 | The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century author: Thomas L. Friedman rating:  asin: 0374292795 binding: Hardcover list price: $30.00 USD amazon price: $14.67 USD |
This book is Thomas L. Friedman's account of globalization and how it is has changed the world, or more specifically, how it has changed how business is done around the world.
This isn't a terrible book but it certainly does not deserve the hype and five star reviews I've seen it get elsewhere. Essentially the author has realized that we are increasingly interconnected these days and he picks 10 trends as causes for this interconnectedness. He then proceeds to provide his analysis of what this means economically and politically.
Unfortunately his choice of metaphor (the world is flat) is awkward at best and done to death in the book. His golly gosh, gee whiz, look at the Pizza Hut franchises in India approach to describing the phenomenon of globalization becomes very irritating after a while, particularly if you've been keeping up with current events in the past 10 years - none of this is new anymore. His political analysis is facile at best - his discussion of the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism seems to boil down to the "they hates us for our freedoms" line, and ignores thousands of years of history.
The book is slightly redeemed by a few interesting tidbits here and there - I wasn't aware of the breadth and scope of UPS (the parcel courier) operations, and his descriptions of Wal-Mart logistics were interesting. This book might be a decent introduction to globalization for a sheltered teenager just dipping a toe into this sort of material, or a pensionser who's been out of the loop for a while. Overall however, the book is very thick, but not terribly deep.
Watch the 13-minute overview (below).
Just off press ...
The World is Flat?
"Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world
since the Industrial Revolution."
Thomas Friedman’s recent New York Times bestseller, The World is Flat, asserts that the international economic playing field is now more level than it has ever been. As popular as it may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman’s book is dangerous.
“The world isn’t flat as a result of globalization,” say Ronald Aronica and Mtetwa Ramdoo, business analysts and authors of a critical analysis of Friedman’s book. “Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica. But by what Friedman’s book ignores or glosses over, it misinforms people and policy makers.
Aronica and Ramdoo’s concise monograph, The World is Flat?: A Critical Analysis of Thomas L. Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller, brings clarity to many of Friedman’s stories and explores nine key issues Friedman largely disregards or treats too lightly. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization, the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz.
Refreshingly, readers can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman’s almost 600 pages of grandiloquent prose and bafflegab. “If you read Friedman’s book, and were awed, you really should read more rigorous treatments of this vital subject,” says Ramdoo.
Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization. They paint a clear and sometimes alarming picture of the early twenty-first century landscape, and present timely information needed by governments, businesses, and individuals everywhere.
Watch a thought-provoking 13 minute Overview on the Web:
www.mkpress.com/FlatOverview.html
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Read more: www.mkpress.com/Flat