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Loading... The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalizationby Thomas L. Friedman
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.   toddsattersten | May 8, 2009 |  A generalist's take on globalization. The books starts off with some interesting anecdotes and discussions. But it goes and on rambling about the same thing. Another downside is that Friedman assume s the reader to be so dumb that some of his descriptions sounds too childish. A big minus of the book is that, apart from being US-centric the book is like a piece of propagandist pamphlet. It shies away from many issues raised by the opponents of Globalization. For example there is almost no discussion on asymmetries in trade. (  ) SnakeCharmer | Oct 2, 2007 | Let's extrapolate global events from personal anecdotes! (  ) kellepa | Apr 13, 2007 | Written by a Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist, the author explores how globalization is changing the world. (  ) eduscapes | Nov 27, 2006 | Combined with The World is Flat, this is a must read for understanding globalization. (  ) JustMe869 | Jun 26, 2006 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0385499345, Paperback)One day in 1992, Thomas Friedman toured a Lexus factory in Japan and marveled at the robots that put the luxury cars together. That evening, as he ate sushi on a Japanese bullet train, he read a story about yet another Middle East squabble between Palestinians and Israelis. And it hit him: Half the world was lusting after those Lexuses, or at least the brilliant technology that made them possible, and the other half was fighting over who owned which olive tree.Friedman, the well-traveled New York Times foreign-affairs columnist, peppers The Lexus and the Olive Tree with stories that illustrate his central theme: that globalization--the Lexus--is the central organizing principle of the post-cold war world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding onto what has traditionally mattered to them--the olive tree. Problem is, few of us understand what exactly globalization means. As Friedman sees it, the concept, at first glance, is all about American hegemony, about Disneyfication of all corners of the earth. But the reality, thank goodness, is far more complex than that, involving international relations, global markets, and the rise of the power of individuals (Bill Gates, Osama Bin Laden) relative to the power of nations. No one knows how all this will shake out, but The Lexus and the Olive Tree is as good an overview of this sometimes brave, sometimes fearful new world as you'll find. --Lou Schuler (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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