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 deal. Though I can't speak for the second half of the book, he does an excellent job of telling the stories of Wal-Mart, of outsourcing in India, of China's rise, and so on. Because I work in the administrative side of higher education, I was especially appreciative of his perspective on the growing global competitiveness in education and the American educational failures that are only just beginning to show their effects. He has a real talent for taking all these stories out of their silos and blending them together to paint an exhaustingly comprehensive picture of globalization.

Be warned: Friedman very obviously knows he's a talented writer and decides that gives him license to write a 600 plus page book that could have been 350. He inserts hundreds of personal anecdotes that quickly wore on my patience, especially the dozen or so where he feels the need to remind us repeatedly that his daughter Orly went to Yale (the fact that I remember her name tells you how many times it was mentioned). He also delights in cheesy, italicized repetitions of lines from his many interviews as well as painfully corny metaphors.

I realize I've spent more of this review on process rather than product, but that's what is a real shame about this book. In theory, I think this is a must-read. In practice, I commend anyone who makes it all the way through. The all-important content suffers too much from Friedman's often irritating and always lengthy prose.

I found this book amazing to highlight the globalization effect on the economics, companies and industries. It elaborates well how everyone is being competing with anyone in the world regardless of geographical distance between, which gives a red alarm for countries & companies who don't take the benefits of such competing to be competing in the future :)

I'll be honest. This book took ages to complete but trust me every minute of it was worth it. It's an exceptionally written treatise on changing world. It's not like that everything will be new to you in this book, there'll be a lot of things that you notice or use in your quotidian life but the representation of the logic that goes behind that object or activity explained is breathtaking. Anyone who's curious about what has happened in the world in 21st century(especially since the advent of internet) or want to understand the generation gap or wants to take a glimpse of how the world's going to turn out in future, this is the tome to lift:):)

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 attempts to curb such practices will be ultimately fruitless and could actually hurt the chances for stabilizing democracies worldwide. Regardless of whether you agree with his arguments, you definitely come away from this book thinking: (1) holy crap why didn’t I major in Math or Engineering?; (2) holy crap my kids better major in Math or Engineering; and (3) holy crap if our schools don’t start getting better at teaching Math and Engineering, America is going to need to find itself a nice big Indian sugar-daddy.

After the first 150 pages I said "Too few ideas in so maaany pages..."
Well, I've finally read the whole 650 pages and the book is good, there are more than a few ideas, and almost all very good ones.
Still the book is a little too long for the amount of payload it carries.

A work of monolithic proportion. Carefully researched, addressing some of the most pressing issues of the day, this book should be on the night stand of every aspiring CEO.
The author (three times Pulitzer Prize winner) takes the comparative approach to structure and never fails to keep the readers busy with questions of strategic, technological and political importance. (A quick glimpse of the index is enough to give one a head-spin). For example, consider the `triple convergence' factor for building a successful business (have you ever heard about it?) or how about such notions as `outsourcing', `in-sourcing', `global supply chain'. Executives will reap the benefits from the countless examples of successful decision-making strategies implemented at top companies like UPS, Wal-Mart, JetBlu, and Yahoo. Even if you are not a fan of the business genre, you'll find something beneficial in this work. (take a chance for a change). Fully developed, carefully constructed and extremely interesting, this book should be a required reading for all intellectual readers (especially MBA students, business executives and high-rank political figures).

This book is neither brief nor a comprehensive history; it’s simply a dated and uninspiring book that no longer offers anything profound, interesting, or informative. If it’s still on your to-read list, do yourself a favor and remove it.

The book oversimplifies key issues and fails to address the complexities and inequalities that globalization often creates. Friedman relies heavily on anecdotal evidence, with little critical analysis of the negative impacts of a globalized economy. He presents a vision of a “level playing field,” but ignores how economic disparities and power imbalances persist—or even deepen—in a globalized world. His claim that natural talent now trumps geography, making it better to be a genius in a developing country than an average person in a developed one, is simply false. The quality of life for the “average guy” in a first-world country is still far superior, and in the job market, it’s the graduate from a well-established university in the developed world who will land the interview, not the “genius” from a top university in a developing nation.

Moreover, much of the book is excessively detailed, dry, and irrelevant today. Friedman spends countless pages praising Walmart, as if it were still a shining example of innovation, yet in the current era, the company is hardly at the forefront of anyone’s mind. In addition, his constant self-insertion into the narrative is also tiresome and distracting. The book also essentially revolves around the U.S., China, and India, while the responses of other nations to globalization are largely ignored.

