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

THE WORLD IS FLAT, it cost Rs.500 in India

fact loaded book, so much information compressed into short digestible clips. The information is about the changes which occurred with the advent of Internet, what changes Software developers had to make, what changes Business houses had to face, redesigning their traditional run companies into modern global world companies. The many opportunities provided to multinational companies with the broadband connectivity of INDIA and CHINA and other parts of the world.

This book is a first person narrative, it is like reading a report, there is lot of care taken to give as much background of all the major leading concepts of remodeling of already prevailing business and the new startups,the bust and boom days of internet. Maya Gorman is the assistant who deserves credit to arrange facts from so many diverse sources used to compile this wonderful informative business book. What Thomas L.Friedman did was stitch with his insight all information gathered by his assistant into chapters and sub-headings of cohesive attractive and interesting look at new things in business today. This book converted nicely small stories of so many surviving companies into saleable commercial gripping narrative.

Journalist and book writer is Mr.Friedman, he has keen sense of word flow and good grasp of technical facts and details, he converts supply chain network of Wal-Mart into a very grand story like narrative and grips his readers firmly with his constant words asking us to visualize and think and generate a torrent of ideas in the bargain come flooding to us. I was kept glued till the completion of my reading in 3 days, because the pace do not let up, as many things presented well are quiet readable, specially all parts where the writer is discussing BUSINESS is very running, innovative and forcing us to look at the evolving frontiers of business in the new world. Multinationals, multi-synergies, outsourcing, insourcing, globalization are all watch words of this book presented explicitly well.

Me being a keen chaser of lucre (money)enjoyed reading all of it, it opens up our eyes and mind and generates ideas well, I enjoyed all this, I don’t say this book is a must for all who hold decision making positions in business companies, but this book is a must for everyone who are fascinated with INTERNET and what it is doing today and what potential it can have in itself.

This book will open eyes to new way of thinking and doing things, this book will help in understanding days to come in future business world, it has lot of useful tid-bits, all assembled about top business houses, like Jetblue, HP, Rolls Royce, GM, GE, Microsoft, Walt-Mart, I will not give all the names of people and companies, but I must say this book is very useful TODAY, TOMORROW, DAY AFTER TOMORROW.

I hate sermons, specially when I am paying for them, after all I am paying money to make this book a successful publication, but I concede the sermons were short in this book, they were not lengthy and dragging, its not much sweat lost, but there is a attempt to bring a few topics in this book which are not researched well, rumors are printed as facts, there are some places attempts are to spoon feed readers into accepting the writers point of view. Anyway we have all our own shortcomings, we can ignore it in view general beneficial things this book contains.

Economics of this book is there are more benefits to be derived from it than some loose points. Any work of we feeble humans always has loose ends, the big picture should be always in sight, the English is very nice and crispy, there are flowing sentences running like smooth currents with special care given to explain and use all the latest net worthy terminology. The language is very contemporary and hence interesting to read.

My mention of Maya Gorman is very important, as much work in this book was done in gathering real information and blended well by narrative of Mr.Friedman, there is a immense load of information very useable and real we get from this book, to gather all that information is not a mean task, the profits are large if we learn to use this information constructively.

Now that we have analyzed briefly the usability of this book with its content, lets also see if this book is worthy to be stored in our personal library, I know it is a valuable asset, every library must have this book because it can be used as a reference work for many students who are in search of information. This book is fantastic as a reference material for many days in our future world.

Yo information stitched correctly will take a very useful shape always !!!

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.

I loved this book. I had bought it for a class and due to the speed of which I had to read it for class I bought the audiobook too, so I could listen to it in my car during the commute. This is an awesome book. I really enjoyed it and recommend it.

I work in a multi-national, multi-cultural environment and I wouldn't have it any other way. People need to adapt to this type of work environment and for that they need to put aside any prejudice they have and treat people like they live next door, while respecting the religion and culture of the people they work with. Never before has it been more important for people to learn about the various cultures of the world.

There are some people in the world who are born cynic. They are too fussy about everything they are (most often NOT) expected to express views on. They can give an hour lecture on the emptiness of a half-filled glass and still won't be tired of it.

