the US, unlike our current round model; later he even starts to talk about how some parts of the world are unflat, ow, my head -- but still, his point remains: digitization, miniaturization, virtualization, and personalization have conspired to make our planet very small indeed, metaphorically speaking. For the most part, Friedman has a highly romanticized view of globalization, looking at it as more of a fascinating academic theory than a real force, and only talking to people who have benefited from the rampant outsourcing and supply-chaining.

The first two thirds of this book suffer from a distinct lack of real world consequence. It's all happy anecdotes and economic theory, which isn't exactly Friedman's strong point. Because of this, it took me about six months to read, was constantly inspiring me to nap, and was just generally twice as long as it needed to be. Friedman makes up a lot of jargon -- going as far as to repurpose common words for his own oblique purposes -- and it can be difficult to remember what he's talking about at any given moment. The other problem is Friedman's scope and focus. When I read non-fiction, I like each chapter to have a thesis. Friedman prefers to wander up and down the page, make the same point several times, dump a lot of irrelevant statistics on me, and then scurry off to deliver a glancing blow to a new perspective, only to doggedly return to his original thrice-made point as if I hadn't gotten it the first two times.

But, if you can make it through all that, cold hard reality shows up in the third act and things finally get interesting. Friedman admits that only .2% of Indians are employed in the technological industry he was so happily touting just a few chapters before. He admits that the world is not entirely flat, and that it may never become fully flat due to poverty, war, or simple fear. He talks about the ramifications of a flat world, the ways it can go wrong, how terrorist networks take advantage of the same readily available work force and supply chain that Dell or Infosys does. He takes the first two thirds of the book and puts it into context. This part I read in just three days. This is the part I can use. Globalization isn't just about Americans losing jobs. It's so much bigger than that. It's about the flow of information, about vulnerability and anger, about global responsibility. Those last hundred and fifty pages were worth struggling through the first three hundred, but only highlight how The World is Flat is more mishmash than structured thesis.

This gets two stars for the first two-thirds of the book and four stars for the last third, giving it an average of three stars.(less)

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Jan 13, 2008 Rick rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

The first big mistake I made was deciding to buy the 2.0 edition of the book (updated and expanded). Redundancy is one of the book’s signature features so updating and expanding it only compounds the sins of this feature. My second big mistake was deciding to finish reading it after first running aground about half way through and taking a several month sabbatical to read more worthy books. All right I’m being testy. It wasn’t such a big mistake. Friedman is a smart guy but way too full of himse...more The first big mistake I made was deciding to buy the 2.0 edition of the book (updated and expanded). Redundancy is one of the book’s signature features so updating and expanding it only compounds the sins of this feature. My second big mistake was deciding to finish reading it after first running aground about half way through and taking a several month sabbatical to read more worthy books. All right I’m being testy. It wasn’t such a big mistake. Friedman is a smart guy but way too full of himself, the book’s title is sufficient evidence of that—The World Is Flat, too cute and not up to the belaboring it gets—and the false (on three fronts) humility of the subtitle. The book isn’t brief and it is not a history, nor is there any humility in the pretend irony of “A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century”. Indeed there is no humility in this book that isn’t a pretence designed to cast the author’s brilliance in finer relief. And the man thinks he is Adam set loose in a new conceptual world where he is entitled to name anything and everything. You can run out of fingers and toes, even if you borrow those of friends and family, counting the times Friedman begins a sentence or phrase with a variation of “something I like to call…” I don’t know in the whole history of publishing if there is a writer who claimed coining so many phrases, the majority of which are as pedestrian as they come. It’s not just “flat world” and the concept of “flattening” or “the coefficient of flatness,” it’s “Globalization 1.0” and it’s 2.0 and 3.0 descendents, it’s “In-forming”, it’s “glocalization,” it’s, oh, why go on. This book had all the makings of an outstanding essay or two or three very good Sunday Times magazine features. It’s got the trends in business, technology, and perhaps culture and politics right. It’s by turns inspiring, scary, and tediously bloated. It is a wearying, self-promotional exercise in over and over re-stating what’s became obvious twelve anecdotes and 34 declarations ago. The best part of the book and, for me, it’s only enduring redeeming value is its bookmark, a Valentine’s Day card, handmade by my fiancée. But I don’t think that came with everyone’s copy.(less)

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Sep 12, 2007 JC rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

I consider myself a bit of a tech-nerd. I love any new technology that is designed to enhance my life. I can't imagine life before my cell phone, my iPod, and my mac. I love flat-panel monitors, digital cameras and satellite radio. As such I considered myself pretty up on the latest technological advances. After reading this book, I realized that not only is technology affecting my life more than I was aware, but it is also changing the way the whole world interacts. This book explains (in layme...more

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Sep 24, 2007 Schnaucl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, library, read_2007, march, book_club

The premise is that due in large part to technology the world is becoming flatter. Thomas Friedman clearly thinks this is a great thing with very few drawbacks. In fact, he doesn't address any drawback except in passing (other than the random aside that terrorists can use the Internet to network too) until the penultimate chapter.

This is clearly meant to be a book about how globalization affects the individual. Friedman tries to show this by sharing anecdotes and interviews but nearly every sin...more The premise is that due in large part to technology the world is becoming flatter. Thomas Friedman clearly thinks this is a great thing with very few drawbacks. In fact, he doesn't address any drawback except in passing (other than the random aside that terrorists can use the Internet to network too) until the penultimate chapter.

