The Lexus and The Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

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The Lexus and The Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

by Thomas L. Friedman

3.49 · rating details · 3,234 ratings · 269 reviews

A brilliant investigation of globalization, the most significant socioeconomic trend in the world today, and how it is affecting everything we do-economically, politically, and culturally-abroad and at home.
As foreign affairs columnist for" The New York Times," Thomas L. Friedman crisscrosses the globe talking with the world's economic and political leaders, and...more

Hardcover, 469 pages

Published June 15th 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 1999)

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Aug 05, 2007

Sean rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: economics, totalcrap

I really do not understand the appeal of Thomas Friedman. I don’t think his writing is very good, and I think his political commentary is inane. I cannot believe smart people take this man seriously.

My synopsis of standard Friedman socio-economic analysis:

I am a genius able to see developments in the world economic order before anyone else. I went to Southeast Asia, because I am a man of adventure with large expense account from a big newspaper. A South Asian man rowed me...more

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Sep 21, 2008

Rachel rated it

· review of another edition

This book is so appalling in so many ways that I cannot understand why it is so popular. I had to read it for a class in school (my Costa Rica sustainable development course) and basically everyone in the class agreed that Friedman had a very disturbing view of globalization. He seems to think that globalization benefits everyone in its race to the bottom because it makes goods and services cheaper and better. Guess what buddy? If everyone is getting paid crap they have no money for those go...more

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May 15, 2008

Angus rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: those that want to stop every paragraph and wonder where people like this come from.

Thomas L. Friedman is a fuck. The copy of this I have has so much highlighter ink in it that the pages look like rainbows and the only reason I took the time to do that is so that I could easily find all the backward and sometimes down right stupid things he said in it. "..the easier it is to fire workers, the more incentive companies have to hire them." What he should have said in other words: flexible labor market = lower wages (and higher profits). "Air power alone couldn't wor...more

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Sep 29, 2008

steph rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: regular-politics

friedman has a realistic point of view of the world, but comes from a purely capitalistic mind frame. he has a good perception of how the world works, but then resigns himself to dealing with it by saying 'this is how it is; things will never change.'
what sux is that he points out all the bad crap that happens from free-mkt globalization, and instead of offering good social net solutions, says 'it is what it is, so either play the game this way, or you lose.' nothing about how the rul...more

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Oct 05, 2008

Andrew rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: delusional capitalists

Thomas Friedman is a very smart, well-experienced, well-traveled columnist for the NYT. I really respect his insight and his opinions, and this is why I was very disappointed with this book.

Part of this may be because it was written in 1999 (it was only 9 years ago, but this country has really taken a nosedive since then). In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Friedman is constantly giddy about the new globalization system that has come to replace the Cold War system. The "globaliz...moreThomas Friedman is a very smart, well-experienced, well-traveled columnist for the NYT. I really respect his insight and his opinions, and this is why I was very disappointed with this book.

Part of this may be because it was written in 1999 (it was only 9 years ago, but this country has really taken a nosedive since then). In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Friedman is constantly giddy about the new globalization system that has come to replace the Cold War system. The "globalization" that he describes is synonymous with capitalism. In my opinion, he avoids using the term capitalist because of the connotations of greed. He extols the virtue of this universal global market system and how it eliminates inefficiencies and raises living standards worldwide.

But, Friedman describes (in my opinion, cherrypicks) those nations that have done well under the globalization system: USA, Western Europe, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Singapore, etc. He even proudly proclaims that all nations can "choose" to go this route and become prosperous as if it were that easy. This proclamation really irked me. He never mentions the myriad of other nations just trying to escape poverty. What does this new system of globalization do for them? When you don't have food or a healthcare system, I am sure you cannot "choose" to join the capitalistic world. I am really uncomfortable with Friedman and capitalists repeating the idea that any nation can become rich, that if they embrace free-market policies, they too can have a level of consumption like developed countries. That's a cruel paradox in itself. How can the globe sustain life if everyone has American levels of consumption?