Now, there is another category of men, who are exactly opposite of them. They are more than required positive. The half filled glass looks to them as a lake of chilled coconut milk. They are at awe at everything and talk excitedly exaggerating everything that cuts their view. I don't know what you call them. Born appreciator? Whatever! I think you got the point.

Many business people fall into this category. No No. Not the salesmen. They just appear like those. But internally they might have a facet of a cynic. I am talking about those who are high up, who make up their day by picking some key words and relentlessly going on and on about how great they think about those.

In my opinion, Thomas L. Friedman, the famous author of "The World is Flat", is also one of them.
"Now, Technology has shrunken the world. Changing perspectives have enabled the businessmen to take their businesses out of their regional boundaries. Financial decisions are more profit oriented than driven by nationalism." - with this premise Friedman has written an entire book with so much zeal and research, that it has become like text book material for many people who never forget to mention that they have done a Masters in Business Administration during their introduction.

Regarding the book, it is a good read. You will find yourself nodding, just like me, with what is written most of the time. Initially I thought my nodding was a token of appreciation, later it turned out to be the result of dozing.

Anyway, the book is very well written and hence, a good read. With so much data, anecdotes, experiences, you would love to agree with it more often than otherwise.

Friedman's basic thesis is that the internet revolution has shifted globalization from the era of multi-national companies to now accessible individuals, thus making the world citizens more egalitarian in terms of their opportunities.
He cites the fall of the Berlin wall/communism as the first step in all this because geopolitically this made the world "whole" as well as the advent of personalized PC (Apple/microsoft-IBM) in which anyone can create their own content. The next step that happens is the wide availability of internet/www/fiberoptics that allowed individual content to be sent internationally but from the developing to the developed world and vice versa. Thirdly, the uploading (open-source revolution, blogging, podcasting) advent allowed anyone who wanted to be the author of their content to be an author and actually send it via internet all around the world.

One thing that strikes me about what Friedman describes is the unintentional consequences that occurs from entrepreneurship/innovation. For example besides Reagan's military build up that caused the USSR to go bankrupt and thus fall; he cites the advent of personalized PC as anti-totalitarian mechanism that eventually brought the fall of communism because of the free speech that can be had anonymously and thus hard to suppress by the totalitarian propaganda machine. Also, he cites the rise of really cheap international communication from the tech bubble and the government telecommunication deregulations act of 1996, that led create oversupply fiberoptic cables, which when the demand did not materialize eventually led cheaper telecommunications for consumers.

I found his thesis that bubbles are good for innovation an intriguing concept. According to his thesis, unrealistic bubbles causes a flood of money toward that overinvested sector to such an extent that it creates fast innovation from that sector. When the bubble eventually bursts, investors who invested in the bubble will get hurt but it creates such a cheap commodity that eventually consumers will benefit from it. The question now is does this extend to all sectors or is it true only for start-up sectors? That is, will we see innovation in real estate bubble akin to the tech bubble, if yes, I wonder what that would be? And if the bubble is good for innovation will Obama's financial regulation kill this spirit of innovation? Or will avoiding the pain that a bubble cause be good enough reason to have these regulation?

Fifthly, Friedman describes the process of outsourcing from India secondary to the Y2K, tech bubble, tech crash that created the comfort level for India technological brain as well as the means to freely cash in on these brains via the fiber optic cheap communication lines.

Sixthly, Friedman cites the fact that China has become fully a capitalist country by joining the WTO. Because China has the cheapest and most populace population in the world, they will be a target for cheap good manufacturing for decades to come. He states multi-nationals will definitely have to deal with China one way or another or they will be out of business. Friedman is optimistic that since China is now a capitalist country, democracy will surely follow. Just like any good globalization advocate, he cites off-shoring jobs to China really in the end is good for the US because the jobs oversees keeps jobs here. I think the US population really needs to be more highly skilled in the long run because it is clear from the business aspect of things that low-skill manufacturing jobs will by off-shored to China were the labor is cheaper and thus it is a big competitive advantage for multi-national firms to place them there.