This is clearly meant to be a book about how globalization affects the individual. Friedman tries to show this by sharing anecdotes and interviews but nearly every single person he talks to and every story he shares is about a founder or head of a company and the few that aren't deal with people who are no more than 3 levels from the top of the company. Hardly "everyman." The book has a lot to say about what CEOs and entrepreneurs can do to stay competitive (mainly keep innovating, not exactly a new idea) but there is very little about what the rest of us can do besides "continue to try to make ourselves employable."

He proposes that companies make sure their employees are employable and in return employees give their loyalty. This seems unrealistic given today’s business climate.

He views the Internet as a great leveling force, but mentions the censorship in China only in passing and doesn’t discuss how it affects his theory. I believe he thinks the situation is temporary but as major companies seem happy to cooperate with filtering, I don't see change in the near future.

Friedman is also very big on the idea of globalization as an economic equalizer. He goes on at length about how it's a force for good because it dramatically raises the standard of living in developing nations, particularly India, but it isn't until the penultimate chapter that he admits that's only true for about 2% of India's population. And while he's busy talking about what a great opportunity it is in terms of income and how Indians no longer have to emigrate to have a much improved standard of living and that even those abroad can have access to hometown newspapers ,etc. he doesn't seem to realize the contradiction when he mentions a man who started an elementary school for India's Untouchable class, hoping to prove that with the right education they can be just like the higher castes but who then must to move elsewhere after they are educated because their last name reveals their caste. While he was trying to argue that the Internet will eventually bring more income equality it seemed to me that it made the rich richer and the poor were still left behind. (And never a word about the exponential difference between CEOs and the lowest paid employee). It’s good that high caste Indians have a better standard of living but we're still seeing the standards improve for the people at the top and not much change for everyone else.

He talks about Wal-Mart’s "just in time" model of business and in his penultimate chapter he does address some of the problems. A global supply chain can be decimated by war, disease, or natural disaster and if things are only delivered "just in time" companies can be completely screwed. The advantage of this is that it makes countries think twice about going to war (specifically countries like India/Pakistan and China/Taiwan) because they know if they screw up the global supply chain companies will be extremely wary of ever investing in that country again. But Friedman extols the virtues of Wal-Mart's use of RFID technology without mentioning the concerns of privacy advocates.

I think one of Friedman's biggest failings is that so much of the book is about the Internet as a great equalizer and there is not one word about Net Neutrality. The book was updated, revised and re released in April of 2006 so Net Neutrality was a known issue.

Having said all of that, the book was still an interesting read. I learned a lot of random things about various companies. (less)

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Mar 09, 2009 rmn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-history

If you haven't been paying attention over the past 10-15 years to the changing of the global marketplace, this book is a must read. Even if you have been aware of it, this book is worth a skim. Friedman explores the technological changes as well as the political values which have caused the US to start losing competitiveness to China and India. Progressive pro-business governments in those two countries (yes even China) have embraced technological change and allowed them to rapidly catch up with...more

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Apr 23, 2008 David added it · review of another edition

Heads in the sand should read this book!: This began as a response to one of the harsh reviews previously posted, but I figured it'd be just as good as a counterbalance in the review section.

Using an approach the layman can understand, Friedman chronicles an event which took place (the flattening of the world, so to speak) right under our noses. He gives an excellent overview of how globalization really HAS helped the world, and he does it via plenty of footnoted research into actual events tha...more Heads in the sand should read this book!: This began as a response to one of the harsh reviews previously posted, but I figured it'd be just as good as a counterbalance in the review section.

Using an approach the layman can understand, Friedman chronicles an event which took place (the flattening of the world, so to speak) right under our noses. He gives an excellent overview of how globalization really HAS helped the world, and he does it via plenty of footnoted research into actual events that took place to get us to this point in history.

Commerce (or consumption, if you'd rather) is, whether you like to admit it or not, the backbone of ALL successful societies (you know, the ones that aren't still tearing themselves apart over dark age religions and living in sandy hellholes). Sure, it comes with a price, but what doesn't? The fight to stem global warming will no doubt come with a price (higher priced hybrid cars and other associated costs of being "green"), but in the end, our descendants will live vastly different lives centuries from now because of it.

I'm sure the Negative Nellies here would be the first people to point fingers at how little the people in Chinese factories are paid (especially in light of the recent toy scandals), but don't want to know what options they had before they had those supposedly "lousy" factory jobs. Oh, that's right, they had NO options.

The very fact that Friedman addresses the dark side of globalization in the book (and in related audio programs and interviews he's done over the last year or more) should indicate that he's well aware of the fall-out, but knows it's inevitable AND surmountable as more and more countries develop a middle class, even if it's a middle class build on knock-offs like China's. But with higher standards being slowly forced upon them as an exporter, the benefit will be higher standards of living for their people, and less reliance on the bootleg.

The forces are already in play to legitimize much of what Friedman has outlined in the book, and so much the better we'll all be for it. It's not about how much we can consume, although boy can we North Americans consume, and we wanted to do it for less money, and now look where all our manufacturing jobs have gone. But don't worry, there will always be an infrastructure in place in western countries, and while some business goes overseas, new business springs up. Even a service-based economy is still an economy. But now former third world countries and/or failed dictator states are finally being given the opportunity that they could not possibly have taken before due to doomed philosphies: they can begin to think globally and come out of the dark ages, where once the only "saviour" someone believed they needed was spoonfed to them from birth, but really only an internal salve against raging poverty and/or oppression. THAT's the only useful function of most religions and many political systems, but that's another book altogether. THIS book is about something that is too big to suddenly stop because we fear for future generations. Instead, we have to find ways to make what already works, work better, so that future generations from ALL walks of life and from ALL countries can partake in better economies, and freer societies.

