This is an important book, I wanted to give it 5 stars but couldn't because it was so ineffectively written, where was the editor?? It had so many important ideas but they were lost in the never-ending, 635 pages full of anecdotes, personal friend's opinions and in general, just full of himself view. As if Friedman himself was somehow the center of globalization. The first 200 pages of the 10 flatteners, could have been done in 20.
That being said, he raised countless important arguments, things everyone today needs to be thinking very seriously about, which is why it made me so angry that he didn't do it in half the pages with much less self indulgence. Although this edition is from 2007, it is hopelessly outdated on the technology front, but advances since then actually makes most of his conclusions more insightful and valuable. For example his predictions of technology becoming ever more personal, mobile and virtual based on the Palm Pilots of the day, and of people becoming ever more addicted to their technology, have truly been borne out in the age of iPhones.
Where he really dares to take a stand, and where again his predictive power is almost uncanny, is the Arab-Muslim world, its relationship to globalization and the future of terrorism. Skipping all pretence of being politically correct, he goes right to the point: the authoritarian Arab regimes and Islam itself, are wired against the openness, tolerance and collaboration required for reaping the benefits of globalization. The frustration and profound humilation young Arab Muslims feel at the fact that now everyone in the world can see where everyone stands vis-a-vis others and specifically, can now see how backwards the most repressive Arab countries are. Young Arab men and women, can simply not have the freedom of thought, expression and opportunity that many others enjoy. This creates a massive cognitive dissonance with their belief in having a superior religion and a grand past: how can a country they once ruled (Spain) today have a larger GDP than all 22 Arab states combined? The problem is that they want the the power that free inquiry confers, without the free inquiry, they want neither to abandon their religion nor remain forever in the rear of human technical advance. Intractable dilemnas breed anger and lashing out, some in the form of terrorism. Friedman correctly points out that terriorism is spawned by the poverty of dignity, not the poverty of money, the humiliation is the key.
I also really appreciated the parenting part, how to raise kids in an ever more competitive, global world. Only 4 pages long, this is important stuff. "There comes a time when you've got to put away the Game Boys, turn off the television, shut off the iPod, and get your kids down to work" Referring to the growing cancer in America of entitlement, that delayed gratification is an unacceptable punishment, that our kids should face nothing bad or disappointing or stressful, he lays blame squarely where it belongs: parents. Education is not just about cognitive skills, it is about building character. Finally, he strongly argues how the weak, damaging political U.S. leadership post-9/11, has never quite called upon the nation to make a sacrifice for something important, be it kid's education or inventing the future through science and technology, especially of the green kind to face one of the main challenges of globalization: tens of millions of new middle class members wanted a car, a frig and an air conditioner. This is not a test. Only one planet. As an American who left the States before 9/11, I also appreciated one of his final points: As much as Eurpeans and others laugh at Americans for their optimism and naivety, the truth is the world needs what America exports: hope, not fear; dreams not memories. May it remain optimist and naive!
Lots to think about, a real thought provoker...

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.

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.

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This book should be required reading for everyone. Friedman's political leaning is obvious (which may be off-putting to some), but his many flat-world examples are impossible to ignore. At the very least, people should be discussing the educational changes needed to help us all compete.

The premise is that due in large part to technology the world is becoming flatter.  Thomas Friedman clearly thinks this is a great thing with very few drawbacks. In fact, he doesn't address any drawback except in passing (other than the random aside that terrorists can use the Internet to network too) until the penultimate chapter.

This is clearly meant to be a book about how globalization affects the individual. Friedman tries to show this by sharing anecdotes and interviews but nearly every single person he talks to and every story he shares is about a founder or head of a company and the few that aren't deal with people who are no more than 3 levels from the top of the company. Hardly "everyman." The book has a lot to say about what CEOs and entrepreneurs can do to stay competitive (mainly keep innovating, not exactly a new idea) but there is very little about what the rest of us can do besides "continue to try to make ourselves employable."