Ultimately, this book feels like a time capsule from the mid-2000s: outdated, overly simplistic, and, frankly, a waste of time.

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.

For people who want to be up to date with the globalization and constant change that our world is undergoing currently, then look no further than this book. Many countries, such as China and India, who were once not in the same playing field as America in terms of economy and prosperity, are now beginning to rise to the top. This book discusses how this has been achieved and what to expect in the future.(75) In America outsourcing has become a major tactic for many businesses, especially with the big names like Microsoft, Dell, IBM, and WalMart. One of the most fascinating things I have read in this book was when Thomas Friedman describes the customer service buildings in India. A man having trouble with his computer during the day in America is connected to a man or women in India that is working at night. The incredible thing is that these people make up names that correlate to the region they are helping to make the customer feel more at home. This is a must read for those who want to stay in touch with current events and to those who want to learn about a truly unique time in world history.

This is extremely applicable to today with Trump’s terrible protectionist agenda. It’s also incredibly important reading to understand the current companies that impact our economy and globalization. It should be constantly updated as companies compete and grow, or get phased out.

It describes the positive effects of globalization, but you can see how we are now digressing worldwide after reading this. The positivity is high here, but it’s digressed a lot since this was published. My mindset was focused on comparing his message to today’s political mess.

India is discussed quite a bit to start, and with good reason. They are a perfect example of the positive impacts of globalization. It’s a country just waiting to explode with potential. The other is China, whom is realizing their potential and pushing very aggressively to grow their economy, and essentially be the global leader. In regards to today, China has the upper hand. Setting tariffs on China for a supposed “equal” playing field for steel will make goods more expensive here as they participate in the trade war. People have no idea how good they have it to be able to buy cheap daily goods made over seas. Lower consumer spending means less extra money for saving. This means less houses being bought. And we are in the middle of raising interest rates. Idiotic. The book describes that we should be letting China make out cheap goods so companies in the US can focus on being more competitive than spending capital and effort on cheap goods.

It literally states that if America wants to stay ahead they need to continually run faster than the lion, which is China. Now with Trump’s idiot agenda, we are handicapping ourselves with our own stupidity. China will spring forward and take advantage, without question or hesitance.

Next section on Walmart seems dated. Yes they were amazing at the time to help flatten the world, but Amazon is now kicking their butt and forcing them to change. Amazon is not only beating them at their own game but they are extending into industries Walmart never touched, like Prime membership and delivering your goods to your door. They have their own aircraft fleet of 767s; now that’s dedication to supply chain AND delivery. UPS is also discussed but again Amazon is taking over multiple businesses doing the flattening. They are consolidating the level playing field.

Google is the democratization of information, which is better for the world to be informed but nowadays it seems people only search and absorb information or opinions that favor their beliefs. We need a democratization of the mind.

Next are the “steroids”, the power that enables the growth of the playing field; computing power, free phone calls, and video conferencing. These will eventually be free and computing power will grow exponentially. He ends with being blown away by Rolls Royce tracking their engine performance on a 777. Too bad they have the crappiest performing engines. Boeing tracks this real time and has to chase Rolls during issues. I digress.

The triple convergence talks about India and they can now perform outsourced work just as well as produced in America. I agree, for certain areas of India and for certain simple products. I however have experienced first hand the negative impacts of outsourcing, especially for complicated products. I agree that India may have good engineers, but not all countries have good engineering knowledge and work ethic. Outsourcing all over the world is not good. Specific and constraint based complex products should be done in house and the companies that are able should continue their support on simpler products. If they have a great work ethic and talent to boot, then they likely could perform the work. But until that company decides that making a profit is more important than supporting the customer, then outsourcing doesn’t look so good. Product quality for the customer takes a back seat. Their lies another issue.
Also, you can end up losing valuable intellectual property which can be turned against or sold against your company. So I understand outsourcing is good from India’s perspective, but I want hear from the American CEO on it. So I only half agree with Friedman’s one sided report.

Though, he did discuss Boeing using Russian engineers for design work, which is still used today. And also the 787 being outsourced to many different countries, but it’s 2018, and the lessons from that over outsourcing have been realized....too much was a big mistake.

