An oldie but a goodie; this non-fiction book was popular a few years ago (2005). I read it then and took notes. By “flat” he means super-interconnected through technology, communications, trade, etc. Some notes:

Ten forces that flattened the world:

Removal of the Berlin Wall, 1989
The world wide web starting with Netscape
Work flow software
The ability to upload (local goes global)
Outsourcing – you can run a million dollar business without a single employee
Offshoring – tech guys overseas
Supply chaining – aka “just-in-time delivery” so you don’t have to have money tied up in warehousing
In-sourcing – UPS buys its own fleet of planes
In-forming: Yahoo and Google search engines
We’ve gone digital, mobile, personal and virtual



The Triple Convergence that brought about the flat world:

First, interconnecting of machines and techniques that had been around earlier leading to the fax, scanner and Xerox. (Of course invention is always like that – multiple people were working on the telephone with so many pieces lying around.)

Second, the gradually increasing impact of computers; for years they did not actually reduce staff.

Third, the gradual bringing of everyone worldwide into the game.

Countries that want to benefit from flatness have to get three things right:

Technological infrastructure to interact with the rest of the flat world
Education and training
Legal structure, taxation, intellectual property rights, etc.

A good book and very readable. A bit long (almost 600 pages).

photo from wallpaper-gallery.net

My cousin bought me this book when I was 17, me thinking it might actually be a "History" book, since it says "History of the 21st century" and I read about 3/4 of the god awful book, until I just could not read it anymore (especially when it got to chapters devoted to advice for businesses in globalization). I think was the first book I just could not finish because it was so awful to read.

First off his book has awful style and use confusing metaphors, you hear about flatteners and that the world is flat.

I couldn't help but make annotations every few pages about how weak his points were and how the ability to teleconference and for the middle class to Facebook does not at all address sweatshops, the painful transition of mass layoffs in industry due to trade agreements (including ours), increasing wealth disparity, and the widespread poverty in the world.

He even makes one argument about how a kid can look up all the info in the world on Google in Subsaharan Africa, so that means that we've all got equal opportunity. (And this point is defeated in that that kid won't have stable electricity source to charge his cell phone, and a ton of kids won't even have the money to have a cell phone!)

It was basically a bunch of cheerleading of advances in IT and Walmart and other's vertical integration of the supply chain.

I dunno about Thomas Friedman but I actually took really hard legitimate economics classes at university (3 actually)and I know exactly what the major economic theories promise, what the weaknesses of their assumptions are, where they don't easily apply. His implicit assumption is that the free flow of capital aka corporate globalization is good and uses metaphors and anectodes to try to proves thi and not actually spend time or citing social science proving that the world's economic playing field is being leveled (which is what he's trying to say by the world is flat"

He thinks that he can sum up the history of the 21st century by traveling first class and talking to CEOs in India and doesn't note the increasing wealth disparity in those countries.

I love Google, Yahoo, the web browser, and video chatting as much as the next person (which there are entire chapters dedicated to these different things) but that doesn't mean that I believe neoliberal economic globalization is great because we have Google.

This book really didn't have a great argument and did a poor job of providing evidence. I'd beg you to read something else on globalization or economics.

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.

This is an interesting book, with some interesting and important points but it seems repetitively too long. It tells of the history of the world in innovation, economics, politics and education since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Since that time many events and innovations have created a "flat world" where we can more easily communicate, collaborate and world together globally. This is exciting and has opened up wonderful opportunities, but is has also created new competition and potential threats.

At the same time technology has improved the way we communicate (internet, blogging, collaborative workflow software, outsourcing, supply chain management, etc.), countries and individuals who have not previously been a part of the same market are now competing with each other in a more free and open world. Particularly interesting were some of the stories about work going to India and China where there are many people willing to work hard.

For the most part I think the thesis of this book was for Americans to be aware of the changes rapidly taking place so that we see the importance of working hard and continuing to learn so that we can still compete in the globally flat world.

My favorite chapter of the book was about education: The Right Stuff--Tubas and Test Tubes (page 308). This chapter focuses on the importance of learning how to learn so that we know how to continue to learn and progress in a quickly changing world. Passion and curiosity may be more important than IQ.

There are a lot of other interesting points he makes about how new technologies and convenience have changed the way we communicate with each other--we don't talk to the people around us as much because we can be always connected to anyone anywhere. Just as many people are using new technologies to collaborate on new and important business and research others are using the same tools to harm other individuals and nations. The world has become flat so quickly that no one really knows how to control or protect people from some of the potential problems.

Interesting thoughts. Good book. We really are all connected! Hopefully we'll prepare and use these opportunities for good!

I bought this book simply because of the title and my wish to view the bigger picture of what the world is going through but as I read the beginning pages my curiosity was stirred and my initial expectation of what the book would be about shaken. It makes a lot of sense, what the book suggests and how it builds shouldering theories on the flatness of the world and you begin to see signs that you ignored but that start to come full circle again. It is scary how economy works now and how services are the "new oil" of countries that we thought would be forever barren but it is also hopeful because it suggests that everyone and every country has an equal chance now of playing the field and scoring high. The competition is still there for sure and the rules of this game are different and we better be aware of the silver lining and the challenges or time will pass us by and we will look back to ourselves as nations and see that we are standing at the end of the world (pun-intended).

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.

(unabridged audiobook read by Oliver Wyman): This book, while a reasonably interesting discussion of globalization, is way too long and repetitive. I can summarize it in a few bullet points:

* Outsourcing grunt work saves money and frees up Americans to be innovative and specialized. It also improves the standard of living in the countries receiving the new jobs.
* The internet = teh awesome.
* Collaboration benefits everyone.
* OMG they have computers in Asia!
* Americans need to buckle down in science and math education or they will be left behind.
* Change is difficult but inevitable.
* Knowledge-based work is like an ice cream sundae.
* Sometimes companies in one country have employees in other countries, or they work with companies in other countries.
* Terrorists have access to the same technologies we do.
* The world is flat. The world is flat. The world is flat.

Okay, so maybe I'm being a tad flip. This was probably far more groundbreaking when it came out in 2004 and the off-shoring/outsourcing panic really started picking up speed. Though I didn't come away with any major new insights, I did enjoy a lot of the little nuggets of information, like the Indian school for untouchables and JetBlue's housewives in Utah. And there was certainly no shortage of anecdotes.

Basically, if you're new to the globalization game and want a general overview with lots of specific examples, this is a good book for you. However, if you're already reasonably familiar with just how multinational your average multinational corporation is, you might want to look for something more in depth.

One final note: the narrator was okay, but it was a little strange how he gave everyone he quoted a subtle Indian accent.

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 referring to Dell, the multi-national computer conglomerate. Whether or not you like Dell, you have to admit that their supply chain and usage of technology to get your computer order taken, assembled, and shipped is amazing. (For details on this supply chain, see pages 414 - 419 in the book.)

“No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell’s, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain. Because people embedded in major global supply chains don’t want to fight old-time wars anymore. They want to make just-in-time deliveries of goods and services — and enjoy the rising standards of living that come with that.” — The World Is Flat, p. 421

He translates participation in what I would call “ultra-capitalism” as a so-called “cure” for war mongering. Ha! But I admit, it does certainly make sense.

It is an excellent book. Anyone who is involved in anything having to do with technology today should certainly read it. And for anyone else, it is a good insight into how quickly the world is changing, right under everyone’s noses.

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.

tSure, 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.

tTo 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.

tNone 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.

tFor 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.

tI 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.

tStill, 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.

عندما يحاول فريدمان إقناعك بأن مساوئ الرأسمالية ليست إلا فضائل

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.

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. :)