Loathe globalization all you want, but in this day and age, and probably for many more ages to come, COMMERCE will be the major way to guarantee progress. Goodness knows, politics and religion have tried and failed repeatedly, so why NOT let the marketplace dictate progress. It works, and it's flaws can be corrected, as they are in all good sciences; it just takes time.

And, if you're bummed out, as "Casca" appears to be in another review, that you couldn't start your own airline, you've missed the point again. The point is that we now live in a world that's more connected than at any point in the history of mankind, and we're only going to become MORE connected as time goes on. If you have the capabilities of utilizing that connectivity to further your own business plans, creativity, social life, knowledge, you'd be a fool not to give it a try. Hell, even the terrorists have done it! It's not about running down to your bank for $100 million loans. It's about seeing the world, and your place in it-particularly if your business is BUSINESS and actually making a decent living-being made better with the technology that's at your fingertips. The one's who are sticking their heads in the sand are the ones who can't fathom that the world flattened, as Friedman says, while they were sleeping.(less)

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Feb 12, 2012 Ryan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Hardly groundbreaking. I kept thinking that anyone with a blog and a social network could skip Thomas L. Friedman's book The World is Flat and lose very little perspective on the world we live in.

In other words, a lot of this material feels stale, perhaps because Friedman spends most of his time rehashing old news articles. I often found myself wondering whether Friedman wasn't just looking back over his interviews and trying to make them pay a little extra in this flat world. Almost every chapt...more Hardly groundbreaking. I kept thinking that anyone with a blog and a social network could skip Thomas L. Friedman's book The World is Flat and lose very little perspective on the world we live in.

In other words, a lot of this material feels stale, perhaps because Friedman spends most of his time rehashing old news articles. I often found myself wondering whether Friedman wasn't just looking back over his interviews and trying to make them pay a little extra in this flat world. Almost every chapter contains two or three anecdotes that begin, "while I was interviewing..." More often, however, he refers to conversations with taxi drivers, which signals lazy journalism. Still, some of these anecdotes, such as Indiana's outsourcing of their labor department to an Indian company, are amusing enough to read again.

There's no denying that most of the people Friedman interviews are actually more insightful on the subject of the flat world than Friedman is himself. I suppose that's only appropriate for a journalist, but I've often felt that the best non-fiction writers are able to make a mundane subject like food (The Omnivore's Dilemma) or baseball statistics (Moneyball) interesting to both the predicted audience and the wider audience. Here, Friedman is content to collate the ideas of others. Let's flatly applaud this.

The only thing that Friedman brings to this conversation is the title. I have heard people use "flat" to discuss trends in their workplace, so that contribution is not useless. At other times, unfortunately, Friedman's writing is too hackneyed. His discussion of the "flatteners," which conveniently add up to ten, seemed especially contrived. Friedman talks about the future as often as he does the recent past in this "Brief History of the Twenty-First Century," and when speculating about the future these flattener trends are taking us to, Friedman's writing takes on the tone of a Ayn Rand style prophecy. I felt this prophetic voice compromised his integrity, but at other times it led to ludicrously flat prophetic writing, such as the "Great Sorting Out."

The least useful part of the book is the practical advice that Friedman offers Americans, developing countries, and corporations on how to thrive in the flat world. Just visit the Rand Foundation's website. Beyond the obvious enthusiasm for deregulation (this book was written before the banks collapsed), the advice is usually not very practical at all. Friedman is just vague enough to speak to anyone and once again I found that his writing gave off a whiff of the astrologer's incense and crystal ball. It was almost as though Friedman wrote The World is Flat as an advertisement for corporate speaking engagements.

Still, the title is very good.

The "flat world" poses a problem for anyone looking to have value in a market where the supply of human capital has never been higher. Ultimately, I found myself primarily thinking of a more thoughtful reading list that I might construct around the flat world.(less)

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Sep 25, 2008 Matthew rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-on-pod, real-worldy

Detailed, thorough, and very informative. Friedman has a folksy style of journalism that brings complex business and social processes down to earth (though he also has an undue penchant for coining obnoxious phrases, like "glocalize" or "Islamo-Leninist"). Good for getting a grip on the major issues of globalization, including things that affect you every day and you probably know nothing about.

But you have to read between the lines. Friedman is openly supportive of globalization, and his presen...more Detailed, thorough, and very informative. Friedman has a folksy style of journalism that brings complex business and social processes down to earth (though he also has an undue penchant for coining obnoxious phrases, like "glocalize" or "Islamo-Leninist"). Good for getting a grip on the major issues of globalization, including things that affect you every day and you probably know nothing about.

But you have to read between the lines. Friedman is openly supportive of globalization, and his presentation is generally from a corporate-level perspective with only occasional sorties into the gritty realities of the people who suffer because of it. I find his excessive focus on globalization's winners--India and China--disingenuous and his almost complete lack of any reference to Latin America and Africa disturbing. I find it irritating that he fails to decode the euphemisms that his executive interviewees commonly use, such as Wal-Mart's CEO referring to its "low-cost business culture" (which means no healthcare for employees). He has far too much faith in the magical power of markets to solve problems, breezily dismisses most of the serious objections to the current trends, and refuses to take seriously the social and psychological, in addition to economic, effects of globalization. But that's my political bent; your mileage may vary.