Friedman also has a very arrogant view of the world in this book. His remarks describing "angry men" sometime sound eerily similar to Bush's claims that Arabs hate us because they hate freedom and democracy.

This book sort of helps one to understand why Friedman was an early supporter of the Iraq war.

I thought Friedman provided a lot of good examples of how the world has come to be globalized. I thought that part of the book (the beginning) was solid.

The book is very readable and it feels like you're listening to an audiotape of Tom Friedman at 2X, but the man is also annoying as heck with all his made-up words and terms, such as globulation to glocalism to the electronic herd. He is also all over the place and the book has weak organization. (less)

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May 29, 2008

Ed rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Robber Barons

For reasons I cannot understand, this book is treated as canonical in high school economics classrooms across the country. Friedman presents an argument that is not only exceedingly hypocritical but asserted almost entirely through a jungle of personal anecdotes. The Lexus and the Olive Tree is not so much an explanation of globalization as it is a laundry list of interesting people that Friedman knows and you do not. Methodology aside, the arguments Friedman makes are more often than not dee...moreFor reasons I cannot understand, this book is treated as canonical in high school economics classrooms across the country. Friedman presents an argument that is not only exceedingly hypocritical but asserted almost entirely through a jungle of personal anecdotes. The Lexus and the Olive Tree is not so much an explanation of globalization as it is a laundry list of interesting people that Friedman knows and you do not. Methodology aside, the arguments Friedman makes are more often than not deeply flawed. Many of the ideas Friedman babbles about are considered debatable (the "Electronic Herd") at best, or flat-out absurd (the "Golden Straitjacket") at worst. This "straitjacket" is the focal point of his argument, and it takes him a few hundred pages to get around to the crux of it. To summarize: Having spoken to 50 or 60 of his friends, Friedman declares that economic growth, specifically in emerging markets, demands a paring down of any form of social safety net, open arms to foreign investment, and a deregulatory fiscal policy on the part of the government in question. Friedman disregards the fact that heavily subsidized agricultural exports from the United States, for example, undercut domestic prices in many of these emerging markets and bankrupt local agricultural industries. The United States' own tariffs and quotas were what allowed U.S. industry and agriculture to flourish in the first place, but present-day emerging markets are somehow expected to open their borders and allow their markets to be flooded with development-stifling imports from first world economies and subsidy driven low prices. All of this aside, perhaps the most grating element of The Lexus and the Olive Tree is Friedman's penchant for creating ridiculous names for existing and well-defined economic and political phenomena. The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention stands in as the fat sister of Democratic Peace Theory (Heard of Israel and Lebanon, Thomas? Give Russia and Georgia a few more months, perhaps.). DOScapital (a witticism perhaps overheard in a middle-school remedial English program) is a ridiculous way of describing what most have deemed the global economy; i.e. capitalism. The Electronic Herd? Capitol investors. Microchip Immune Deficiency? Insufficient decentralization and technophobia. In summation, The Lexus and the Olive Tree attempts to explain the nature and processes of globalization by combining a long list of people with whom Thomas Friedman has had lunch, kitschy jargon, five or six thousand poorly-chosen metaphors, a smattering of jingoism, a dedication to the unregulated free market that would make Lady Thatcher blush, and no formal education in economics whatsoever. It's good for a laugh, I suppose.(less)

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Jul 20, 2007

AJ rated it

Shelves: politics, non-fiction

Anything from this guy, especially this book, needs to be reframed in terms of the realities of free-market capitalism before reading becomes a valuable exercise.