Seventhly, Friedman talks about Wal-mart and their hyper-efficient global supply chain, especially now that Walmart's computers can talk to their suppliers computers. It works like this whenever you buy something the bar code in the item talks to the computer and the walmarts computer automatically links to their suppliers globally to tell them to produce that item. He states that this is a flattener event because with a hyper-efficient global supply chain companies can now buy their products from the cheapest most reliable source anywhere in the world and get it to the market (Walmart). So this allows suppliers to be global in their reach.

Eighthly, Friedman talks about UPS being the global supply chain manager for small to medium size business thereby allowing any company in the world to act as if it is a big multi-national firm with their own global supply chain. Firms sign up to UPS global supply chain and UPS does the global supply chain background for the company.

Ninthly, Friedman talks about Googles push for global search engines that allows anyone from anywhere in the world to seek global information from anything in the world. What differentiates Google from other search engines is apparently it finds stuff that is more relevant to your particular search whereas prior to google the search were more haphazard. Also, advertisers can have more targeted audience based on your specific search. The downside to this is of course the lack of privacy since anyone can look up information on you anytime they want. It is therefore appropriate that reality-TV has now become the most watch TV there is because essentially people at this point are living in such an open society that there is no use hiding once information.

Tenthly, Friedman talks about what is accelerating the flattening process. In his analysis, he points to VoIP, videoconferencing, digitization of all information, wireless capabilities, file-sharing all is making communication internationally so cheap that international business barriers are no virtually none existent. I think the coolest capability in this chapter was the wireless capability in having your wireless phone be your credit card, future ID card too.

In his third chapter, Friedman talks about the three convergence of the world is flat. The first convergence is that all 10 forces have simply converged without prior planning it is as if it were a serendipitous moment occurred in 2000. The second convergence event change company culture from heirachial to much more collaborative nature. He hypothesize it is companies who innovate in using this new internet infrastructure in new and meaningful ways that will get ahead. Third convergence that he discovered is that awakening of pent up entrepreneurial yearnings from China, India, and former USSR that were hidden by communism/socialism of the past.

Friedman's fourth chapter deals on what the flattening world means for "us" (government, companies, and individuals. He states that in this flattening world, multi-national companies no longer have loyalty to single country because they do business globally. So politicians in their effort to keep jobs homegrown will be at odds with multi-national business because they just want the cheapest source of labor.

This is good for investors and capital in general because capital always seek to be more efficient in its use, but bad for labor. That is homegrown labor will lose out but not the companies that hire them. He cites Wal-mart versus Costco as an example of this confusing conundrum. Wal-mart seeks to flatten its labor to such an extent that it skimps on paying labor a decent wage and healthcare benefits. Although this is bad for Wal-mart employees, this is great for Wal-mart consumers (especially lower middle class), global supply chain, and most importantly it shareholders because their profit margins are high. Costco on the other hand, has half the profit margin of Walmart but they are fairer to their employees. But a lower profit margin, also means they have to cater their services to more middle class population instead of a lower middle class. The IP world also has to change because collaboration of the present means their is more than one corporation/individual who should get patented today.

But although the flattening of the present is good for business, it proposes challenges for government, in that, who are we to support for America should we support small companies that are 100% home grown or should America support multi-nationals that only commits 50% of labor force at home but brings more profits in both for the company as well as giving consumers a break via a greater global supply chain as well as economies of scale?

My answer to all of this quandaries is that innovation is the future of America with a large entrepreneurial force so government should foster the environment of innovation as best it can and let the innovators innovate. The labor that gets left behind in America will be for unique niches that can afford to be patriotic because that is what they are selling; but for the most part labor is dead and entrepreneurship is the new labor of the 21 century. But this also means that education in the US needs to be tops to compete with the world; but unlike India and China, I think experiential learning perhaps in the summer time is equally important to feed children's imagination. If we are to continue to be the innovators of the world, imagination needs to be fostered as well as the technical skill necessary to compete. And for kids, imagination really comes from a sense of play. The American 21st century really belongs to the right-brained people of the world.