This book has two main problems unconnected to political philosophy. First, proponents of globalization, especially journalistic trendcasters, face an insoluble paradox. By their own accounts, what is happening right now is a drastic reorganization that is an order of magnitude larger than the Industrial Revolution, an order of magnitude faster, and accelerating all the time. Yet they talk about these revolutionary developments as if the changes can be managed by reformed healthcare and education policies. The Industrial Revolution was accompanied by massive dislocation, population migrations, revolutions, colonialism, wrenching poverty, industrialized total war, and so on. If globalization is really so huge and so fast, then pretending that the same--or worse--is not going to happen is just stupid.

Second, Friedman talks a lot about nations like India, China, and the U.S. with detailed policy critiques and prescriptions, but he seems to miss the logical result of globalization: the death of the nation-state. The free flow of capital and the internationalization of labor pools means transnational corporations with more money and more power than governments, with no national loyalties to tie them down and no serious rivals except each other. The erosion of the nation-state, and the imagined communities upon which modern identities are based, is as revolutionary a phenomenon as its formation in the first place, and that will necessarily change everything. I fail to understand why Friedman does not see the implications of the processes that he describes.

Anyhoo. It's worth reading, even if Friedman makes you as angry as he made me, because at the least it brings up some issues that people should really start thinking about more carefully.(less)

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trivialchemy Did you even read this book? I'm not done with it yet, but so far everything that you so meticulously itemize as ignored by Friedman or problematic is...more
Feb 22, 2010 09:17pm

Matthew Read it I did indeed. (Of course this was version 2.0, two years ago, and who knows what he's changed in the last few years. Friedman himself has chan...more
Feb 22, 2010 09:44pm

Dec 14, 2007 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Americans

Friedman is a journalist, not an economist, so the book is more like an extended magazine article than a scientific study. The information is mostly anecdotal, but the conclusions are sound and important. The long-standing guarantee of a middle class life in America is disappearing, and our sense of entitlement to it needs to catch up. If we truly believe in the principles of capitalist meritocracy that have served America so well, we shouldn't be afraid that more countries get to join the game....more

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Sep 16, 2010 Alex Telander rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2007

THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (RELEASE 3.0) BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Thomas Friedman is a well known columnist for the New York Times and the person to turn to for answer’s about this country’s economy and where it’s headed. The premiere hardcover edition of The World is Flat hit the bookshelves in April of 2006, and in that time it has gone through a second edition in hardcover, and finally a third edition in both paperback and hardcover. Friedman’s excuse for updati...more THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (RELEASE 3.0) BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN: Thomas Friedman is a well known columnist for the New York Times and the person to turn to for answer’s about this country’s economy and where it’s headed. The premiere hardcover edition of The World is Flat hit the bookshelves in April of 2006, and in that time it has gone through a second edition in hardcover, and finally a third edition in both paperback and hardcover. Friedman’s excuse for updating is that the world is constantly changing, necessitating further chapters in his book. One wonders if there may be a “Release 4.0” in the paperback; only time and our ever-changing present will tell. Nevertheless, The World is Flat is a truly unique book, whether it be for a student of economics, or a person looking for answers to why outsourcing is getting so out of control.

Friedman begins with an introduction to how he discovered that the world had become flat; noticing details here and there in his travels around the world, and then putting it all together. He then leads into his ten forces that flattened the world, explaining how they came to be, what effect they had on the “flattening” of the world, and how some are continuing to do so. These include two important dates: 11/9/89, which was when the Berlin Wall came down and eastern Europe and Russia joined the rest of the world once again; and 8/9/95 when Netscape first released its browser to computer owners, allowing them to surf this new thing called the Internet. Friedman hits every important step in the way business has changed in the last three decades: from Wal-Mart’s ingenuity in supply-chaining, leading to the incredible system whereby a product is purchased at a Wal-Mart store sending a message to the supplier which immediately starts making another copy of that product; to software development in its original free form with LINUX; to the light speed development of sites like MySpace, Facebook, and online blogs where everyone has a voice; to the existence of large buildings in places like Bangalore, India, housing thousands of customer service representatives helping American customers thousands of miles away with anything from credit card bills to cellphone technical questions.

With these ten factors serving as a basis for how and why the world has become flattened, Friedman takes the reader on a trip around the world, elucidating exactly why when we call for help now, the chances of getting a person with an accent who’s native language isn’t English are incredibly high. But isn’t this what America is all about? Perhaps not, when the person you are talking to is on the other side of the world, and that this is somehow cheaper and better for the company you are calling that using an American citizen who could be just a few miles away. While Friedman does have some answers, it is clear that America and the world is at a turning point, much like the beginning of the twentieth century when there was the roaring beast of industrialization, and the explosion of the assembly-line system of the Model T Ford. One can certainly expect more from Friedman in the coming years, as new and inconceivable changes happen before our very eyes. For now, The World is Flat is the only guidebook we have, and it does its job to a T.

For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.(less)

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Sep 19, 2007 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A strong argument in favor of globalization. As Friedman points out in a later chapter, the question is not whether or not we should globalize, it is how we should globalize. The "flattening of the world" that he mentions again and again refers to the recent ease of which people, companies, and nations can collaborate with those on the other side of the planet. Friedman believes this change has had and will continue to have a huge impact on the world, akin to the industrial revolution. Yes, many...more

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Apr 28, 2008 Leslie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I made it through "A History of God" and "Absalom, Absalom!" but I could not make myself finish this book. I gave it six weeks and 350 pages, but in the end I couldn't take any more.