His explanation of the origins of Globalization feel about right, you could probably guess what he'll suggest as the leading causes before even cracking the cover. He of course, as a proponent, doesn't look at the side of corporate-cooperative political agents that have played a major, if not necessary role in explaining th...more

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Feb 02, 2012

Jason rated it

· review of another edition

Not really my favorite kind of writing and at odds with many of my feelings about globalization (that it screws just has many people as it helps) but still a mostly interesting read. Friedman has been bashed repeatedly about his views, which I won't contribute to in great depth, but this does feel oddly Utopian, especially the parts that seem to equate industrialization and westernization with peace (The Golden Arches Theory). It's easy to see why a certain type of reader--one who has benefited ...more

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Mar 26, 2011

Adam A. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: own

"[G]lobalization is not simply a trend or a fad but is, rather, [the] international system . . . that has now replaced the old Cold War system . . . ." Thus begins "The Lexus and the Olive Tree," the Thomas L. Friedman book that foreshadowed his wildly popular book "The World Is Flat" a few years later. The two books have much in common both are social and political theory that acknowledges 21st Century globalism as the definitive postindustrial economic system of ...more"[G]lobalization is not simply a trend or a fad but is, rather, [the] international system . . . that has now replaced the old Cold War system . . . ." Thus begins "The Lexus and the Olive Tree," the Thomas L. Friedman book that foreshadowed his wildly popular book "The World Is Flat" a few years later. The two books have much in common both are social and political theory that acknowledges 21st Century globalism as the definitive postindustrial economic system of our era, both illustrate Mr. Friedman's theory with examples from his personal interviews and headlines around the world, both proclaim globalism as a tool of empowerment for individuals and companies (though also as a hurdle that individuals and companies may not always be able to clear).[return][return]In "Lexus," though, Mr. Friedman highlights local culture and human beings as key elements in the globalist paradigm. Mr. Friedman advocates a healthy balance between local culture and the globalist economic system. A society cannot survive the globalist era, Mr. Friedman argues, simply by putting up barriers to trade and digging its heels into its cultural roots. Each society must find a way to adopt the most important parts of globalism (reduced trade barriers, minimal interference in the marketplace, technological innovation, interpersonal and international co�peration, etc.) while retaining the most important parts of the society's own culture. A person who feels disconnected from her or his roots is less likely to participate in the globalist system, Mr. Friedman argues, and the key to prosperity in our times is access to and participation in the high-speed, technologically advanced, international economy. Mr. Friedman believes that every society will eventually recognize that globalization is necessary for survival (even closed societies like China and much of the Middle East), but those societies will participate in the global economy only if their core cultural values are maintained. This process of implementing what works in globalization, and hanging on to what works in a local culture, is what Mr. Friedman calls "glocalism."[return][return]Mr. Friedman also touches on the need for conservation. A world in which the water is undrinkable, the air unbreathable, the land infertile, the scenery ugly cannot sustain its people under any economic system. Nations must find ways to integrate into the global economy without allowing their resources to be irreparably depleted.[return][return]While I would like to have seen Mr. Friedman cite his references, it is important to note that despite his education and "New York Times" credentials he is more a theorist rather than a journalist. The lack of citations does not invalidate his theory. (Although, of course, it would be easier to test his theory if we could see the data he is referring to. Apparently Mr. Friedman considers open data to be required only of corporations in the global economy not authors.)[return][return]This is an important read. "Lexus" helps the reader orient herself or himself toward the 21st Century global economy, an economy that is qualitatively different from the industrial system of the late 19th and early- to mid-20th Centuries. I wholly recommend it.(less)

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Feb 02, 2009

Joseph Gagnepain rated it

· review of another edition

Drawing on his experience as a foreign correspondent, Tomas Friedman gives a comprehensive view of the modern worlds state of globalization covering every conceivable angle from multi-national corporate strategy, effects on smaller states as they battle between keeping up with the world and not sacrificing their culture, to how modern capitalism is effected by the integration of state intertwining technology. What I love about Friedman is how unbiased his assessment is. Friedman isn't trying to ...more

