The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Book Review: Friedman did an amazing job
Summary: 5 Stars
Friedman did an amazing job when he decided to write this book. I am currently an MBA student, and to be quite honest, this is the first book I can sincerely say I enjoyed and learned a lot from it. This is also the first book I plan to keep. Friedman engaged his reader by relating personal experiences and anecdotes and at the same time left the long, boring, uninteresting wordy definitions out of this book. It is really interesting, informative, and educational, Also try The Quest by Giorgio Kostantinos.Book Review: A good book that would have been a great book at 250 pages
Summary: 4 Stars
There are a number of good ideas and important observations in this book. People who read newspapers won't find much new information in the book but what Friedman does very well is to show how two evident trends - the development of the internet and related technologies, and the outsourcing of production and services to Asia - are combining to have a major impact on the economies of the West, which is not so evident.
This confluence has had and will have a dramatic effect on the way businesses operate, which makes the book important reading for anyone involved in business. It will also have serious ramifications for the younger generations in the West, which makes it important reading for parents and students.
Friedman writes easily and anecdotally, so the book is easy to read.
My only complaint is that it is too long for the ideas it discusses. I wish that Friedman added a sentence along these lines:
"If we're going to preserve major forests for future generations, writers like me will have to learn how to express their thoughts more concisely. In this way we will both contribute to the environment and save time for our readers. After all, we're paid by the book, not by the page."
Book Review: A great read... Buy this book
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this book. Friedman weaves together the major changes we have all lived through since the fall of the berlin wall, dot com boom and bust , China joining the WTO, India moves from autarky to trade, to the fall of the twin towers, together with the major changes in technology, distribution and international divison of labour into a coherent one world philosophy. Flat, fast, individualistic, optomistic. The book is interesting, but as those with short attention spans have already pointed out it is long, I think maybe the last 50 or so pages begin to drag These pages are difficult, as its probably too early to draw any useful conclusions, and because maybe whats clear is that America still hasn't properly understood or moved on from the 9/11 attacks/ Bushs' response. What these pages do give, is some insight for non- Americans -how deeply the post 9/11 years have dented the countries optimism and maybe gives the rest of the World a chance to catch-up and develop the flat World with confidence.Book Review: In America or around the world. . .,
Summary: 3 Stars
From the first few pages when Friedman leaps from level playing fields to a flat world, it is almost easy to understand why the cover shows ships falling off the edge of an un-flat world [NOTE: The current dust cover, changed since this review was written, no longer depicts ships falling off a 'flat' earth. You can draw your own conclusions as to the motives behind that decision.]. Something is missing here. "Level" is not "flat". And ships don't fall off a flat surface. Is he trying to be ironic?
As a journalist, with seemingly unlimited resources and the once-gilded New York Times brand name behind him, Friedman has leveraged his basic skills into best-sellerdom, all the while seemingly in shock and awe of all the things his rich travel budget allows him to take in. Yet I have to ask, where's the beef?
Yes, the world has shifted from networks based on mythology and monarchies, through manufacturing and Marxism, to today's global marketing, but services aren't a new phenomenon; they've always been with us. And although wireless communication has made the world faster and more competitive, life is no more ruthless, violent or uncertain now than when plagues, expansive military conquest, disease, poor hygiene, inbred monarchies, and wealth-by-acquisition ruled the world as they have for most of human existence. Sure, technology has increased the pace, but each generation seems to think that the last generation had it slow and easy, and that has never been the case. The poor villager who wandered too far away from his hut 1,500 years ago experienced no less a shock than today's global traveler stepping off a plane in Mumbai.
And this outsourcing 'problem' is not new and it is not based simply on information technology. For as long as man has tried to better his life and to leverage his advantages, he has hired someone else to produce the things he needs, be it food, cooking, child care, or production. Like services, outsourcing is not new. That villager from 1,500 years ago thought that outsourcing crop production to the next village over was no less daunting or distant than Americans importing oranges from Israel or roses from Brazil. And you can bet the other villagers were mad as hell at him for taking away 'their' work.
For more than fifty years, columnists, pundits, journalists, armchair analysts, and bad economists have been intrigued by each new emerging economic superpower, from the Soviet Union, to the European Union, to Japan, to China, and now India, and each time all that wonderment and starry-eyed predictions have come to nothing. Like Ayn Rand said, what separates America from the rest of the world is that we were the first to think of making money, not just taking money. And America still does that very well. I still have my doubts about the sustainability of growth in China and India. Sooner or later they are going to hit a consumer-oriented economy and demands for many things their people don't demand today. Besides, their growth has been exaggerated by the fact that they started basically at zero. Bad analysts like straight-line extrapolations. Not only do these growth lines sometimes flatten out, they can nose dive. And what's bigger and more dramatic, 3% growth in a $11 trillion economy or 7% in a $200 million economy?
Maybe the world has become more homogenous with technology and communications. But anyone who thinks that there is some huge melting pot, in America or around the world, would be better served by recognizing the world as a salad bowl, not a melting pot.
Book Review: Around the world.
Summary: 5 Stars
While overly impressed with fiber optics and call centers in Bangalor India, this is a good read. Friedman captures with a little bit of liberal slant, what has been going on with globalization, and the out-sourcing and in-sourcing of jobs since the new "flattening" of the world has occurred through the global telecommunications networks, and the internet. While a little easy on communist China, and politically neutered in favor of the left, this is still a good book worthy or your time if you want to see what has been going on under our noses.And FYI, a comment to a previous review. The book ' quest ' by GK is a Barnes and Noble exclusive.