Awesome book to read! While I absolutely do not agree with some of his assessments of President Bush & 9/11, he makes some very valid and interesting points about world economics, politics, and humanity.

Friedman discusses the role of globalization and how the digitization of knowledge has flattened the world. He points out that outsourcing is not the root of all evil and that we need to step up our game to participate in the global market.

Why I picked it up: It was on the Army's Recommended reading list for 2011. Best of all it was an audiobook.

Why I finished it: Engaging, intelligent, humorous and hopeful this is an inspiring look at globalization and it's consequences. I will definitely be reading (or listening) to Friedman's other books.

Saya menelusuri kampung halaman saya lagi seperti Thomas Friedman menelusuri negara India pada saat menulis salah satu buku terbaiknya ini.

Saya diundang ke kebun durian tulang saya, sebuah kebun di bawah kaki gunung Martimbang puluhan kilometer dari kota kabupaten. Baru sekitar tahun 2010an kendaraan bisa dengan mulus masuk ke kebun durian yang bersisian langsung dengan hutan lebat ini, tanah yang diperkeras. Pada tumpukan daun-daun kering di pokok durian itulah saya menemukan plastik kemasan berlogo Indomaret terbuang di sana. Perusahaan nasional itu masuk menerobos lebatnya hutan durian itu. Tak perlu terpaku lama, perusahaan-perusahaan internasional ikut menyeruak masuk di keheningan : kotak Dunkin Donuts, jejak lumpur ban Bridgestone, suara mesin pabrikan otomotif Daihatsu, kaleng-kaleng hitam AHM Oil dan bunyi telepon genggam bermerek Samsung, Blackberry dan Acer. Betapa gencarnya merek-merek itu memenuhi hutan kecil berbau tajam ini, ia hanya tegak tak sanggup melawan.

Dunia telah menjadi datar kembali seperti saat sebelum Colombus menjelajah Amerika. Dunia saat ini hanya sedatar layar laptop atau gadget kita. Pada beberapa detik yang kita butuhkan untuk sekali tarikan nafas, ribuan transaksi dan pertukaran data beterbangan di sekitar kita, melintasi kota, negara dan benua. Kekuatan era digital telah merasuk dalam ke dalam kehidupan sehari-hari kita. Dari hal yang sangat sederhana seperti meng-update status laman media sosial, mengunduh data (music, video, buku dan lain-lain) sampai transaksi keuangan yang rumit antar negara antar mata uang. Kita bisa membeli barang apa saja dari tempat tidur kita, memesan makanan dari telepon atau membaca berita tentang kejadian yang baru saja terjadi di negara lain yang jaraknya ribuan kilometer. Merek-merek negara lain bertebaran dimana-mana melampaui kemampuan manusia menjelajah dunia ini. Friedman menjabarkan 10 kekuatan besar yang mengubah dunia ini menjadi semakin dinamis. Semua bergerak cepat, semua cepat berubah, semuanya cepat menjadi using. Seperti manifesto tokoh-tokoh komunis dunia “Segala bentukan baru akan menjadi usang sebelum sempat berakar. Semua yang padat menguap, semua yang suci direndahkan dan akhirnya manusia dipaksa menghadapi kenyataan hidup maupun relasinya dengan sesama dengan kesadaran indra”.

“Jangan membuang makananmu.! Di India dan Cina banyak orang yang tidak makan.” Itu ucapan orangtua jaman dulu. Dan sekarang lihatlah.! Cina menjadi negara dengan kekuatan ekonomi dan militer raksasa dunia, miliaran kepala manusia berpikir menciptakan atau menjiplak produk-produk yang dijual di dunia, perusahaan-perusahaan raksasa tumbuh disana. India menjadi salah satu negara dengan perkembangan bidang informasi teknologi terbaik di Asia. Sekitar 245.000 orang India yang menjawab telepon dari seluruh dunia atau memutar nomor telepon untuk menawarkan kartu kredit, telepon seluler ataupun menagih tunggakan. India melahirkan generasi Zippies, generasi dengan kesetaraan gender,penuh pendirian, ambisi dan aspirasi. Tenang, mantap dan kreatif. Dunia berubah cepat melalui globalisasi, sebagian menjadi pelaku dan sebagian menjadi penonton. Perubahan memang berat. Perubahan terasa paling berat bagi mereka yang tidak siap dan tidak bisa berubah, Adakah bagian dunia ini yang tak tersentuh kemajuan jaman.?

Globalisasi tidak hanya menggilas negara-negara dunia ketiga. Bahkan Amerika Serikat perlu merasa kuatir dengan aliran-aliran dana, data, pengetahuan bahkan pekerjaan ke negara-negara lain. Demi efisiensi finansial dan waktu, berbagai pekerjaan di-outsource ke negara-negara berkembang mulai dari operator telepon, penyusunan laporan keuangan, pemeriksaan laporan pajak sampai berbagai desain rumit gedung-gedung dan alat tempur. Dan kekuatan utama untuk dapat bertahan adalah mampu berubah dan beradaptasi secepat mungkin.