Friedman's writing is at times brilliant: he is a master synthesizer, taking complicated economic, political, technological, and social phenomena and artfully explaining the connections between them all and what that means for the future of our world. I had to give this book three stars because I did learn a great d...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Chris M. rated it 2 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook version while traveling with some quiet folks. So this was about all I heard. And it seemed to me that most of the time I spent listening was hearing the author repeat his thesis, "the world is flat". And each time he would express his amazement and gush about how relevant his revelation is to modern life. It felt like he had a hard time getting over how brilliant he is.

This book could have been compressed into a booklet. And a mighty fine one at that. Had that been d...more

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Jun 18, 2008 Justin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Started this book over a year ago and just finished it today. How many times does Friedman have to say "the world is flat" for us to get it? I've never read a book with so many anecdotal and innocuous stories just to prove that the title is far from misnomer.

Most of the content in this book just seemed like common sense after reviewing modern econ theories and histories. This resulted in skimming about 1/4 of the book, mainly the stories that repeatedly resulted in "Hey guess what, here is yet...more

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Jan 17, 2009 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars

What an excellent book. It is a really compelling tale of the current state of the world in regards to free trade, outsourcing, and technology. I’ve never read a book before where I literally found myself agreeing with every point that was made. I thought all of his ideas were spot on.

He has a great way with words and with breaking concepts down into simple terms. But at the same time, still being able to remain technical. I especially liked his “Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention“. He is referr...more

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Jan 29, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

I feel far more pointy-headed but also far more alarmed about our country’s future after reading this. Friedman does go into a bit too much detail for those who, like me, aren’t exactly techno-geeks, but you definitely learn a lot of interesting factoids, which may make you seem smarter, or more annoying, to anyone you decide to unleash them on in random conversation. Friedman is definitely pro-outsourcing, which may rankle some people, but he lays out a convincing argument on how and why attemp...more

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Sep 23, 2008 Satya Cohen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Truth can be a little scary. Friedman has a way of explaining the world as we know it, but more important what we do not understand that we should. A great and though provoking read.

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Nov 19, 2008 Andri rated it 5 of 5 stars

Udah setahun punya buku ini.. bacanya gak kelar-kelar.. tebel banget sih.. bisa dijadiin bantal. Sekarang diniatin untuk kelar.. sayang udah dibeli tebel-tebel,.. eh salah.. mahal-mahal..

Dan hasilnya...

Amazing. Dahsyat. Friedman adalah pengamat yang jitu, jeli dan mendalam. Juga seseorang futurist yang kayaknya sih tepat.

Dimulai dengan perenungannya tentang dunia yang datar, saat one day dia bermain golf di satu tempat di India. Saat ia akan memukul, ada yg mengarahkan : “Arahkan ke Microsoft at...more

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May 25, 2011 محمود أغيورلي rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

العالم مستو - توماس فريدمان -
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من واجب الحكام الجيدين ان يبقوا قليقين فمن دون هذا القلق تتفاقم مشكلات الناس
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الاسئلة الهامة هي :- في أي مجال يناسب بلدي ان ينافس به ؟ - ماهي فرصه ؟ - كيف استطيع ان اكون عالميا ومتعاونا مع الآخرين من خلال بلدي ؟
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الاسئلة الهامة هي أيضاً :- اين يناسب شركتي ان تكون في الاقتصاد العالمي ؟ - كيف تغتنم الاستفادة من الفرص ؟ - كيف استطيع بامكانياتي الذاتية ان اتعاون مع الآخرين عالمياً ؟
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التغير صعب .. والتغير هو الاصعب عل...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Charlie rated it 1 of 5 stars

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century
by Thomas Friedman

The only reason I decided to read The World is Flat was because I really wanted to read Thomas Friedman’s new book; Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--And How It Can Renew America. I am not even going to try.

Here is my feeble attempt of a quick summary of an incredibly LONG book.

Friedman’s view is that the world has become smaller because of ten “flatteners”. These flatteners range from the fall...more

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Nov 23, 2008 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For those about to read this, I commend your bravery. “The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century” is a non-fiction book regarding business, recent history concerning globalization and its implications in the Information Age, and current affairs pertaining to the resulting effect, which Friedman calls the ‘flattening of the world’. This compels me to warn you of the reasons this review will suck; I am not a celebrated (or even competent) book critic, I also do not read many business...more For those about to read this, I commend your bravery. “The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century” is a non-fiction book regarding business, recent history concerning globalization and its implications in the Information Age, and current affairs pertaining to the resulting effect, which Friedman calls the ‘flattening of the world’. This compels me to warn you of the reasons this review will suck; I am not a celebrated (or even competent) book critic, I also do not read many business books, I am lacking computer knowledge and a general understanding of economic matters, and I’ve long since allowed my membership to the Flat Earth Society lapse. With such a high probability of failure here, you might be wondering why you should read this review. This much I think I am capable of, as this explanation panders to your interests; this review will be less than 10,000 characters in length, whereas “The World is Flat” will probably bore the tits off you for over 600 pages, all said, I’m trying to save you some time here. Also, throughout “The World is Flat” author Tommy Friedman will also confess to his own lacking credentials, which are almost identical to my own except for his repeated and humble confession he’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, so he’s willing to tackle the important issue of the flattening of the world in a 600-page tome largely regarded as a masterpiece (presumably by people with no real world experience, who have just started their first job and have finally gotten some sort of hint about the way the business world works, or who are aspiring to land that first, comfy office job after graduating from the fast-food/retail minor leagues). To sum up this weak introduction, I’m hoping the three minutes you spend here save you hours down the road.

