Thật ra sách về thể loại này không phải tuýp yêu thích của mình và ngày trước mình đã từng drop 1 lần cũng chính cuốn này luôn. Vậy mà bây giờ đọc lại thấy nó hay. Cuốn sách này được xuất bản lần đầu vào năm 2005, mình ngạc nhiên vì những điều mà tác giả đề cập hay dự đoán trong cuốn sách đều y hệt thế giới hiện nay, tức 13 năm sau. Và ngạc nhiên hơn nữa là những công nghệ tiên tiến đc các nước phát triển áp dụng từ chừng đó năm trước, Việt nam mới phổ biến những thứ đó gần đây haizz. Tác giả xây dựng các chương phần của sách một cách rất hệ thống, phân tích sâu nhưng vẫn cho người đọc cái nhìn toàn cảnh về vấn đề “thế giới phẳng”, sách cho mình nhiều kiến thức thú vị, nhiều lúc đọc xong cái fact đó miệng không thể nào khép được vì quá ngạc nhiên ấy, mà tác giả có một sự thiên vị đặc biệt dành cho Ấn Độ trong cuốn sách của mình thì phải :). Dù sao thì đây là một cuốn sách hay và đáng đọc, mà sao chấm 4 sao rưỡi không được nhỉ?

Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat has been ubiquitously referenced in the last several years. Friedman is a hack.

Let’s examine his treatise: Technological and economical developments have removed geography as a barrier to productivity, making it possible and necessary for people from all over the globe to work together. Quite frankly, I just stated it better than he did in his entire book. But if you are still tempted to read, The World is Flat, please realize that the cover is all you really need. Pick it up. Put it down. That’s it. You’re done.

I read this when it first released, and Friedman, in truth, doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know. Anyone that spent any amount of time whatsoever in (or even near) corporate America during the 1990s already knows as much, and likely far more, than Friedman’s globetrotting cocktail napkin ruminations will ever reveal. Friedman appears to have visited far corners of the globe in search of people who will quote his title back to him. In fact, through his artless narratives, we witness a multitude of shills parroting the book jacket, almost like audience plants at a hypnotist show. It’s very clearly artificial, and by that I mean... bullshit.

Take corporate experience out of it. Remove the global outsourcing initiatives, the quest for cheap labor, and the video chat boardrooms. Call tech support. Seriously, call tech support, and throw Freidman’s book away. You already know.

Over the past two years, I have seen The World is Flat appear (in serious academic citation form) in two collegiate textbooks. This is ominous. It is dangerous. The Freidman academic cult has spun four words into more than just an excuse for new diversity training seminars, they have knighted an itinerate opinion pimp as their standard bearer. Let’s examine, therefore, the man’s qualifications to speak as an expert on any topic.

Freidman is a journalist. That’s his gig, and in that capacity he bears one specific qualification: He is able to crank out a few hundred words a week at a fourth grade reading level. That’s the sum of the man’s gifts, and the full breadth of his expertise on the global economy. In additional to The World is Flat, Freidman has apparently amassed a tremendous garbage heap of opinions, evident by the number of recent tomes he has published. The man is an expert on everything… for fourth graders… for NY Times readers… and for college professors. Neat.

Real life doesn’t let you quote yourself and then become an expert by searching the planet for someone who will (with enough prodding) puke out the same four words. The blogosphere is teeming with fourth-grade level opinion-pimps. Perhaps there is still room out there for Friedman and his slobbering, gap-jawed, self-congratulating “one-world” acolytes: Or the Times. There’s always the Times.

This book does a good job of describing cataclysmic moments in recent history and how they have democratized everything from news delivery, employment and technology. The author combines interesting corporate tales with anecdotes to keep this tome from being a laborious read.

Dịch như quần què, MÁ, đọc tức á.
5 sao cho ý tưởng, 3 sao cho cách viết dài dòng của bác Tom, 1 sao cho bản dịch này.

This is an tedious summary of everything you already know about globalization, wrapped around a series of pet phrases and personal anecdotes that are not poignant, relevant, illustrative, or particularly apt. Perhaps it is because this book is a couple years old now (though mine was an updated edition), but for a book that purports to be so prophetic, this really seems like last century's news. You'd have to be either very isolated or very old to be shocked by any of these dusty observations.

I suppose it is because Mr. Friedman thinks these are new or profound ideas that he feels the need to summarize them in catch phrases, which he then repeats until they take on a Seussian absurdity. Seriously, how many times does he have to write "The fall of the wall"? I'm not sure if Mr. Friedman thinks he's writing to people who need constant repetition or if he just likes pages, but this could have been a much shorter book.

"Fucking flat-earthers...Oh wait, that's not what he means? All right, maybe I'll read it."

That was me about five or so years ago when friends kept insisting I read The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Finally, when my wife recently bought tickets to a local Friedman talk, I resolved to read the damn thing.

I'm glad I did. It's really good. I'm not saying it's prefect (I'll get to that in a minute), but this is a must read at least for a certain few people with their heads in the clouds. For one, it's a great book for folks who don't understand what has happened since the advent of the internet. Give this as a gift to your dad or gramps. If they don't use it as a doorstop, they'll get a hell of an education on the modern ways of business and sociability.

