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The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century |  | Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Rating:  1256 reviews
Sales Rank: 1054
Media: Paperback
Pages: 672
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0312425074
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9780312425074
ASIN: 0312425074
Publication Date: August 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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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. Thomas L. Friedman has won the Pulitzer Prize three times for his work at The New York Times. He is the author of three best-selling books: From Beirut to Jerusalem, winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction and still considered to be the definitive work on the Middle East, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, and Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his family. Winner of the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Book Award
A New York Times Notable Book
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
An Economist Best Book of the Year
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter "Y2K to March 2004," what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? 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, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?
In this brilliant new book, the award-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists. This updated and expanded edition of Friedman's 2005 bestseller features a hundred new pages of fresh reporting, insights, and commentary, drawn both from his 2005 travels (to India, to China, to the Middle East) and from his encounters with readers around the country, who have shared their accounts of the flattening of the world as it is being felt in the American heartland. Among the topics covered are: • An explanation of Friedman's conviction that the flattening of the world "will be seen in time as one of those fundamental shifts or inflection points, like Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, the rise of the nation-state, or the Industrial Revolution." (Chapter 1) • A preview of the emerging "Business Web," in which companies "rent" software at websites like Salesforce.com and have it customized to their needs instead of developing proprietary software and employing a tech department to install it—a huge savings in cost and effort. (Chapter 2) • An explanation of "uploading" as one of the ten forces that are flattening the world. Uploading—blogging, open-source software, pooled knowledge projects like Wikipedia, and now podcasting—enables individuals to bring their experiences and opinions to the whole world more quickly, cheaply, and easily than ever before. (Chapter 2) • A definitive explanation of the "triple convergence," in which the flattening of the world has knocked out first the walls, then the ceilings, and now the floors that defined the world as it was before the Wall came down and the flattening began (Chapter 3); and a deeper, sharper explanation of how the move from a vertically organized world to a horizontally organized one will force a "great sorting out" of our values and priorities. (Chapter 4) • A mapping of what Friedman calls the "New Middle"—the places and spaces in the flat world where middle-class jobs will be found—and an account of the character types who will thrive as "New Middler": collaboration and orchestrators; synthesizers, who blend knowledge across disciplines; explainers, who interpret the tide of new knowledge; leveragers, who can create value from it; adapters, who can move from one New Middle job to the next in the flat world. (Chapter 6) • A chapter-long account of "The Right Stuff"—the qualities American parents and teachers need to cultivate in American young people so that they will be able to thrive in the flat world: the right education, passion and curiosity (CQ, or curiosity quotient, will be more important than IQ); and the ability to "play well with others." (Chapter 7) • The amazing story of how President Bush shunned a meeting of leading "technologists" in the very office building where he was holding a meeting on privatization of Social Security—a story that exemplifies all the misplaced priorities and bungled opportunities of this Administration. (Chapter 8) • The story of Ireland's swift rise from poverty to prosperity as it made the right moves to adapt to the flattening of the world. (Chapter 9) • A call for a government-led "geo-green" strategy to preserve the earth's environment and natural resources as the entry of billions of people into the middle class in China and India creates huge increases in demand for cars, fuel, water, and the like. • A chapter-length explanation of “The Globalization of the Local”: of the ways the flattening of the world, and globalization generally, have affected local and regional culture—actually strengthening local and regional identity rather than homogenizing the world American style. (Chapter 13) And additional topics such as Indians tutoring American students online, of trade pacts being concluded through videoconferencing on flat-screen TVS, and of Google "search engine optimizers" a
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1256
 Extremely pleased. March 10, 2010
Robert L. Hughes (Ellijay, GA)
I recently purchased the book, "The World Is Flat 3.0" Ordered a used book, but what I received was a new book, spine not even creased. Only a slight mark on the edge of the pages. I recommend this book, and dealer, to anybody wanting to learn how the world is changing so quickly.