America and Free Trade - Even though the forces outsourcing and offshoring to India and China have arrived because of Free Trade, Friedman feels that David Ricardo thesis of comparative advantage still holds true. That is, Free Trade still allows the pie to increase. But the increasing pie is driven largely by knowledge workers who are innovative. They are the people who see the need in this ever increasing pie and plug the need. The one who will lose out will be the low-skilled laborers whose job will outsourced to India or offshored to China because they have thousands of low-skilled laborers. He cites the SEO (service engine optimizers as prime example of this trend). SEO have become and industry on to itself with the advent of google within the last 5 years.

So who will and won't be effected in this new world? He cites three types of workers. The first type are the highly specialized and special workers who will not go away because they are needed (entertainers, brain and heart surgeons), the next type of worker has to do with people who work at the local level. There jobs are likely to stay put because they work locally ( servers, garbage collectors, dentist, physicians, nurses). The third type can be outsourced because they can be digitalized, automated so they can go to where it is the cheapest. So, he asked what kind of people will succeed in this new environment? The answer are people who like collaborate/orchestrate the diverse clients, global supply chain, and multi-ethnic workers, people who like to synthesize disparate information into new creative ideas, people who can explain complex products in a simplistic way, people who can leverage the power of technology to be more effective/efficient in their day to day dealings, people who can adapt their transferable skill from one project to the next, and people who are passionate about their jobs, and people who can use global platform to solve local issues. One thing that is good about this development is that one truly has to love what one does instead of ho-humming because only the person who breaths and lives his job is going to survive in this "new world". If I would advice my kids right now on what to do, I would say that you can be anyone you want to be you just need entrepreneurial skills to get there. Like, I said in my previous paragraph, this new world the "new m.c." are now entrepreneurs even if they are working for a company. They need to constantly challenge themselves to grow.

Policy wise what does this mean? I think the US government should favor small and medium-size business more and more because this is where innovation occurs the most as well as jobs are usually going to be more local instead of international. The way I see it, it behooves multi-national firms to go international because it is the cheapest way for them to become more efficient and grow. The US government should be pro-innovation!!!!!

Chapter seven deals with how we are going to get our kids ready for the new middle class. What kind of educational edge do kids of the future need to compete in this new middle class world. Since the right-brain kids will inherit this new kingdom, the most important trait is the desire to learn, passion about your chosen field and the innate curiosity to know more. According to Friedman, the US as a country is rightly poised to take advantage of this new world because, we have open and flexibility that is hard to duplicate by other countries. Specifically, we have the best research universities on earth and we have the most research universities on earth, we have the capital markets in the world in the NYSE and Nasdaq that reward companies on it who are the most innovative by infusion of cash as well as stringent IP laws to reward innovators who have products that the market wants. We also have amazing venture capital support for the most promising companies and flexible labor laws so the flow of labor goes to where it is needed. And last but not least, politically, the US is stable. So in the end the US has a high-trust environment in which risk-taking is encouraged.

Chapter eight deals what is lacking in America right now the risks its position as the leader in innovation. He cites the US lacks highly skilled science and engineering students who make the backbone of technological innovation. The reason this is happening because it is no longer cool to be a scientist like it was during the NASA golden age as well American elementary schools lagging behind in math and science subjects. Besides lacking strength in the fundamentals, students now lack a work ethic/ a sense of delayed gratification to get ahead. There is apparently also a lack of basic research funding by the government and national internet infrastructure. There is also a growing gap between the best public schools and the worst public schools due to it largely being a product of propertty local taxes. I really am in favor a national reform in which education needs to be made competitive via school vouchers and charter schools instead of funding public schools that do not work.

Chapter nine deals with the fixes he thinks the US should undertake to fix this issue which includes a political leadership the can galvanize the need for math and science workers, policy that encourages entrepreneurial transferable skill workers which include portable retirement plans, health care (done), govt subsidies to retrain low-wage earners in community colleges to prepare them to enter a more global competitive workforce. He also proposes to continue the US pro immigration policies toward people who are smart PhD so they can innovate and their kids can innovate in the US. He proposes that US corporation use their size advantages to be better stewards of society such as provide employees continuing education so their skills will be up-to-date and not stagnate and thus irrelevant in a flat society. Lasty, he asks parents to be more responsible toward their children in terms discipline and teaching them the value of delayed gratification.

