Customer Rating:  
Summary: Interesting, but overly optimistic
Comment: I think it's too optimistic for today's world. I mean, geez, how long ago was this written? So far, things aren't getting better like he seemed to think they would. It's all good for India but sucks for the U.S. Except he acts like it's good for all of us.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thomas Friedman is one of the most phenomenally stupid people who has ever achieved public prominence
Comment: If you want a good review of *The World Is Flat*, google these words: Matt Taibbi flathead. Here are some gems:
-Friedman is describing a flight he took on Southwest Airlines from Baltimore to Hartford, Connecticut. (Friedman never forgets to name the company or the brand name; if he had written The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa would have awoken from uneasy dreams in a Sealy Posturepedic.) Here's what he says:
"I stomped off, went through security, bought a Cinnabon, and glumly sat at the back of the B line, waiting to be herded on board so that I could hunt for space in the overhead bins."
Forget the Cinnabon. Name me a herd animal that hunts. Name me one.
-By the end--and I'm not joking here--we are meant to understand that the flat world is a giant ice-cream sundae that is more beef than sizzle, in which everyone can fit his hose into his fire hydrant, and in which most but not all of us are covered with a mostly good special sauce.
-This is the intellectual version of Far Out Space Nuts, when NASA repairman Bob Denver sets a whole sitcom in motion by pressing "launch" instead of "lunch" in a space capsule. And once he hits that button, the rocket takes off.
Thomas Friedman is a hack and a moron; and it does not surprise me in the least that those who bought his book also bought Malcom Gladwell's stuff. They are both mental midgets who pander to the same crowd of ignorant, grasping PC yuppies who put just enough effort BSing their way through high-school and college and just had enough family connections to land upper-middle-class corporate gigs and are now seeking to justify themselves by reading a book about how they're at a new vanguard and to get their children, who will have unfortunately regressed even lower than they--a leg up in the Braying New World. Any book that doesn't require them to know or learn anything or to think at all is suitable.
If you have a modicum of intelligence, this book, as well as anything else written by the monumental idiot Thomas Friedman, is a waste of your time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wow! We Need to Change.
Comment: Purchaed as a gift, but plan to read, also. I know we will be changed by it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Keep in mind...
Comment: That this is a journalistic work, not an academic. This is not meant for intellectuals or professors, nor is it meant to be an analysis of, well, anything. It is simply subjective "gotcha" reporting. Friedman has done what he has always done best..find people to quote and make catchy slogans. I rate this 1 star because this is neither good for people wanting an introduction to political economy or people who have already built a firm foundation in the realm: As a starting point this will build a completely misleading and false foundation, as an ending this is laughable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Adapt to the digitizing world, grab the opportunities or perish
Comment: Thomas Friedman explains very clearly with many examples from throughout the world how in recent years the advances in digitization, internet and communication technology have been empowering the individual, creating globalization at an individual level, but also creating risks of unemployment for people who do not realize what is happening and fail to educate themselves to adapt to these transformations.
In contrast with many futurology books that predict how the world and our lives will be transformed in the future, The World is Flat talks about not some distant future but about what has already been happening in recent history, today and the likely future trends. Yet as he explains many people are still not aware of what is happening although they may significantly be affected by it. Thomas Friedman uses the analogy " the flattening of the world " for the ongoing transformation of the relationships between people ; business, consumption, politics, economy and educational relationships both at domestic and international levels are being rearranged such that the vertical hierarchy that has been the characteristic of these relationships for centuries are flattening out. This is not a conspiracy nor a deliberate policy of any government or any organization. It is the inevitable consequence of the advances in technology, particularly digital communication technology.
This book titled The World Is Flat explains many things some of which we may perhaps already know, but it puts them all together and makes the unaware individual aware of the meaning of the changes taking place around him/ her at a breathtaking pace, what the individual, the businesses, governments around the world must do to seize the arising opportunities, minimize and manage the resulting threats. Thomas Friedman also explains how a great part of the populations in the backward regions of the world are left out of this process that he calls the flattening of the world. In fact, he lists this exclusion of the great masses from this process as one of the threats to the continuability of the process : he does not take the continuation of the flatening process for granted ; according to the author there are several major risks that could slow down or even completely stop the world flattening process for good ; 1) if a nuclear war breaks out anywhere in the world such as between India and Pakistan or North Korea and Japan 2 ) if a big terrorist attack similar to the one made onto the USA on September 9th 2000 occurs again 3 ) the continuation of exclusion of major backward populations around the world from the world flattening / globalization at individual level. Because such catastrophic events would cause countries to set up protective and permanent barriers against each other terminating globalization and flattening trends.
According to the author among the world flattening processes that have been going on for several years are the outsourcing of many jobs that are suitable to be digitized and electronically transmitted to anywhere in the world where they can be performed more cheaply and efficiently than locally. Until recently, people had to migrate to many countries to get various jobs. While that process still continues many jobs that can be transmitted digitally and electronially now go to the people ( are outsourced ) whereever in the world they maybe instead of people going to the jobs. This creates high paying job opportunities for people who are wise and prepared to take advantage of this and unemployment for people who want to continue holding on in the old way to their jobs which have been digitized and shipped to somewhere on the globe. The individual may be at bay from this risk by acquiring the necessary skills and being the recepient of the outsourced job that previously was performed within a company or by specializing in a skill that is not digitizable and transmittable electronically such as being a famous artist etc. People had better educate themselves in the proper way to adapt and seize the opprtunities or be victims of these transformations.
Another world flattenning event is the new power of the individual to upload articles, videos etc. on the internet and thereby assert his/her personal contribution as never before possible. An example he gives is what I am doing right now ; uploading my review of the book the World is Flat onto the Amazon website for many potential customers like you to read. In the beginning individuals used the internet to download only. Recently it has become a two way process ; uploading and downloading. So what ? well this is creating opportunities for the individual as never before. Please read the details from the book, otherwise I would have to write the whole book here. As examples to these that Friedman gives are the websites such as Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, Youtube ; the video sharing website, Amazon ; where I am currently sharing with you my opinion about a book I purchased and read ; ebay the auction trade website etc. I am surprised however that he does not mention Limewire ; the file sharing website and freely downloadable software on the internet through which people can download, upload and share many songs etc. I know he can not talk about everything but Limewire is no less significant than the examples he gives.
Another criticism I have is that too much, about 80 % of Thomas Friedman's examples and explanations are from India. He does talk about what is happening in many countries but India dominates too much of his book. No doubt he knows a lot about India and what is happening there affects both India and the world but still I think the effect of India on the world is exaggerated.
I am also uncomfortable with the title of the book and the analogy : The World is Flat. The main theme of the book as explained above is the transformation of the many aspects of the human relationships due to the advances in digital communication technology, the opportunities and risks thereby arising, what must be done at individual and governmental levels around the world to exploit the opportunities and manage the risks, how the educational system especially in the USA must be reformed to prepare the individual and the society to these opportunities and risks. I see no need to label these transformations as a " flattenning of the world ". OK vertical hierarchies in the work world may become more horizontal as a result but still the main idea could have been explained under a much more appropriate heading.
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