Sure, I am a long-winded clown with nothing of significance to say, inspired to repeat my meaningless gibberish over and over ad infinitum. After reading “The World is Flat”, I can safely say that I can’t hold a candle to Tommy-Gun Friedman in terms of sheer ability to incessantly babble on about the same points; often, he not only beats a horse to death, but rolls it over, and eventually gives it what some have called the ‘dead horse’ treatment, unless, of course, the point he’s mulling over is firmly rooted in logic and runs counter to his beliefs, at which point he’ll quickly gloss over it and dismiss it by citing a far-fetched example which couldn’t be given any more credence than the ultimate exception to the rule. For anything which does manage to coexist with Friedman’s system of beliefs, he reiterates each point dozens of times (which of course makes it more legitimate through repetition) and also provides confirmation via his preferred method, a ‘proof is in the pudding’ real life example, complete with an exciting “holy shit!” conclusion to the story, such as “only in a flat world can a man in Omaha call a customer service center, and speak to an Indian about replacement parts being manufactured in Shanghai!” These testimonials to ‘the way things are’ appear to be little more than anecdotes which allow him to brag about leaders of industry he’s currently hobnobbing with, almost always due to the critical acclaim his previous book, “The Lexus and the Olive Tree”, was awarded.

To borrow Tommy’s style briefly, let me repeat: “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” (TLATOT, from now on) is his significant 1999 work which I don’t even feel I need to read, seeing as Friedman consults it heavily for material for “The World is Flat”. How do I know it was published in 1999, he even mentions this fact multiple times; if every reference to “TLATOT” was removed, the book would be about 20 pages shorter. Here’s a real example, taken directly from the book: “In 1999 I published a book on globalization called TLATOT. The phenomenon we call globalization was just taking off then, and TLATOT was one of the early attempts to put a frame around it. This book is not meant to replace TLATOT but rather to build on it and push the arguments forward as the world has evolved.” Reading the words “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” so many times was headache-inducing, akin to listening to a CD skipping, without the benefit of hearing one of your preferred bands kicking out the jams.

None of this is very promising. What I find downright offensive in this book though, is the decision to include the word “history” in the title. When I want some history, I want facts, data, photo evidence, fossils, hell maybe even a few mathematic equations which somehow back your statement: I want truths, not bias. As far as this being a “history” of the 21st century, this book is a complete fucking failure. I can sum up Friedman’s historical account in one long, crappy sentence: “computer technology became big business and assisted every industry in reaching all corners of the globe, while changing the way everything was done and everyone’s life, and the goddam rotten Bush administration is screwing it all up.” This may or may not be true, but at the same time, for every issue which Friedman feels is impeding the stampeding march of technological advancement and globalization, he dumps the blame squarely on the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Education is on the skids: Blame George Bush. Lagging economy: Ditto. Science/Tech research: George-Dub did it. Rising male impotence and shrinking penile girth: “W”s fault.

For someone to present a book alluding to the representation of facts, I’d expect it to be less subjective, instead Friedman carries his bias to ridiculous lengths and basically looks like a novice with his ceaseless slander of the current regime. The slanted journalism is a major drawback, and Tommy’s maligning political entities appears to stop with the Bush Administration and the Republican party, as he quotes several “wise” Democrat congressmen throughout. Also deserving of Friedman’s praise (and thus that of an enlightened reader) are what he calls the 10 Flatteners (in a long-rambling 150 page dissection of events from the demise of the Berlin Wall to the outsourcing trend), Bill Gates, Sam Walton, and of course, Thomas Friedman. Yes, in this version of his work, cleverly given the Version 3.0 tag, Friedman shows he has no qualms with shamelessly soliciting praise for his work to include in this update; a great example being how two teachers continents apart were so inspired by his wisdom to create a virtual/‘flat’ classroom, and it should come to no shock that he Googled his masterpiece to see what public reaction was, only to be assured “many references are neutral or full of praise, others are vitriolic or flat-out nuts.” After reading this book, I am hoping that in Version 4.0 Friedman takes the time to congratulate himself by asserting his work is the Eleventh Flattener.

I would be wrong to state there is nothing of interest in “The World is Flat”, however, it’s unfortunate that most of it comes at the beginning of the book, leaving the remaining 400 pages relatively pathetic and dedicated to Tom’s musings. While describing his 10 Flatteners, Friedman isn’t given as much opportunity to state his opinion as he is later, so he does focus more on hard facts. For someone who isn’t too computer savvy or overly interested in computers in general, the history of the Internet was surprisingly engrossing. The thing which resonated most with me was his evaluation of international trade and the modern supply chain, which isn’t too shocking seeing as I happen to be a logistician myself. While it is nice to see Friedman show proper respect to the badasses working in a supply chain capacity, it is somewhat nullified that at after any tidbit he learns, he pulls off the can-you-believe-it! schtick as an exclamation point.