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Jan 08, 2012

Siby rated it

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I didn't like this book at all...infact one of those rare books that I decided to leave without finishing.
The biggest problem with the book is the condescending tone of the author; rather than treating his readers as mature well informed adults, he writes as if his reader base is made up of school going kids. The analogies that he uses insults the intelligence of his readers.
There is too much name dropping, like Manmohan Singh said this to me, or the Shah of Iran told me that; Frie...more

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May 02, 2011

Chelsea rated it

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Tomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization was a book required for my Sociology of Globalization class (understandably enough) and does, in my opinion, a wonderful job of outlying some of the key components of globalization, as well as how it differs from the old Cold War system. Friedman hits on such topics like the Electronic Herd (those millions and millions of unseen people moving money around on the internet, whether through banks, online shopping, hedge fund...moreTomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization was a book required for my Sociology of Globalization class (understandably enough) and does, in my opinion, a wonderful job of outlying some of the key components of globalization, as well as how it differs from the old Cold War system. Friedman hits on such topics like the Electronic Herd (those millions and millions of unseen people moving money around on the internet, whether through banks, online shopping, hedge funds and other investments who have a not-to-be-underestimated power over the political and financial markets), the Long and Shorthorn Cattle of Investment (long horn being those companies who invest in state infrastructure and similar things that promise great dividends but require a time investment, rather than short-horns, who invest in things like the stock market and futures because of the promise of quick turn around with riskier dividends) and, most interestingly, his Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Resolution that says that no two countries that have a McDonald’s have ever gone to war with each other (this isn’t really a hard and fast rule but is more used by Friedman to show the politically stabilizing effect that the globalized economic force can have).

But this isn’t to say that I didn’t have some MAJOR problems with the arguments that Friedman made or, more rightly, the justification he has behind making these arguments. He presents good ways of understanding globalization, and he’s right to point out that globalization is an inevitable force, but he seems to forget that there is a large gap between the hypothetical and the light of reality. Friedman refers to the United States a number of times as the “benign Hegemon” (scary ties between this and the Orson Scott Card Ender books popped up immediately) and states clearly that tantamount to globalization is Americanization. He says these things as though they’re not a problem and perhaps for many they’re not, but just the idea that America somehow as the right or responsibility for the rest of the world rubs me the wrong way. Don’t misunderstand me – America can’t help but get involved and thus has a responsibility to clean up the messes it makes, I just wish it would stop making so many damn messes to begin with!

Another key issue I had with Friedman is that he basically ignores the existence of any kind of global third world or a population with the desire but not the ability to join the globalization race. He states in a number of chapters that one of the drawbacks of the globalization system is that it doesn’t do much but keep the rich richer and the poor poorer (sure, there is this idea of “the best to succeed will do so” and “the market is so huge, anyone can join”, but be honest – what chance does a poor, disconnected country really have of successfully cracking into the burgeoning global market) but, again, this doesn’t seem to bother him. He takes it as a part of globalization, and the only question that ran through my mind through most of the book was DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY?!?!?! Sure, globalization isn’t going anywhere any time soon. But there HAS TO BE some kind of happy medium between the full-on embracing of globalization and thus it’s lack of social conscience, and spurring it completely and giving up all hope at economic prosperity. Then again, if I knew the way there I’d already have my Nobel Prize in Economics.

If you’re looking for a book to outline some of the basics of the globalization system, Friedman’s metaphors really do a good job of putting everything into it’s proper scope and format. However, be forewarned that, like I outlined above. Friedman is pretty staunchly free-market capitalist and as such turns more of a blind eye to silly “leftist-psuedo-hippy-social-welfare”, as my darling grandfather likes to refer to social issues. The choice of politics is up to you, but it’s probably best to know where Friedman stands before you get ready to tussle with him!

(less)

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Aug 12, 2011

Jonathan Mckay added it · review of another edition

I thought that this book would be a good piece of airplane reading- interesting anecdotes describing one of the most important phenomona of the world today. I had read and enjoyed From Beirut to Jerusalem, so assumed this would be another good read.

I was wrong.