The other group of people that need to read this, or really any book like this, are those cretins who troll, lurk and spew upon the comment section of "news" articles online. Everybody seems to have an indisputable, unshakable opinion that they take for fact and which they feel the need to spray all over the internet. They are the modern version of every family's uncle from the good ol' days who would show up at family events and holidays seemingly for the sole purpose of annoying everyone else while starting an argument with another alpha male about politics, religion, economics and any other myriad of topics that most sane people know is off-limits around family and friends you wish to retain as such. The real crime in all this is that they don't usually know what the fuck they're talking about. They have one biased, uninformed talking point on whatever the subject is they'll let you hear it.

So yes, I do feel like a book like this is helpful for a segment of the population, especially in these particularly stupid days in the American dark ages. The problem is, at 600+ pages, this book is 300 pages longer than it needs to be.



The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is not brief. That's because it's written as a journalist would write a book. This is a book-length feature article. Friedman makes a statement, maybe backs it up with data, and then gives an example via a full-blown biography on a business or entrepreneur. It's all good stuff. Some of it's even enjoyable. But it's more than necessary for what's actually being said. He could've done more with less. I honestly doubt I would've gotten through this if I hadn't gone with the audiobook version and had a cubic buttload of yard work to do.

Now, that's not to say didn't enjoy this or that I didn't get something out of it. I did. I am getting old and so some of these whippersnappers with their new fangled gadgets befuddle me. However, I did grow up in the age when personal computers were first coming into the home. I even had a Commodore 64, baby! So I'm not at a total loss in the computer age. On the other hand, I am a bit of a recluse and I'm not big into global politics and the economy, so sadly I am having to catch up on that and a book like this taught me a thing or two. So, let's call it a good stepping stone for the uninitiated.

Wow. Much to think about. I learned about the forces shaping our world-and this book was pretty much all-inclusive, focusing on private and public sectors. My only criticism was the treatment of Muslim's in the book-claiming that they are embarassed by the rest of the world's progress. While there may be some truth it seems like too much of a generality.

Did you say "FLAT"?

If only I wasn't so obsessive/compulsive about finishing things I start I never would have read this book. I don't like the self-important way this guy writes, and I don't think his metaphor about technology being a "flattener" of the world is at all clever. I don't like the way he divides each chapter into segments so it's like you are just reading a bunch of lists with very weak transitions (Michael says this is because he's a columnist.) I don't like the way he waits until the very end to mention the effects of globalization on the environment and poor people. I don't like the lens of business, in which the ultimate goal of our lives seems to be competition. I learned a little bit from it, mostly from anecdotes about technology or maverick entrepreneurs, but overall the read was long and painful.

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. We should be playing harder.

Those with money always want to protect it from those without. For a simple (and almost certainly inaccurate) example, imagine if prosperous 18th century orange growers from Pennsylvania wanted to impose import taxes on oranges from Georgia. We'd end up with more expensive oranges in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanian lands that weren't utilized to their fullest potential. The country has benefitted in the long run from allowing free trade, even if it caused some pain at the start.

Just like the fictional 18th-century Pennsylvanians, America needs to embrace its comparative advantages and not dwell on the short-term change in earning opportunites that result. Our policies should try to soften the impact of globalization for those affected and prepare our people for the new economy. We cannot prevent globalization and denial only leaves us unprepared.

Then again, I'm in manufacturing, so I have no credibility here. :)

Thomas L. Friedman's "The World is Flat: A Brief History of The Twenty-First Century" should be required reading for all high school and college graduates. I recommend it to anyone in the world looking to understand the changes and implications of modern technology and business practices. I think this book has the power to be the change needed in the United States to get us back on track so we can continue to be a major world player.

Friedman's conversational tone allows him to put his unique and insightful ideas into an easy to read text, as long as a potential reader does not get scared off by the book's size (almost 500 pages). His contacts around the world allow him to give the reader a behind the scenes glimpse into the world of outsourced call centers in India, the insourcing at the UPS hub in Tennessee, and even the supply chain that gets goods to the shelves at your local Walmart store.

Friedman starts out by outlining the 10 events/things that flattened the world: 11/9/89, 8/9/95, work flow software, open-sourcing, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, insourcing, in-forming, and the steroids (for example cell phones and ipods. These ten flatteners become the spring board for discussions on free trade, the quiet education crisis in America, being able to specialize, be special, or adapt to changes in the market, and how terrorists are using the flatteners to build up the walls again.

It is a fascinating read that will keep you thinking long after you finish reading the book. I recommend it to everyone!

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 done, I would have praised that booklet for it's value and it's careful analysis of how globalization of our economy and market is affecting our way of life and how it is integrating into our daily activities.

Borrow the book from a friend, read the first few chapters, read the titles of the middle chapters, skim the end, and you would have done some worthwhile reading. But the rest of it most likely not worth your time.

If however, you happen to be new to the powers of the internet and things like satellites and fiber optic cables, then disregard what I've said above, and go read the book. This book seems to have been written for just that demographic. (And that demographic is not a bad thing)