Dunia memang sudah berubah datar dan orang-orang yang menentang pola pikir ini akan terlibas atau menjadi sekedar penonton. Dimanakah Anda saat dunia menjadi semakin datar.?

Can it really be almost two years since I read, and re-read, and re-read this book? It was an eye-opener, to say the least! The author is a famous columnist whom I don't always agree with. However, that doesn't stop me from reading his columns or his wildly successful books. I believe that it's a good idea to consider all solid points of view so that I can make up my own mind with the best information.
This book was by far the best book on the history of Silicon Valley and the impact our technology has brought to the world. I. Had. No. Real. Idea. What? Walmart's doing what? Dell? That's how Dell does it? What? Collaboration with experts in China, India, Canada, etc. for my little businesses here in California? OK!
Once I got over the shock and began applying the facts to my own life, I found that this is THE top book of must-reads to understand business and life in the 21st century.

Although I had planned to read this book for a while, it took a meeting of a book club to actually get me through it. The main idea (the world in which business operates today is radically different thanks to technology) could have been presented in much less space, but some of the details of how that is so are so interesting, it's almost worth dragging yourself all the way through the book. (I thought Chapter Two would never end.) For example, the section of chapter 2 on Walmart is fascinating. I also appreciated the central chapters on education, and those chapters contain one of my favorite statements: In China Bill Gates is their Brittany Spears while in the USA Britany Spears is our Brittany Spears. Scary if it's true, this book gives its American readers lots to worry about.

I was late in reading this one. It's been around for awhile but just recently showed up on the library shelf.

The World is Flat provided a perspective on technology that I had not considered. Friedman makes interesting, and sometimes disturbing, points about how burgeoning technology affects education, business and the geo-political world. The original book is 5 years old and was written in the dark ages compared to the technology that is available to us today.

However his theories hold up. A case in point is the election protests in Iran, organized via Twitter and the Internet.

As Friedman points out - technology is here to stay. How we deal with it determines our individual and collective success or failure in the future.

One of the pieces of trash that I had read long back during the IT days and had forgotten to add here. Some neo-liberal propaganda somewhere reminded me of this book that should not have existed, like the loony who wrote this. Rating it one because goodreads does not let you give a zero or negative rating.

A strong argument in favor of globalization. As Friedman points out in a later chapter, the question is not whether or not we should globalize, it is how we should globalize. The "flattening of the world" that he mentions again and again refers to the recent ease of which people, companies, and nations can collaborate with those on the other side of the planet. Friedman believes this change has had and will continue to have a huge impact on the world, akin to the industrial revolution. Yes, many people will get hurt. Some jobs will become obsolete and others will get shipped off to places where they can get done cheaper and faster. But there will be new jobs as well, he argues, for those who can quickly adapt to this new "flat world."

The book is very long. My only complaints are that he overuses the "world is flat" metaphor (like he was trying to force it those words into mainstream language) and that sometimes he uses too many similar anecdotes to get his point across. Overall it was a great, thought-provoking read.

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.

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.

It provides the vision of 21th century where technology can flatten all the barriers of language, distance and timezone etc. I think in some way it is genuine, but I'm not entirely persuaded.

Everything looks like a science fiction, the author envisioned what the world will be based on the trends of technology, but he didn't show any statistics to prove his points. Nevertheless, it is a very good viewpoint the human being has been approaching and actually it lifted the limit of my imagination 5 years ago.

There's a TED video tells things against this book: Why the World actually isn't flat http://www.ted.com/talks/pankaj_ghema...

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

These are my quick thoughts:

1. Even though the trends remain the same, it is amazing how dated this book has become just 2 years after it was published due to the global financial crisis and the continued advancement of technology. I think Friedman should write an updated version and instead of calling it The World is Flat he should call it The World is Fu**ed.

2. The book is probably 300 pages too long (I read the expanded and revised version), but it is a relatively quick read. Once you get his thesis (which doesn't take too long) you can breeze through the rest. Though Friedman is an engaging enough writer to keep your interest, there is a lot of redundancy.

3. If you are in the anti-progress, anti-science republican party, this may be a tough read, but it is very fair, give it a chance, even if Friedman does gloss over some of the not so good parts of China and India.

4. Friedman is the best journalist on the Middle East and the sections where he touches upon how technology and government innovation (or lack of) have effected the Middle East are among the most interesting.

5. You don't need to be interested in business to be interested in this book. It goes beyond business. Friedman is really talking about huge cultural shifts that are occuring which are leading to the US losing it's place as the world leader.