Chapter ten deals with developing countries and globalization. Friedman states that developing countries with the best chance to succeed in this new world need to be culturally tolerant and accepting of outside influences and change to what the world's best practices are. This is also the reason why the middle east will lag behind because it tends to insulate itself from "global best practices." The jobs are going to go where the best-educated workforce with the most competitive infrastructure and environment for creativity and supportive government are.

Chapter eleven deals with successful companies need to do to stay successful in a globalized world. The first advice is to know its core competencies and focus on that only. Secondly, small companies and individuals should know and use technology to their full advantage so they can use it to compete with multi-national companies. Thirdly, big companies need to act small by allowing their customers to be active in the creation and production process that they will buy (self-directed customers). Fourthly, companies need to be able to collaborate with other companies in order to add value to what they are selling. Fifthly, companies need to outsource as part of their strategy anything that is not their core competency not simply to save money.

Chapter twelve deals with the fact that globalization was first resisted because it was seen as Americanization of the world but with the advent of uploading via blogging and podcasting local cultural diversity can now be represented in the internet and satellite and thus be preserved and even exported internationally. The people who are most likely to take advantage of this phenomenon are people of the diaspora who left their countries in search of better opportunities abroad.

Chapter thirteen deals with Friedman's theory of how global supply chain in the 21st century will be a deterrent to war (conflict prevention). Because countries with an extensive global supply chain whose economy is based on it, they will think twice in going to war and disrupt their economy and thus could act as a political instability in their own countries. This is the reason that I think China and the US will not go to war in the near future because our economies are too entertwined besides China does not want to forfeit all the money that we owe them. Friedman states examples 2002 India and Pakistan nuclear showdown that was eventually defused because India noticed that besides the more obvious nuclear threat of Pakistan, to go to war with Pakistan would have destroyed their IT economy. Another example that he cites is the detente that is occurring in Taiwan and China, due to their manufacturing global supply chain as well as their intertwined economies.

But, countries that are not part of the global supply chain in the 21st century such as countries in the middle east and Africa. The reason Al-Quaeda is such a world threat is they are using the forces of globalization to create a Virtual Caliphate and are using small acts of terror to seem bigger than what it is by uploading it on to the internet as well as connecting small cells into a huge international network by recruiting, training, global donoring on the internet. These are people who are angry that though they are supposed to be superior due to their religion, they are way behind from the rest of the world. The key to fixing this issue is to get rid of the totalitarian regimes and somehow get these countries as part of the global supply chain.

Friedman states that America needs to still be the beacon of hope to the world by remaining the optimistic dream machine that is our birthright. He states that the reason Bush was unpopular internationally was during his presidency he was seen as exporting fear not hope. For countries that are not part of the global supply chain, the key to keeping their populace from being terrorist is giving them dignity to be an individual that they see themselves ie: hope of success in their own countries. He states oil producing countries are the most undemocratic repressive regimes there is (Iran and Saudi Arabia). And perhaps world independence from nonrenewable energy is as much a green issue as a national security issue. Lastly, he prescribes that role models who have made it from disadvantage countries be more visible.

کتاب خیلی خوبیه برای کسایی که فهمیدن میتونن از دنیا و عصر حدید پول میشه دراورد اما نمیدونن جطوری
در ضمن کتاب غم انگیزی هست جون نشون میده کشور ما جطور با قرار گرفتن در سمت اشتباه تاریخ ، تا ابد در پرتگاه سفوط کرده
در اخر اینکه هر مهندس کامپیوتری واجبه براش خوندن این
و اینکه شاید بعضی جاهاش اضافه و بیخود و زیاده گویی باشه

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)

Heads in the sand should read this book!: This began as a response to one of the harsh reviews previously posted, but I figured it'd be just as good as a counterbalance in the review section.

Using an approach the layman can understand, Friedman chronicles an event which took place (the flattening of the world, so to speak) right under our noses. He gives an excellent overview of how globalization really HAS helped the world, and he does it via plenty of footnoted research into actual events that took place to get us to this point in history.