 Flat is Good - according to Friedman March 8, 2010
Avals Sher (FL, USA)
After more than a thousand reviews, the best I can do is offer my take on the book. While the book is great for a person who is completely unfamiliar with globalization or wants a summary of Friedman's views on it and the world, the book is of little value to a person who keeps up with the world around him/her. If you are a person who is aware of what is going on the world today, then this book will appear to be too indulgent towards China and India with the troubling tendency of generalizing. Friedman generalizes, for example, regarding important cultural and economic aspects to globolization in many parts of the world. While he notes that cultural role in globalization is seldom mentioned in regards to its impact in rise and fall of nations, he then proceeds to use culture to generalize regarding Chinese, Indian, Mexican, etc. economies. It's always dangerous to generalize, especially when one writes about a subject as sensitive as a country's culture leading to greater or lesser prosperity. While on the surface, pun intended, Friedman's examination seems to make sense, it really falls flat when one realizes that while the world may be growing ever closer together, the cultural diversity and inter-country complexity cannot be summed up with nice generalizations and by tours made for a receptive American journalist ready to glorify anything he is shown. The book could very easily be re-titled "Why China is Great!" or "Why Authoratitive Governments Work and Democracies Fail." Just recently, in September of 2009, Friedman wrote an article praising China's one-party autocracy, saying that it was "led by a reasonably enlightened group of people" and that China's leaders are "boosting gasoline prices" and "overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power." When asked if he had "China envy" during a Fresh Dialogues interview, Friedman replied, "You detect the envy of someone who wants his own government to act democratically with the same effectiveness that China can do autocratically." Such talk may be fine, if Friedman was actually an accomplished economist or provided a balanced view of China's successes and faults. Instead, Friedman brushes China's currency concerns and represiveness (among other things) aside with a unbismirched praise. Same is true for India, which albeit the world's largest democracy, still has people occupying untouchable castes. Praise these countries if you will, but acting like a school boy who just had a wet dream is quite another matter. The world is flat is a nice metaphore, but politics and economy is not flat or simple and Friedman's attempts to make it so makes the book an overbearing read. While Friedman may have multiple Pulitzers, these are for his short articles, definetly not his book (and two of his Pulitzers are over 20 years old). And besides Friemdan got his BA in Mediterranean studies and master in Middle Eastern studies. Not something that would lend one to so brashly make economic and cultural pronouncements on a large swaths of global populations. His wife may be a graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics, but he is quite obviously not his wife. While many of Friedman's points are right on the money, e.g., making U.S. start moving forward as far as educational reforms, he takes too many liberties with socio-economic analysis of other nations.
an excellent guide to the phenomenon of globalization with broad coverage and helpful examples March 5, 2010
whj
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this book very informative about understanding the phenomenon of globalization (from command/control to connect/collaborative world) and its impact on our lives on multiple levels--not limited to economy but also on geopolitics, culture, humanity and education etc. His numerous examples, such as Walmart, UPS, and uses of his personal experiences and his vast travels are also very helpful to somebody like me with limited knowledge about business and technology. There are many reasons for celebration and many for worries and concerns, such as American complacency in education, and the sense of entitlement in youth culture. He ends the book with the fundamental importance of individual choices on the subject of, and causes for imagination.
A Keeper February 15, 2010
Alexander (Huntington Beach, CA, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I got this book for my grad school, but after reading it - it's an ultimate keeper. Tells you what globalization is, some glances in history, reveals what really ebay and walmart do,offshoring and outsourcing and so on. The book is full of interesting facts about all kinds of events that made the world so flat.
Understanding How the World is Changing what it means to me February 11, 2010
Charlotte Ann Hu (Arizona, USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
So many things are changing and so quickly. The question is how should we go about our daily lives? One element, based on this book, is that I recommended to friends to get their websites translated into a few foreign languages and now, a real estate company in backwaters of Southeastern Arizona is getting phone calls in languages they can't understand -- not in Spanish. Another is that I urged a relative who's writing children's books to get it translated into a range of foreign languages, create a website for it and get it on e-books.
These are actions we can take as a result of reading this book. Friedman gives us a deeper understanding of how a person in Paris and a grandmother in Ghana are connected -- mostly by the web. And, how both of them can buy an ebook, not only if its translated into their languages, but can learn enough English or other skills on the Internet to be able to read that children's book in English.
This book opened my mind not only to how the world is changing but also to new ideas for the economy, e-commerce and marketing. I think this book, along with Googled, are really essential for any business administration studies today.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1256
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