He proposes that companies make sure their employees are employable and in return employees give their loyalty. This seems unrealistic given today’s business climate.

He views the Internet as a great leveling force, but mentions the censorship in China only in passing and doesn’t discuss how it affects his theory. I believe he thinks the situation is temporary but as major companies seem happy to cooperate with filtering, I don't see change in the near future.

Friedman is also very big on the idea of globalization as an economic equalizer. He goes on at length about how it's a force for good because it dramatically raises the standard of living in developing nations, particularly India, but it isn't until the penultimate chapter that he admits that's only true for about 2% of India's population. And while he's busy talking about what a great opportunity it is in terms of income and how Indians no longer have to emigrate to have a much improved standard of living and that even those abroad can have access to hometown newspapers ,etc. he doesn't seem to realize the contradiction when he mentions a man who started an elementary school for India's Untouchable class, hoping to prove that with the right education they can be just like the higher castes but who then must to move elsewhere after they are educated because their last name reveals their caste. While he was trying to argue that the Internet will eventually bring more income equality it seemed to me that it made the rich richer and the poor were still left behind. (And never a word about the exponential difference between CEOs and the lowest paid employee). It’s good that high caste Indians have a better standard of living but we're still seeing the standards improve for the people at the top and not much change for everyone else.

He talks about Wal-Mart’s "just in time" model of business and in his penultimate chapter he does address some of the problems. A global supply chain can be decimated by war, disease, or natural disaster and if things are only delivered "just in time" companies can be completely screwed. The advantage of this is that it makes countries think twice about going to war (specifically countries like India/Pakistan and China/Taiwan) because they know if they screw up the global supply chain companies will be extremely wary of ever investing in that country again. But Friedman extols the virtues of Wal-Mart's use of RFID technology without mentioning the concerns of privacy advocates.

I think one of Friedman's biggest failings is that so much of the book is about the Internet as a great equalizer and there is not one word about Net Neutrality. The book was updated, revised and re released in April of 2006 so Net Neutrality was a known issue.

Having said all of that, the book was still an interesting read. I learned a lot of random things about various companies.

I don't remember this too well but I do remember thinking that Friedman leaves the impression that the market will fix everything and these are lovely times to be alive, both of which struck me as hopelessly naive when I read this and now seem more so when faced with our current state if ecological catastrophe.

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.

Repetitive. Just read the dust jacket. Globalization is leveling the playing field. Example, repeat catch phrase, rinse.

I couldn't disagree more with the author's political viewpoint, but this book is a good explanation of how and why the world market is becoming what it is, as well as a facinating contrast between emerging countries is eastern Asia and socialist western Europe.

It's been a while so I'll try to recall what I told people at the time.

Some interesting points about globalization but a lot of mildly inaccurate generalizations about history, technology, and Friedman takes an annoying tone at times. Still the basic premise of the book is insightful and highly readable. There are also some lectures on the subject of this book available on iTunes that Friedman gave at MIT.

This book came out when I had already covered Silicon Valley as a journalist and author for several years. He states his thesis in the intro, which struck me as rather obvious.

Learned nothing from the rest of his book. In fact, saw a great deal of plagiarism from other books I'd read and authors I know. That's Friedman's reputation. He comes out a year late with his ideas, which he has borrowed from many others already.

Then he'd go on TV and talk to the clueless Charlie Rose

I'd like to recommend this book to every American under 35 years old, but I can't. They won't read it. Why? It's a 300-page book crammed into 635 pages.

Friedman had all sorts of good ideas--important stuff--but he's so busy patting himself on the back, telling us what he's going to tell us (or has already told us) and bashing Bush that he just rambles on and on.

Reporters are supposed to give readers the essentials plus enough facts to make the story real and enough anecdotes to make it immediate. The World is Flat reads as if it was out-sourced to one of those Indian call centers Friedman warns us wants our jobs. Too bad he didn't; the Indians might have done a better job.