First, the book is sadly outdated. This may be obvious, but there are books from 2000 about globalization and technology that still have much bearing on the world today (Like Smart Mobs).

Second, Friedman has a sad knack for trying to ext...more

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Mar 30, 2009

Raghu rated it

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This book by Thomas Friedman is about globalization and how it affects us. Basically, Friedman believes that Globalization, in sum total, is good for the world, notwithstanding its negative effects.
Friedman's primary thesis is that the cold war politics conditioned the behavior of nation states till 1990. Now, it is 'Globalization' and its inexorable movement forward that shapes nations and their behavior internally as well as one another. Friedman introduces the term 'the Electronic herd'...moreThis book by Thomas Friedman is about globalization and how it affects us. Basically, Friedman believes that Globalization, in sum total, is good for the world, notwithstanding its negative effects.
Friedman's primary thesis is that the cold war politics conditioned the behavior of nation states till 1990. Now, it is 'Globalization' and its inexorable movement forward that shapes nations and their behavior internally as well as one another. Friedman introduces the term 'the Electronic herd' in explaining his theories. The Electronic Herd has two parts to it - the Short horn and the Long horn. The Short horn refers to currency traders; mutual, pension and hedge funds; insurance companies or bank trading rooms. They are known as short-horn cattle because they move money around the world, often on a very short-term basis. Long-horn cattle represents the large multi-national corporations e.g. General Electric, General Motors, IBM, Intel, Siemens etc, which increasingly invest in or move production to foreign countries. They are known as long-horn cattle because they have to make long term commitments when investing. It is important for nation states to keep the Herd satisfied through transparency, responsible fiscal behavior and legitimate practices as otherwise they will take their money away from you and invest it where these features are represented better. The degrees of freedom for adventurism of nation states are reduced because their economy would be in difficulties if the Herd gives them a bad rating due to irresponsible policies. Friedman cites examples from the South-East Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Also, the Herd frowns against war and its dislocating effects. So, Friedman believes that Globalization has been good in reducing violent conflicts around the world. Only countries which do not plug into Globalization have the freedom to amke conflict and reap its consequences. he cites examples of N.Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan etc.
Friedman is not naive. He realizes that Globalization has its bad effects on good things in traditional societies. His Lexua is an euphemism for Globalization and the 'Olive tree' for tradition. He discusses the challenges posed by Globalization to valuable traditions and the importance of old cultures in keeping to them on the face of the onslaught from Globalization. He also devotes many chapters on the unique role the US can play to harness it all.
Overall, the argument is compelling and well-reasoned. People who are deadly opposed to Globalization would trash many of his arguments. But, as one coming from India and living in the US, I can relate to the arguments in the book and find validity in them.
The book is well-written and it is an easy read, just like his other books on the subject. I would recommend the book strongly for one interested in the subject.(less)

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Sep 06, 2009

Jon rated it

· review of another edition

Thomas Friedman is hands down the resonant expert on globalization. He is also the most entertaining in describing it. I read his book The World is Flat first (almost out of order from his writings), this is my second book of his I have read. I will be re-reading The World is Flat again but after I read his next book Longitudes and Attitudes. Next on my list is latest Hot, Flat and Crowded.
The reason I like him so much is his colorful ways to describe what is going on and the referen...more

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Sep 06, 2009

Beau Johnson rated it

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Shelves: journalism

"Half the world seemed to be emerging from the Cold War intent on building a better Lexus...And half the world - sometimes half the same country, sometimes half the same person - was still caught up in the fight over who owns which olive tree."

This book is a great pre-cursor to "The World is Flat" which outdoes Friedman's more recent book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded." This book is a good introduction to globalization, but not as good (or as interesting) as T...more

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Sep 07, 2011

Christina rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 12th-grade-advisory

By:Thomas L. Friedman Pages:512

The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization is a book that looks at people from modern and past times. The story is a mixture of contemporary methods of globalization and past methods. The author is looking at both points of view and seeing how Globalization has remained the same, and at the same time is very different. Many references are made to the past and civilizations that were successful in Globalization. The com...more

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Mar 11, 2009

Lisa Renstrom added it · review of another edition

The Lexus represents our drive for sustenance, improvement, prosperity and modernization –all the burgeoning global markets, financial institutions and computer technologies with which we pursue.