Part two begins with what I was looking for, the argument against protectionism. Which assumes that no inventions and business innovation will ever occur, so we must protect our jobs from foreign countries. Hogwash! Americans should be ready to compete and educate themselves. This requires funding toward educational reform, a focus on math and science. Jobs won’t go away, new ones will develop, and there will always be a need for personnel. It’s foolish to live in fear of progress; it’s exciting.
Page 315 actually states that so far America has not succumb to economic protectionists who want to put up walls to keep jobs in. Unbelievable how predictable ignorance is. We must remain free and open to succeed. It’s how America became so strong all these years. But alas, we will wake up.

The Quiet Crisis is an important chapter. Education focus is falling in America. It’s very apparent in 2004, but now with Trump and protectionism garbage, it’s about to get much worse. He appointed Betsy Davos as education secretary whom has zero experience apparently as a favor since she is a top Republican donor. This tells you up front he doesn’t give a shit about education. Other countries, like China and India, are catching up and already are out pacing us in academic achievement. If these countries are able to stabilize their political environments, they will not only replace the dollar as the worldwide safe haven, but they will pass us in innovation. America will become a second tier country that will then need to catch up. Unfortunately right now, no one is fighting for education as a top need in our government.

He nails it on the chapters about America’s issues and how to save it. China and India are closing in. We only will destroy ourselves if we do not continue to push for more. We should not be closing our walls to protect simple jobs, but rather opening up and pushing for innovation and higher education. It’s extremely evident the bad state we are in with teachers striking for equal pay across the US. It’s pretty clear we don’t care enough. It’s unbelievable so many good people decide to become teachers knowing its low pay. There are many fighting for our future.

Also, I’ve noticed that macroeconomics is very similar to how a properly run corporation should operate. Invest in the future, don’t become complacent, motivate and train your employees constantly. Just a side thought.

The end chapters on the risks known regarding globalization are interesting. Spreading disease easily is a major concern and requires all countries to work together during a crisis. What is also great is the part on the types of populist groups that emerge and protest against being global. There are five types of groups listed, and I would like to know what Friedman thinks now about Trump supporters, as they are wide ranging in their modified beliefs.
One portion of the book about why terrorists act in extreme fashion is due to humiliation. They feel humiliated in some way and act out in an explosive manner toward others. Now, I don’t want to say Trump supporters are terrorists, but they do seem to have a common trait of someone who may have been humiliated in a way and feel they need to act out to others, and Trump is exactly that type of crazy person whom is acting out toward American society. They absolutely love who he is and his insanity, simply because he causes panic and chaos. And there are different levels of this, some extreme and some suttle, just enough to vote for him. Facebook sure as shit enabled this with their support of providing user data and allowing of propaganda ads.

The chapter on conflict prevention is particularly important as well from the WTO perspective. Countries are less apt to go to war if global supply chains are embedded into their economies. What does protectionism enable? I think we know that answer.

But he also then talks about the dangers of propaganda on the internet. Unbelievable the concerns described in this book that are being utilized today. “The internet is more likely to transmit irrationality than rationality.” Today, it’s the Russians. “You download the precise point of view that speaks to all your own biases.”

This book is a bit dated, but that just goes to show you how fast our economy can change. I can appreciate his excitement for globalization and the advantages that go with it. We must continually be adaptable. Protectionism is paranoia. Paranoia is regression. That is not the American spirit.

I’d like to see Friendman continue to expand and update on the spirit of this theme. There is much more out there to show the positive effects of globalization. I focused more on how the message of this book applied to today’s buffoonery in the White House. Very applicable book that seems to somewhat predict what is happening today by simply identifying the risks of not being more global. His conclusion warns of our biggest risks: protectionism, walling ourselves off from the world and living in fear. All too relatable; and apparently was predictable.

Great recommendation Dad!

The flat piece of work was further flattened by the fact that Thomas Friedman thinks to think that his readers' brains are as flat as his metaphor. It's not a particularly complicated concept, but Friedman seems to feel the need to drive it home at least once on every single page. Methinks that the only thing Friedman loves more than his own intellect (any maybe his moustache) is his flat metaphor.

Flatty flatty flat flat flatness flatocity flaticity....

P.S. Flat.

As of December 14,

I started reading this novel by Thomas Friedman sometime last week. My hopes from reading this were to basically gain a coherent understanding of how the ideas of success and business are now becoming more commonplace around the world. The beginning of the book details the founding and establishment of InfoSys, a technology solutions company based in Bangalore, India. One of the founders tells Friedman about his experiences and how he came from, essentially, nothing to create this growing tech empire. So far, I would imagine it to be a difficult read for those uninterested in the subject, but I rather enjoy reading such books. So far so good.