Still, even with the author giving thanks to the zombies slaving away in my profession, I found most of this book extremely difficult to digest; mainly due to Tom’s insistence to surround his opinions with facts, in an attempt to solidify their righteousness. And each one of these things “has always been his belief”; he must say that about 100 times, leading me to think not only must he not do a whole hell of a lot of listening to opposition opinions, but it also seems weird that for a guy who apparently just learned this item or the other, that’s he’s always had an stance on it. Some of the things he’s always been sure of: Unchecked, rampant capitalism is a godsend and the mother of invention, big government, regulation, and any political beliefs differing from his own will ultimately stop progress dead in its tracks. Getting rich quick off some online gimmick that serves no benefit to humanity is completely awesome, participants in internet sex of any sort are filthmongers and the scourge of the Information Age. But my biggest disagreement with his beliefs is in our world-view. Friedman is stoked that almost anyone, anywhere can no compete in business nowadays, as sees this trend as the salvation to the destitute masses globally. I couldn’t disagree more, I’m more of a ‘clean your own backyard first’ guy, I could never understand extending any sort of help to anyone without knowing that my peeps are taken care of first, and I’m not particularly fond of this change in the world, in which my peeps are pissing away any advantage we once had by spreading the peas too far on the plate. I see the culmination of Friedman’s principles resulting in the American middle class becoming the working poor, whereas his book concludes with his affirming and promising account of a Pulitzer Prize winner dropping his daughter off at an affluent university on a serene September day.
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Aug 15, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

The world is flat, but this book is not. It's Thomas Friedman's ginormous examination of globalization and the forces that drive it, starting with the end of the last century and continuing up to about 2:15 yesterday afternoon. The book traces the antecedents and consequences of global communication, outsourcing, and exportation of culture in the last few years, with an eye for excrutiating detail. Friedman is overly fond of creating supurfluous terminology for the sake of creating supurfluous t...more The world is flat, but this book is not. It's Thomas Friedman's ginormous examination of globalization and the forces that drive it, starting with the end of the last century and continuing up to about 2:15 yesterday afternoon. The book traces the antecedents and consequences of global communication, outsourcing, and exportation of culture in the last few years, with an eye for excrutiating detail. Friedman is overly fond of creating supurfluous terminology for the sake of creating supurfluous terminology ("The 10 Flateners", "Steroids", "The Great Convergance" etc.) but he's nothing if not thorough. It was kind of interesting to see a big picture examination of the events and trends that I lived through --and to some extent participated in. Things like the explosion of telecommunications, the growth of the Internet, the dot com boom and bust, the proliferation of cell phones, and the love/hate relationship America has developed with outsourcing. It's neat to see how all these pieces (supposedly) fit together and fed off of each other to produce some kind of man-eating jigsaw puzzle.

Unfortunately, Friedman is a better researcher than he is writer. The World is Flat positively creeps along like a melting glacier, and its narrative is only rarely infused with any kind of character, whit, or entertainment. The author has this awful habit of repeating anecdotes and points ad nauseum, as if their repitition will bring him some kind of credence that's otherwise missing. Did you know that India is becoming a high-tech center for outsourced jobs that can be done more cheaply there? Also, India is becoming a high-tech center for outsourced jobs that can be done more cheaply there. In India, outsourced jobs that can be done more cheaply there are building a high-tech center. In India, outsourced jobs high tech purple monkey dishwasher. It just goes on and on and on and on. I get it! Move on, Friedman.

So as interesting as parts of it are, I can't really recommend The World is Flat, and I'm not even going near the book's shortcomings as a (one-sided) critique of globalization. If you really want the quick-and-dirty version of the book, the Wikipedia entry has decent summaries of each chapter.(less)

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Jul 28, 2008 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who don't quite get "the internet," businesspeople

Shelves: non-fiction

Holy sh... this book went on and on. And on. The world is flat, oh yes! I see! But how flat is the world again, Mr. Friedman? Tell me once again, exactly how flat is it? Really flat? You don't say!

Maybe it's just me being a grad student for too long, but I prefer my nonfiction books to have a list of references. Perhaps a footnote or two. But this book is just a series of anecdotes with some jargon thrown in (Bangalore...curiosity quotient...flatteners...in-forming...Bangalore...compassionate fl...more Holy sh... this book went on and on. And on. The world is flat, oh yes! I see! But how flat is the world again, Mr. Friedman? Tell me once again, exactly how flat is it? Really flat? You don't say!

Maybe it's just me being a grad student for too long, but I prefer my nonfiction books to have a list of references. Perhaps a footnote or two. But this book is just a series of anecdotes with some jargon thrown in (Bangalore...curiosity quotient...flatteners...in-forming...Bangalore...compassionate flatism...glocalization...Bangalore).

But that's apparently what he intended. If you made it to page 629 in the 2006 version (bonus flatness!), you might have noticed that Friedman approvingly quotes Stanley Fischer as saying that "one good example is worth a thousand theories." Uh, what? That doesn't make any sense. Freidman thinks so, though; this book is a thousand good examples that add up to a few coherent theories.

Maybe the topic of globalization is just too broad to write concisely about, or maybe Friedman was looking at way too many trees rather than seeing the forest. But this book annoyed the hell out of me, and it only got worse as it went on.

Not to say I wouldn't recommend it. I mean, read chapters 1-4, then just pick and choose what interests you in the middle, and then read 15-17 because those actually say something new. The book thoroughly covers globalization and the business world, and America's place in the new economy. It covers a lot of ground. And mostly, the ideas are great and well-founded.

