HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The World Is Flat [Further Updated and…
Loading...

The World Is Flat [Further Updated and Expanded; Release 3.0]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (edition 2007)

by Thomas L. Friedman

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
13,032168465 (3.69)135
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development at the dawn of the 21st century--the attacks of 9/11, or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, and giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner? Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.… (more)
Member:PKKeough
Title:The World Is Flat [Further Updated and Expanded; Release 3.0]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Authors:Thomas L. Friedman
Info:Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2007), Edition: 3rd, Hardcover, 672 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman

  1. 11
    Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman (skyiscool)
    skyiscool: Hot, Flat, and Crowded builds off many of the topics that Friedman presents in The World Is Flat. Although both books adequately stand on their own, they together form an informed and powerful worldview.
  2. 11
    The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (Rigour)
    Rigour: Read the Communist Manifesto to truly understand globalization (whatever your personal ideology is).
  3. 01
    The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson (infiniteletters)
  4. 02
    Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben (pa5t0rd)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 135 mentions

English (157)  Spanish (2)  Hungarian (2)  German (1)  Hebrew (1)  Dutch (1)  Portuguese (1)  All languages (165)
Showing 1-5 of 157 (next | show all)
NF
  vorefamily | Feb 22, 2024 |
This was a good read. Definitely an eye-opener. The flattening of the world needs to be addressed in education, which always seems to be behind he times. I really believe the U.S. has an opportunity that past Global Powers had screwed up. Just imagine if British parliament had granted the colonies and India representation in Parliament and treated everyone equal. Hopefully the U.S. cn learn from others past mistakes.
Now I'm interested in his follow up book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded." ( )
  CMDoherty | Oct 3, 2023 |
a bit wordy, OK to skim when he gives multiple examples to make his point ( )
  pollycallahan | Jul 1, 2023 |
I'll start off this humble review by saying : I'm not an economist ... But neither is Friedman ...

This is my first book in "Globalization" and economy (or anything of this sort), so while some might give this 2-3 stars for "repetitiveness" or "obviousness", I chose to give it 4. Initially, I was hesitant to grant this book the 4th star, but looking back, I DID actually learn some new things from this book. Furthermore, whatever observations I had about this matter (which were obvious to me and others) have been woven and blended beautifully into one big picture. Hence the four stars.

Friedman's book is thorough (maybe even TOO thorough), yet simple to understand and grasp. His point is clear: The World is Flat (or at least, flattening) due to the cause of the 10 flatteners he outlines in the first half, as well as what he dubbed "The Triple Convergence". The phrase "The World is Flat" is a bold metaphor to describe the changes in our world a.k.a. "Globalization".

He goes on to explain, through simple anecdotes and personal experiences (as well as some stats and numbers here and there, if needed) how this affects both America and developing countries. He foresees the near future and what is needed for both individuals and companies to cope with this new era he called Globalization 3.0. Also included in the mix is what countries might need to do (Glocalization).

He finishes off with the "Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention" which is a beautiful observation regarding the roles global supply chains "might" play in preventing wars (or at least trying to do so).

Friedman is a journalist, NOT an economist. So, expect nothing difficult; just simple stories, examples, anecdotes, and metaphors any average reader might comprehend. It reads easily like a long magazine article. If you are looking for theories and proof, this is NOT your book. Despite that, many of the author's suggestions and hypotheses seem real, reasonable, on point, and somewhat convincing.

Whether you are pro-globalization or anti-globalization, I suggest giving this book a quick scan. It sure has answered a LOT of questions I had in mind about various happenings in our world. Great job done there !

The book suffers from one major problem : Redundancy. This caused the 300-400-page-book to transform into a 600-paged-beast that won't go down easily. The author could've chopped this book down by at least 150-200 pages (maybe more if you get his point and conclude your own theories). Nonetheless, even if you end up skipping quite a few pages (especially in the latter half) it's OK, as this book acts more like a reference of the 21st century a suggested "manual" for the foreseeable feature ...

Conclusion:
Easy-to-read, albeit long magazine-like book which makes sense trying to explain what's happening in our world nowadays. Recommended for tech lovers "especially". But still great to read (even partially) for others. ( )
  nonames | Jan 14, 2022 |
Very interesting, though a little dated.

Except for the pages describing how his laptop came to be, 3-5 examples rather then every single part would have sufficed, a pretty easy read.

I'd be interested in a follow-up regarding some of his theorys, the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention for example and how it panned out, or maybe he'd like to have lunch with me sometime and answer my questions, but it would have to be your treat Tom, I'm not a best-selling author [McD's is OK] ;-)
( )
  Rockhead515 | Jan 11, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 157 (next | show all)
Friedman describes his honest reaction to this new world while he's at one of India's great outsourcing companies, Infosys. He was standing, he says, ''at the gate observing this river of educated young people flowing in and out.… They all looked as if they had scored 1600 on their SAT's."
 
On an ideological level, Friedman's new book is the worst, most boring kind of middlebrow horseshit. If its literary peculiarities could somehow be removed from the equation, The World Is Flat would appear as no more than an unusually long pamphlet replete with the kind of plug-filled, free-trader leg-humping that passes for thought in this country. It is a tale of a man who walks 10 feet in front of his house armed with a late-model Blackberry and comes back home five minutes later to gush to his wife that hospitals now use the internet to outsource the reading of CAT scans. Man flies on planes, observes the wonders of capitalism, says we're not in Kansas anymore. (He actually says we're not in Kansas anymore.) That's the whole plot right there. If the underlying message is all that interests you, read no further, because that's all there is.
 

» Add other authors (14 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Friedman, Thomas L.primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Piccato, AldoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
To Matt and Kay and to Ron
First words
No one ever gave me directions like this on a golf course before: "Aim at either Microsoft or IBM."
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development at the dawn of the 21st century--the attacks of 9/11, or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, and giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner? Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.69)
0.5 9
1 59
1.5 13
2 154
2.5 33
3 492
3.5 97
4 727
4.5 65
5 448

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

» Publisher information page

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,225,592 books! | Top bar: Always visible