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 | The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Picador
Binding: Paperback
Released: 2007-08-07
Sales Rank: 77
ISBN: 0312425074
Edition:
Cover
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 2008-08-15 - Typical Business Journalism
This is pretty typical business journalism, which seems to be in the mold of the last round of "sky is falling" business journalism from the 1980's...when Japan was going to rule the world. I thought this book was going to be something new, but its just the same-old, same-old: US jobs are going oversees, we don't have enough engineers, republicans are ruining the country, blah, blah, blah. Also, the book is pretty sloppy: its overly long and redundant, and the "research" is not at all comprehensive or balanced, but mostly just opinion from various business honchos with views biased by their own business interests.
It is written from a very U.S.-centric view of the world, namely that the role of the rest of the world is to do the grunt work that we're too talented and creative to do, and also with a certain amazement that there are people in other countries as smart, or smarter, than us! I find it inconsistent as well, with one chapter lamenting the decline of U.S. science and engineering education and how this will be our downfall in the flat world, and another chapter promoting liberal arts education, and "story telling", as the keys to success in the flat world. Also, the flat world in this tome seems to be made up almost exclusively of IT workers: what about the transportation industry, or other traditional, but still relevant industries?
Overall, an interesting topic with some nice observations, but in need of a major editing and more credible research. Also, it is better viewed as a discussion of trends in IT outsourcing, rather than a map of where the world as a whole is headed.
 2008-08-15 - Loved it, should be mandatory reading in high schools.....
Tom Friedman just makes so much sense.....He takes complex issues and explains things in an easy way. I only wish he worked for our government and had the power of our government in addition to the power of his pen.
 2008-08-14 - The Book Is Flat
Friedman is an excellent writer and analyzes the topic of globalization beautifully. Although the book is insightful and in-depth, in general it is flat. The author duplicates most of his points across the book and what could have been a 200-page books becomes much larger. I'm glad to have read this book even though it was a struggle finishing it.
The author sees the world as a level playing field where all countries, companies and individuals need to collaborate to be competitive in a global economy. He explains the ten 'flatteners' that leveled the field and how the 'triple convergence' took it further.
Friedman also argues on why the world could be seen as unflat and what could be done to change that. The concluding chapters discuss the Dell Theory and proposes remedies for America.
2008-08-12 - People, read this book. There are some real answers in it.
A starry-eyed, idealistic, yet analytical, thorough, and inspiring look at the modern world and its future. I highly recommend the book. It's an easy-to-read and entertaining work of journalism full of great insights.
2008-08-05 - Should be required reading for every person
This book was paradigm-shifting and worldview-changing. And I considered myself generally "with it" as far as technology and globalization is concerned.
Friedman is fantastic at showing the world the way it is but revealing all types of processes and events happening in the background that very few people are aware of. He made me realize how ignorant I was without making me feel stupid.
He shares a few words on the future and what we as a country should do, as well as what each of us as individuals should do in order to keep up with global competition and supply-chaining, but the majority of his treatise is on what's happening now and how it's already affecting our world. From outsourcing typical jobs that Americans have relied on for so long, to the revolution of "uploading" and every Tom, Dick and Harry providing their own content that is more easily accessed and more up-to-date than the big content providers, this new flat world is already here, as Friedman points out. It's both exciting and nerve-wracking; and I look forward to more of it while still dreading it a little.
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