The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (Further Updated and Expanded)

Had to read for class at U of M. Nothing earth-shattering about it, several very good quotes, however.

I do not typically read books of this genre; however, this was a requirement for a class I was taking. I learned more from other sources, mostly on the Web. The book is mostly cheer-leading, a sort of 100,000-companies-can't-be-wrong view of outsourcing/offshoring.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Long but interesting

Surprisingly valid and thought provocing even several years after being written

The World is Flat and Getting Flatter by the Day!

Thomas Friedman's, The World is Flat, had many important details throughout the book that were quite thought provoking, although he tends to get a little long winded at times. After reading The World is Flat, I now see that the world has gotten figuratively smaller through the development and expansion of internet capabilities to all areas of the world as well as the effects of the Berlin Wall collapse and September 11, 2001. Educationally speaking, the US is behind many countries in the world, particularly in the areas of math and science. Our society has become lazy and expects rewards for little work, both in schools and in the workforce. If we are going to catch up with the rest of world, we need a shift in priorities. I think this book could be best used in a group book study as there are many points to be discussed and opinions that could be shared.

Global Pancake

The World is Flat begins in Bangalore, in Southern India, on a golf course of all places. While golf courses all over the world have plenty of similarities, this one was quite different. It was surrounded by a world unknown by Friedman. "No, this definitely wasn't Kansas," Friedman says. He was faced with a world that he felt he no longer recognized. "Was this the New World, the Old World, or the Next World?" Friedman questions. Only after returning home did Friedman share with his wife, and only in a whisper. "Honey," he confides, "I think the world is flat."
What is the flattening of the world? It is a metaphor to describe the next phase of globalization. As one high-tech executive told Friedman, "Tom, the playing field is being leveled." This means that you can innovate without having to emigrate.
To better understand the flattening process, Friedman introduces us to the "Ten Forces That Flattened the World." They range from the fall of the Berlin Wall to Google.
This book is a wake-up call for educators surviving in the computer age, the 21st century. Legislators and teachers need to understand that if computer literacy among students does not increase, the United States is only going to fall further behind.
I am reminded of all of the students that I have taught over the past dozen years that honestly thought that they were going to be professional athletes. And why wouldn't they want to be? Athletes are paid large sums of money, have incredible amount of fame, and calculus is not a prerequisite. But, professional athletes make up less than 1% of the population, and odds are in favor of needing those students to become engineers rather than an athlete.
It is suggested by Alan November that we need to become "information literate" and "communications literate" to survive in today's global economy. It is no longer important that you have the knowledge, but how you access that knowledge is what is becoming more important.
America was lulled into such a false sense of security and dominance. The initiative to be the first country to put a man on the moon left this country with a great amount of national pride. We led the way in academics and innovation. Now we measure our domination by weather or not the US wins gold in Olympic basketball. Meanwhile, we are falling further behind. We have been so blind, we barely saw other countries flying by, and we have been slow to react.
Teachers need to empower students to have the confidence and the courage to learn without needing the formal structure of the traditional classroom. Adding the technology to schools is the easy part. Reshaping relationships between teachers, students, and technology is the hard part. Technology has brought about the death of education and in its place, the dawn of learning.
Very rarely since I started reading The World is Flat, does a day go by that I do not mention global flattening. It is as important to recognize as our place in this world. I am not only discussing innovative ways to improve lessons with the teachers at my school, I am volunteering my time to model its induction. We can not continue to use technology as a stepladder to continue to teach the same way.

The book is good, but it's not perfect.

This is a nice book with a very clear idea. Yet the book itself can be hard to read. It is not perfect but then again, what is? I recommend this book, to learn or to get inside the author's idea that 'The World is Flat' and see if you agree with his points of views. Other than that I see no other reason for reading it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Good Read Depending On...

Being quite uninformed on the whole globalization agenda, I found this book quite useful in getting me up to par. However, for one who has been following this topic since its beginning may find it quite repetitive if not boring. I myself found it to drag periodically. Still, a good read.

Read this, but remember it is just one view.

After reading many of the reviews on this book, I found two extremes of opinion: 1) the book is so simple and obvious that it is a waste to read, or 2) it is a sacred text worthy of worship. My opinion rests somewhere in the middle of the two. If this book encourages those who are ignorant about globalization to invest time reading about it, then the book has value. Yes, the material is pretty basic. Yes, the book is too long. Yes, Friedman appears biased in favor of corporations. Yes, he ignores discussing the trade deficit. But justified criticism aside, the book covers some basics about the forces of globalization. My concern is that readers will endow Friedman¿s words with too much power. After all, the book merely offers one person¿s view. I would recommend those interested in the topic read other material to gain a broader perspective. A good choice would be ¿Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East¿ by Clyde Prestowitz.

A highly selective look at the effects and causes of globalization

I enjoy allot of Thomas Friedman's works but was somewhat disappointed by the way he approached globalization in this book. He points, as he always does, to absolute market liberalization as the sole path to economic prosperity. He is forced to ignore instances, such as those found in South Korea or Taiwan, where highly protectionist policies and proactive government involvement in economical planning paid off in terms of sustainable economic growth. The other major problem with the book is that it fails to really identify any groundbreaking principles. The argument that technology has made globalization more efficient and easier to pursue is an obvious one. The point could have been expressed in far fewer words and still achieved the same ends.

HB reader

This book has some great information but it is a story that could be told much more concisely. The author is repetative, and has a simplistic view of how our nation's problems can be solved.

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