| The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1174 reviews
Sales Rank: 270
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0312425074
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9780312425074
ASIN: 0312425074
Publication Date: August 7, 2007
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Amazon.com Review
Updated Edition: Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to. What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East--is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.) Friedman has embraced this flat world in his own work, continuing to report on his story after his book's release and releasing an unprecedented hardcover update of the book a year later with 100 pages of revised and expanded material. What's changed in a year? Some of the sections that opened eyes in the first edition--on China and India, for example, and the global supply chain--are largely unaltered. Instead, Friedman has more to say about what he now calls "uploading," the direct-from-the-bottom creation of culture, knowledge, and innovation through blogging, podcasts, and open-source software. And in response to the pleas of many of his readers about how to survive the new flat world, he makes specific recommendations about the technical and creative training he thinks will be required to compete in the "New Middle" class. As before, Friedman tells his story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns know well, and he holds to a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. A year later, one can sense his rising impatience that our popular culture, and our political leaders, are not helping us keep pace. --Tom Nissley Where Were You When the World Went Flat?  Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we've now had the chance to talk to him about The World Is Flat twice. Read our original interview with him following the publication of the first edition of The World Is Flat to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?") And now you can listen to our second interview, in which he talks about the updates he's made in "The World Is Flat 2.0," including his response to parents who said to him, "Great, Mr. Friedman, I'm glad you told us the world is flat. Now what do I tell my kids?" The Essential Tom Friedman 
From Beirut to Jerusalem | 
The Lexus and the Olive Tree | 
Longitudes and Attitudes | More on Globalization and Development 
China, Inc. by Ted Fishman | 
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz | 
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs | 
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz | 
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli | 
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto |
Product Description
A New Edition of the Phenomenal #1 Bestseller
"One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal," the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. In this new edition, Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents across the country, this third edition also includes two new chapters--on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures.
The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks--environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1169 more reviews...
 Leveling of the Playing Field November 30, 2008
Friedman has taken the different trends towards globalization and connected the dots to form a coherent view of a flat world. Flat is a metaphor indicating that the playing field has become leveled. He describes the events leading to the creation of such a flat playing field. And how countries like China and India used this to their advantage.
As many assumed, Globalization did not stop with the dot com bust in 2000. In fact, it strengthened because of that. The dot com boom resulted in an over investment in fiber optics resulting in excessive bandwidth which benefited India. This enabled outsourcing of work from US and Europe to India. He uses comparisons on how, earlier in the last century, US was the second buyer of India's brains resulting in the drain of top professionals. Now, India became a second buyer of the excess telecom capacity to set up an outsourcing industry. India also gained a foothold by doing lot of Y2K work. That work required an army of tedious and skilled programmers. A shortage of programming resources for that task in the West, coupled with an unmovable deadline, led to a global search for such resources.
Work that can be easily digitized and transferred to lower wage locations is fungible. Non-fungible jobs cannot be outsourced. Some jobs are anchored like barber, plumber etc. David Ricardo the English Economist developed the free trade theory of comparative advantage. Low end jobs in one country are high end jobs in another country, which will be done by more motivated people and would be more productive.
After Deng Xiaoping laid the foundation for building China as a manufacturer to the world, the entry into WTO in 2001 was a watershed event. With containerization of shipping, the costs of transportation have fallen to a very low value. The geography does not matter much. Proximity to US was a big advantage Mexico had before. Now it has vanished. China has replaced Mexico as the second biggest importer into US. Canada is the biggest. Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. Of late, these statues are being made in China. Egyptians use colored lanterns called fawanis to carry candles inside them during the Ramadan. Now these lanterns have started coming from China.
While India has an advantage of a democracy, large number of college graduates, and an English speaking workforce, China has a low cost labor economy needed for an efficient manufacturing base. For example, Dalian in China is an outsourcing area for Japanese engineering firms. Japanese occupation of China during the early part of the last century left many Chinese able to speak and work using Japanese.
Friedman talks about the success of Walmart's business model. Unlike other retailers, Walmart buys directly from the manufacturers, as opposed to the wholesalers. They have their own distribution centers for distribution to the individual stores. Manufacturers do not have the necessary logistics to distribute the goods to every store. By cutting on the wholesalers, and investing in its own logistics and a real time computerized inventory system, it cut costs. The suppliers can directly access Walmart's sytems to get a picture of the inventory and the forecasted demand. This created more efficiencies in the supply chain where the suppliers are all over the flat world and so are the consumers.
Finally, Friedman quotes from Bill Gates "I would like to be born as a Genius in China than an average person in Poughkeepsie". Friedman's mother told him in his childhood to finish his dinner as people in China and India are hungry. Now he tells his daughters to finish their home work as people in India and China are hungry for their jobs.
Excellent information but less than fun to read. November 29, 2008
The book is excellent. Friedman describes the way globalization started and where we are now. He has obviously done his homework on the subject.
The only (minor) complaint I have is that there were times when I felt like I was being beaten over the head with anecdotal evidence. Enough! I get it! Let's move on!
It Is Your Responsibility as a Human Being to Read this Book and Make a Difference in The World November 23, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Thomas Friedman brilliantly shows how the forces of globalization have connected the world in ways never possible before. The walls, ceilings, and even floors that once separated people, societies, and countries have been flattened out. Now, a single individual has more power than any other time in history.
We must make use of all these new possibilities to succeed in a world that is more competitive and more challenging than ever before.
You have to establish a competitive advantage that differentiates you from the rest of this world. If you don't, you can't survive.
This next 50 years are the most crucial time in the history of our time. We have the opportunity to end poverty, diseases, wars, ignorance, greed, and hunger.
If we don't succeed in creating a NEW world where people live in harmony with nature and with each other, we don't have a chance as a species.
It is your responsibility as a human being to be accountable for yourself and your world.
 Simplifies the complex, much to its undoing November 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Over a thousand reviews posted for a single book are bound to reflect a variety of opinions. But few books can elicit the repetitive and inconsistent nods present here. Most of these reviews fall into two groups: the first classifies this book as well-written and highly informative; the second classifies it as too verbose and oversimplified. I have to say, both groups are right.
They are right because I found myself reflecting both sentiments as I read the book.
The first four chapters of the book recount the rise of globalization and the forces behind it. This accounts for about the first third of the book's pages, and I found its packaging of the complex forces behind globalization to be highly informative and easy to understand.
The remaining two thirds of the book attempts to use the first third to put the world's actors into context. More specifically, it attempts to describe how globalization is affecting individuals, the companies they work in, and the countries they live in. Then it outlines what the author sees as necessary changes for keeping them all competitive. It was in this part where the author's simplified approach to globalization undermined his purpose. Recognizing this effect, the author likely felt he needed to buttress his proposals with more support. Unfortunately, his effort to do so droned on without adding much substance. Here is where the book's packaging fell apart.
And hence, this is why the reviewers here feel the way they do. For those who liked the author's proposed solutions, the momentum of the first part of the book likely carried them through to the end. For those who didn't, their enthusiasm likely waned and they quickly lost interest.
Which will you be? I don't know. Take the time to read the first four chapters, but don't feel guilty if you set the book aside long before you reach the end.
 The globalism he praises may bite us all in the a**. November 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Now that the US is going through a terrible recession, we are going to regret that we outsourced all our production to other countries just to save a buck (NOT out of the kindness of our hearts to help India or China), leaving an anemic service industry that isn't going to be enough when the dollar weakens and imports become expensive.
Then we will have to start making our own stuff, and by then we will be starting out from scratch, and it will take years to recover.
Thanks a lot, globalization.
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