The olive tree represents everything that roots us, anchors us, identifies us and locates us in the world – whether it be belonging to a family, a community a tribe, a nation, a religion or, most of all, a place called home.

The challenge is to find a balance between preserving a sense...more

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Dec 28, 2008

Andrew Lubin rated it

· review of another edition

It's a big world. While America is a part of it, we're no longer the only part of it - and union workers like the UAW and incompetent management like that of GM need to realize that they've priced themselves and their lousy products out of it. Oh yeah...and thankfully the Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese are a part of it also...America needs to borrow a lot of money from them in order to stay afloat.

As the weasels on Wall Street continue to rape America's pocketbook, this book is we...more

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Dec 16, 2010

Nuno Martins rated it

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Shelves: ensaios

Um livro que nos mostra com uma linguagem simples e acessível, o advento da globalização, dos mercados livres, da internet, das comunicações e o seu impacto nas vidas de todos nós.
Thomas L. Friedman através da sua experiência como jornalista dá-nos a ver toda uma década de mudança, os anos 90 do século passado e aborda uma enormidade de temas que fazem parte do nosso dia a dia, desde o boom do mercado livre, com todas as suas implicações socio-económicas, o grande desenvolvimento e velocid...more

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Dec 30, 2008

Blake rated it

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Shelves: economics-and-business

In a nutshell: read "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman instead. While I'm sure "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" was an insightful book when published, it has since lost its relevancy and "The World is Flat" essentially repackages and updates Mr. Friedman's thoughts on globalization first presented in this work. In "The Lexus and the Olive Tree", Mr. Friedman marvels at global production, a new era of communication technology, changes in global finance,...more

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Jan 10, 2010

Shinynickel rated it

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The first criticism I remember hearing about Friedman's writing had to do with his metaphors. Being someone who leans a bit heavily on metaphors at times myself, I felt immediate sympathy. After finishing his book, that feeling has been replaced utterly by the sort of rejection one feels for a member of one's tribe who is a terrible caricature of what you value, and a bad representative of your people. Oh Thomas L. Friedman, why do you use such terrible metaphors? Why do you mix them? Why do you...more

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Aug 30, 2008

Kate rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anoyone interested in economics, globalization, or the Internet

Recommended to Kate by: Found it at random in a bookstore in Itaewon (Seoul, South Korea

Shelves: politics, economics, non-fiction

The Lexus and the Olive Tree is an overview of economic globalization in the post-Cold War era. The author is Thomas L.Friedman, who more recently wrote the bestseller The World Is Flat. I haven't read that one yet, but I hope to get to it if my to-read stack ever starts going down.

My copy of Lexus is the 2000 edition. I'm still in the habit of thinking anything from 1999 or later is quite recent-- it's a little jarring to realize that the first edition of this book came out ten year...more

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Feb 03, 2008

Mike rated it

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A simple and interesting read. NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman is fond of using simple metaphors for large concepts. The Lexus symbolizes technology, commerce, and globalization while the Olive Tree symbolizes tradition. He discusses the relationship and tension between the two.

Friedman takes a pretty positive view of globalization, if for no other reason than its inevitability. He claims that trying to stop globalization is like trying to "stop the sun from rising." He...more

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Feb 10, 2008

Mike rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: econ nerds, econ teachers, businness students and business-minded people, social scientists

I felt it was my duty as an econ nerd and (newly!) certified economics teacher to see what Thomas Friedman is all about. From his New York Times column to the Sunday morning political talk shows, to documentaries, Friedman was everywhere I turned, and I knew nothing about him.