Commerce (or consumption, if you'd rather) is, whether you like to admit it or not, the backbone of ALL successful societies (you know, the ones that aren't still tearing themselves apart over dark age religions and living in sandy hellholes). Sure, it comes with a price, but what doesn't? The fight to stem global warming will no doubt come with a price (higher priced hybrid cars and other associated costs of being "green"), but in the end, our descendants will live vastly different lives centuries from now because of it.

I'm sure the Negative Nellies here would be the first people to point fingers at how little the people in Chinese factories are paid (especially in light of the recent toy scandals), but don't want to know what options they had before they had those supposedly "lousy" factory jobs. Oh, that's right, they had NO options.

The very fact that Friedman addresses the dark side of globalization in the book (and in related audio programs and interviews he's done over the last year or more) should indicate that he's well aware of the fall-out, but knows it's inevitable AND surmountable as more and more countries develop a middle class, even if it's a middle class build on knock-offs like China's. But with higher standards being slowly forced upon them as an exporter, the benefit will be higher standards of living for their people, and less reliance on the bootleg.

The forces are already in play to legitimize much of what Friedman has outlined in the book, and so much the better we'll all be for it. It's not about how much we can consume, although boy can we North Americans consume, and we wanted to do it for less money, and now look where all our manufacturing jobs have gone. But don't worry, there will always be an infrastructure in place in western countries, and while some business goes overseas, new business springs up. Even a service-based economy is still an economy. But now former third world countries and/or failed dictator states are finally being given the opportunity that they could not possibly have taken before due to doomed philosphies: they can begin to think globally and come out of the dark ages, where once the only "saviour" someone believed they needed was spoonfed to them from birth, but really only an internal salve against raging poverty and/or oppression. THAT's the only useful function of most religions and many political systems, but that's another book altogether. THIS book is about something that is too big to suddenly stop because we fear for future generations. Instead, we have to find ways to make what already works, work better, so that future generations from ALL walks of life and from ALL countries can partake in better economies, and freer societies.

Loathe globalization all you want, but in this day and age, and probably for many more ages to come, COMMERCE will be the major way to guarantee progress. Goodness knows, politics and religion have tried and failed repeatedly, so why NOT let the marketplace dictate progress. It works, and it's flaws can be corrected, as they are in all good sciences; it just takes time.

And, if you're bummed out, as "Casca" appears to be in another review, that you couldn't start your own airline, you've missed the point again. The point is that we now live in a world that's more connected than at any point in the history of mankind, and we're only going to become MORE connected as time goes on. If you have the capabilities of utilizing that connectivity to further your own business plans, creativity, social life, knowledge, you'd be a fool not to give it a try. Hell, even the terrorists have done it! It's not about running down to your bank for $100 million loans. It's about seeing the world, and your place in it-particularly if your business is BUSINESS and actually making a decent living-being made better with the technology that's at your fingertips. The one's who are sticking their heads in the sand are the ones who can't fathom that the world flattened, as Friedman says, while they were sleeping.

This was one of my Cracker Barrel picks on a recent road trip. I love Cracker Barrel's books-on-cd! I liked Freidman's book, it was full of great information, a little simplified, (but aren't the 'social action' books always a little high school/Time magazineish?), but important nonetheless. I admit, somewhere through the hills of Pennsylvania I drifted in and out of interest - I may not have taken notes on the ten 'flateners' of the world, but I do think it's a quality read (or listen).

When the arguments are so simple, it's easy believe someone else must be responsible. I mean, of course someone's on top of it, right? Well...

Basically, the world is 'flatening' -another way to say 'getting smaller' - because of easier methods of trade, faster communication, more and more people having access to the net, etc. and that this world wide development is similar to a time when, say, the printing press was invented. And so how does America fit in? What are other countries, like China and India, doing differently than us and where will this put them -and us- in 10 years?

The book covers a lot of issues including a call for help for the 'unflat' countries in the underdeveloped world, and questions the implications of terrorist operations in a smaller and smaller world where each death has the possibility of being broadcast on millions of screens.

Man...I need a road trip buddy.

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.?

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!