I did get a little squeamish at times, when Friedman's advocacy of free trade borders on trickle-down meritocratic patriotic Republicanisms. (See p. 496: "The inspirational power of a local business success story is incalculable: There is no greater motivator for the poor than looking at one of their own who makes it big and saying: "If she can do it, I can do it.'") But his heart is in the right place, I think. (See p. 265: "...a policy of free trade, while necessary, is not enough by itself. It must be accompanied by a focused domestic strategy aimed at upgrading the education of every American, so that he or she will be able to compete for the new jobs in a flat world.") I can agree with that.

But really, if you're under 30 you need to read this book like you need a hole in the head. You've been living it. Go read a blog.(less)

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Mar 04, 2008 Lily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, economics

If you are not willing to entertain the notion that free trade could be a positive force, I don't recommend reading The World is Flat.

The first section of the book almost made me throw it off the train - hundreds of pages of "OMG the internets!!" and a lot of repetitive metaphors ("TCP-IP is the rails of the tubes of the trains of the internet!") weren't neccessary. I know the world is more connected and globalization is an unstoppable force. Some of his examples of how the internet is changing...more If you are not willing to entertain the notion that free trade could be a positive force, I don't recommend reading The World is Flat.

The first section of the book almost made me throw it off the train - hundreds of pages of "OMG the internets!!" and a lot of repetitive metaphors ("TCP-IP is the rails of the tubes of the trains of the internet!") weren't neccessary. I know the world is more connected and globalization is an unstoppable force. Some of his examples of how the internet is changing things are interesting however - Friedman is a famous journalist and gets tours of everyone's secret corporate headquarters.

The next part of the book scared me - my job will be outsourced! America will fall behind! We've humiliated the Arab countries and they will never forgive us! But in general this is a pretty optimistic book. In the best parts of the book, Friedman documents uplifting stories of people, companies, and countries that have made globalization work for them, and then points out everyone else that is failing to do the same. Sort of inspirational, really.

He does gloss over many, many things: the environmental costs of industrializing and raising living standards, the people who are being left out of the global economy, valuable things that are not measured too well by the monetary economy (community?). The massive problems with corporations and the stock market system, historic inequality and the people who exploit it, etc, etc ...

However, his recommendations for getting everyone onto the happy-happy-globalization train are ideas I can support: better health care, more education, and less corruption in the developing parts of the world; better health care access, more education and research, and setting a good example and supporting environmental and working standards everywhere for the developed world.

Very worth a read, just don't let his stupid internet metaphors get to you - he was born into a world without the web, after all. Skip the first section and you might find the rest interesting - it's a good place to start digging into the story of globalization, even if you think he's WRONG WRONG WRONG!(less)

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Apr 20, 2007 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was one of my Cracker Barrel picks on a recent road trip. I love Cracker Barrel's books-on-cd! I liked Freidman's book, it was full of great information, a little simplified, (but aren't the 'social action' books always a little high school/Time magazineish?), but important nonetheless. I admit, somewhere through the hills of Pennsylvania I drifted in and out of interest - I may not have taken notes on the ten 'flateners' of the world, but I do think it's a quality read (or listen).

When th...more

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Jul 25, 2007 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

"As a work of reportage, especially its summary of recent industrial, technological, and geopolitical change, The World is Flat is a must read – the last several decades’ newspaper headlines enumerated and exuberantly summarized. If you weren’t aware of these events before, you ought to be, and Friedman’s volume is an easily absorbed corrective. In summary, it appears we in the West have won the culture war, other parts of the globe (especially in the Far East) are thoroughly sold on our lifesty...more

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Aug 11, 2007 Jodi Henderson marked it as to-read

Shelves: globalization

THE WORLD IS FLAT: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century — Further Updated and Expanded, by Thomas L. Friedman. (Picador, $16. ) Building on his 1999 book, “The Lexus and the Olive Tree,” Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, maps the next phase of globalization. What leveled the world’s economic playing field? Friedman cites 10 forces, including the dot-com bubble and bust, which turned China and India into high-tech epicenters of the outsourcing world. “The...more

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Jul 01, 2007 Seth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: professional

Ay yi yi... could Thomas Friedman be more breathless, condescending and self-centered? I'm thinking probably not. I'm less interested in the path of his "flat world" epiphany than in its causes and implications -- and I found it difficult to filter his personal and naive amazement from the equation. His wanton neologisms, combined with his inordinant wordiness made the latter half of the book unreadable. Fortunately, I remembered that I'm a product of a high-end, liberal arts education, and I kn...more

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Apr 06, 2008 mahatma rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

katanya sih bagus.
[lagi ngumpulin bahan ttg globalisasi neeh..]
beli yang edisi penguin ajah.... yang softcover:-)

lumayan deh,
ini laporan seorang reporter yang kaya dengan data dan dibawakan dengan ringan, meski berisi tajuk-tajuk yang keren.
saya masih terkesan dengan pengalaman rektor georgia tech univ, yang diuraikan dalam buku tadi, mengubah kurikulum sekolahnya dengan memasukkan musik, sastra dan ilmu-ilmu humaniora lain ke dalam sekolah teknik yang semula 'dingin' itu.
hasilnya adalah perubah...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
globalization	5	74	Dec 30, 2008 04:14am
too long, pretty unoriginal	3	92	Nov 02, 2008 04:01pm
You can get this book for free this week	1	100	Jul 30, 2008 11:09am

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