As of February 8,

In this portion of the book, Friedman narrates different eras of globalization which include the Triangle Trade routes in the 16th century and even the Silk Road. Through these examples, he explains the process of information exchange and the effect it has on businesses to perform various duties from remote locations. So far, this book has been very fascinating and provided a new perspective on understanding how the world works. Stay tuned for more!

As of February 11,

This next chapter provided several historical instances of what Friedman believes are the ten influencing factors that led to globalization and world flattening. These include events such as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, outsourcing eras, and the establishment of Netscape. This section is truly interesting as it provides a unique and generally ignored perspective on the effects of these sorts of historical examples. Friedman continues to impress and prove his thesis that the playing field for all on this Earth may be becoming increasingly level. Stay tuned, folks!

As of February 20,

Friedman begins this chapter by acknowledging the fact that these factors listed previously are not the sole reason of the world's flattening. Friedman explains that as each of the factors came together, they had to spread and take root to create the environment rich for flattening. He credits politics and technological advancements, in general, for these results. What I mainly took away from this chapter is the fact that Friedman is able to understand his limitations and add on to his argument with more facts and examples. I feel that gives him more credibility, resulting in a more effective argument. Let's see how he continues.

As of February 26,

Friedman starts this section of the book by exploring foreign students, looking to work in America. He strongly notes that this is one of he first times in history where we see that talent has become more important than geography in determining a person’s opportunity in life. Friedman also discusses how the idea of outsourcing has contributed to this as several companies, such as Boeing Jets, in allowing for more skilled workers in more diverse locations. Through these examples, Friedman demonstrates the need for individuals and businesses to be able to compete in a global marketplace. These chapters are starting to develop a more modern global aspect to his argument; an ingenious strategy to laying out his plans, if I do say so myself.

As of March 14,

This next portion of the novel dives into some ethical situations. Going off his point of outsourcing in the previous section, Friedman discusses with several theorists whether this expansion of both labor and opportunity can lead to exploitation and corruption. He cites the 2003 Indian-Indiana issue to exemplify his contention. In this story, an Indiana company made the decision to outsource its workforce to India because of a need to upgrade their unemployment system, essentially taking work from Americans and giving them to Indians. Additionally, Friedman compares the ethics in terms of how the workforce is treated and viewed in developing, on-the-rise countries. Friedman's consideration for a new, more subjective argument allows for a unique, yet slightly jarring new perspective on the world today. We'll see how it all pans out, I suppose.

As of March 31,

Thanks to the "incentives" from Mr. Herring, I determined to increase the pace at which I read this very informative piece. This next large chunk of the book focused on the idea of globalization of course, but in a collaborative sense. Friedman argues that "the most disruptive force of all" is the act of uploading and sharing information via the internet. He cites several examples of services and companies that have following in this trend and encouraged this global cooperation such as open source development, blogs, wikis, and especially social media. Friedman asserts that these tools are expanding to more developing countries and economies, leading to more shared knowledge in the world today. This section was truly appealing as Friedman discusses tools that we, in a 1st world country, consider omnipresent and, possibly superfluous, but that, in the right manner, can create definite change and resolve conflict in the world today as more and more people are connected.

As of April 16th,

Well over spring break and this past week, I managed to crank out the last 400 or so pages of this book, and instead of reviewing all the chapter I have read, I am simply and briefly going to evaluate the relevance and quality of Friedman's assertion. So throughout the novel, Friedman is asserting the claim that the world's economic "playing field" is leveling, due to many factors such as globalization and technological advancements. This evidence holds very true in our day and age as we do see more and more great minds emerge from several third world countries. Additionally, Friedman cites several examples of tech advancements throughout history (most of which are discussed above) to prove his point. To keep it short, Friedman's argument is essentially rock-solid with abundant proof and brilliant analysis. The only issue I could possibly find is where he strayed off the path of the "debate" and began narrating examples of stories that hardly mattered and were almost seemed to "fluff" the true conditions of certain areas, such as how throughout the novel, he only describes an India that is a technological powerhouse and a rising world power, without addressing its corruption and poverty. Other than that, however, this was a fantastic read that truly provides a new perspective and outlook on our world.
Til next time,


Prakrit Shukla