Friedman, it turns out, is both a brilliant scholar of the globalization wave that is quickly sweeping across the globe; he is also the system's main cheerleader. He describes the new world order all the way f...more

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Oct 15, 2007

Julie rated it

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The reason I decided to read this book was because it was required reading for virtually every economics class at my University, but never seemed to be part of the reading list during the semester when I took the class (always the semester before or after). I felt like I missed out on part of the academic experience, so two years after finishing school, I finally got around to reading it.

And I was disappointed.

Friedman's rhetoric is exceptional, and he is a very persuasi...more

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Sep 14, 2008

BBBTerri rated it

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Shelves: business-money-economics

Required reading for those of us who aren't economics majors. Easy read, educational and thought provoking.
"The driving idea behind globalization is free-market capitalism-the more you let market forces rule and the more you open your economy to free trade and competition, the more efficient and flourishing your economy will be. Globalization means the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country in the world. Therefore, globalization also has it's own set of economic r...more

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Oct 12, 2011

Janele rated it

· review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. For some reason I thought it was about the conflict between Israel and Palestinians and I was looking to understand that better. Instead I got
Globalization. I was pulled in easily and learned so much. My husband and I are both business owners and I found so many points throughout the book that were applicable to operating a business in this new global economy. I recommended that my husband read it along with his key managers. I look forward to reading more by Fri...more

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Jan 15, 2010

Josh Meares rated it

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Friedman did a really good job explaining globalization and its effects on society. But his analysis of globalization as freedom was very insightful. Does it surprise anyone that free humans do bad things? No. But globalization is not something that is happening, globalization is barriers being removed. Some of his cultural insights were a bit ... uh ... ethnocentric, but that is easily forgivable. He's not an anthropologist.

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Oct 02, 2008

Andrew Hecht rated it

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Shelves: public-library, non-fiction

I finally finished Tom Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree, which I had been reading for a few weeks now in fits and starts. I have mixed feelings about Tom Friedman's work. Sometimes I find his NYT columns to be oversimplified, condescending and often downright wrong. Sometimes I find them interesting, compelling, and informative. Such it is with The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

On the whole, I'd say the book is not great. Friedman is too caught up in presenting what he thinks of as...more

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About Thomas L. Friedman

Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist. He is an op-ed contributor to The New York Times, whose column appears twice weekly and mainly addresses topics on foreign affairs. Friedman is known for supporting a compromise resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, modernization of the Arab world, environmentalism and globalization. He is considered to be a pluralist and most of his comm...more

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“You can be a rich person alone. You can be a smart person alone. But you cannot be a complete person alone. For that you must be part of, and rooted in, an olive grove. This truth was once beautifully conveyed by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner in his interpretation of a scene from Gabriel García Márquez’s classic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude: Márquez tells of a village where people were afflicted with a strange plague of forgetfulness, a kind of contagious amnesia. Starting with the oldest inhabitants and working its way through the population, the plague causes people to forget the names of even the most common everyday objects. One young man, still unaffected, tries to limit the damage by putting labels on everything. “This is a table,” “This is a window,” “This is a cow; it has to be milked every morning.” And at the entrance to the town, on the main road, he puts up two large signs. One reads “The name of our village is Macondo,” and the larger one reads “God exists.” The message I get from that story is that we can, and probably will, forget most of what we have learned in life—the math, the history, the chemical formulas, the address and phone number of the first house we lived in when we got married—and all that forgetting will do us no harm. But if we forget whom we belong to, and if we forget that there is a God, something profoundly human in us will be lost.” — 2 people liked it

“ No policy is sustainable without a public that broadly understands why it's necessary and sees the world the way you do...” — 1 person liked it

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title link	preview: The Lexus and The Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9425.The_Lexus_and_The_Olive_Tree?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312008284m/9425.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9425.The_Lexus_and_The_Olive_Tree?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Lexus and The Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman[/url]

The Lexus and The Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

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