Product Details
- Author: Thomas L. Friedman
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- Binding: Paperback
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- Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
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- EAN: 9780312425074
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- ISBN: 0312425074
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- Label: Picador
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- Language: English
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- Manufacturer: Picador
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- Number of Items: 1
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- Number of Pages: 672
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- Product Group: Book
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- Publication Date: 2007-08-07
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- Publisher: Picador
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- Release Date: 2007-07-24
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- Studio: Picador
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- Title: The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
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Avg Customer Rating: 
Product Description: Updated Edition: Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to. What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East--is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.) Friedman has embraced this flat world in his own work, continuing to report on his story after his book's release and releasing an unprecedented hardcover update of the book a year later with 100 pages of revised and expanded material. What's changed in a year? Some of the sections that opened eyes in the first edition--on China and India, for example, and the global supply chain--are largely unaltered. Instead, Friedman has more to say about what he now calls "uploading," the direct-from-the-bottom creation of culture, knowledge, and innovation through blogging, podcasts, and open-source software. And in response to the pleas of many of his readers about how to survive the new flat world, he makes specific recommendations about the technical and creative training he thinks will be required to compete in the "New Middle" class. As before, Friedman tells his story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns know well, and he holds to a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. A year later, one can sense his rising impatience that our popular culture, and our political leaders, are not helping us keep pace. --Tom Nissley Where Were You When the World Went Flat?  Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we've now had the chance to talk to him about The World Is Flat twice. Read our original interview with him following the publication of the first edition of The World Is Flat to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?") And now you can listen to our second interview, in which he talks about the updates he's made in "The World Is Flat 2.0," including his response to parents who said to him, "Great, Mr. Friedman, I'm glad you told us the world is flat. Now what do I tell my kids?" The Essential Tom Friedman 
From Beirut to Jerusalem | 
The Lexus and the Olive Tree | 
Longitudes and Attitudes | More on Globalization and Development 
China, Inc. by Ted Fishman | 
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz | 
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs | 
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz | 
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli | 
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto |
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Customer Reviews
a convincing con man
Thomas Friedman begins with a poor understanding of American history, and extends this into a baffling misunderstanding of world events and energy technology.
the world isn't so much flat as it is suddenly inundated with cheap transportation, fast communication, and un-precedented data storage and processing abilities. the Cheap energy that enables cheap transportation is getting a lot more expensive. and most of the olive trees have to be cut down to create parking lots for all those new cars. A series of enormously expensive oil wars seem to expend all the savings made by outsourcing.
Trade does not decrease the risk of wars. before the Revolutionary War Britain was the number one market for American goods. Before the War of 1812 70 to 85 percent of American trade was with britain. We also spoke the same language and had the same religion. Before the Civil War the States had no real trade barriers between them. Before World War I france and Germany were very important trading partners. Before the Russians entered World War II, Russia was Germany's most important trading partner.
Britain conducted several wars with China to protect the rights of British Merchants to sell Opium to the Chinese. This broke the back of the Chinese government: a serious of regional insurrections and wars killed tens of millions of Chinese and set the stage for the later successful communist revolution: there are no holocaust museums or organizations for this in America.
America outsources production in order to consume more than it produces. Most small towns and cities get hollowed out. This subsidizes the construction and operation of new suburbs, which creates our oil addiction. We'd have been better off never de-industrializing.
Friedman appears on news programs. He wishes the U.S. could be China for a day. the U.S. was better than China for generations. This was when there were tariffs, distance, communications limitations with Asia and Europe, and barriers to exporting manufacturing capital to these places. Today Americans grow up wanting to be lawyers and economists. Lawyers can create their own work, while economists mostly rely on producing lobbying and propaganda for folks who want to become millionaires and billionaires outsourcing. Most american kids don't grow up interested in mechanics, chemistry, applied engineering, or manufacturers: they grow up in suburbs far from an awareness of factories, foundries, appliance repair shops, and science labs.
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Every American should read this!
The World is Flat brings the reader up to speed with what a global economy really means and highlights how far we as a country have fallen behind in regards to education, innovation and other areas critical to the future. The author travels the world and collects true real-life information that would be eye opening for just about anyone. There are other countries who believe that the age of the United States as the ecomomic leader is over and the author explains with facts, not opinion, why they may be right. Freidman goes on to outline what has been suggested, by knowledgeable people from all sectors, to help Americans maintain their leadership position and standard of living. This is a non-partison review of the world and if it was required reading for our politicians the presidential race might be a useful discussion of issues that would truely help our citizens.
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Amazing
Thomas Friedman has truly outdone himself with this one, this is a fantastic description of how the world has/is evolving. It has truly sparked my interest in outsourcing and provided me with numerous interesting tales to add to the occasional conversation.
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Quality Analysis
This book is very well done. Thomas Friedman has put in alot of time in analyzing this book, it contains alot of information, that definitely get one stimulated and should force one to go on nice long thoughts about how the world is changing. All in all this is a great book though long, it contains some excellent information, i would recommend reading it slowly. Pace urself and u will find it enjoyable.
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The World is Flat
This book has made me afraid to stay in America. I read the book and now I want to move to china or india so bad.
this book got tedious after awhile. I had to keep my eyes from closing and my mind from running somewhere else while I read. In a sense, he kept retelling what he already said in the beginning and almost all of his interviews are from Indian CEOs or Chinese CEOs. Some of the facts I learned from this book are quite surprising.
While I was reading this book, I was overcome by a really big urge to go up to Pres. Bush and slap him.
Overall I liked this book for only the new facts I learned, but other than that it was pretty tedious.
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