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The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9780312425074
ISBN: 0312425074
Label: Picador
Manufacturer: Picador
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 672
Publication Date: August 07, 2007
Publisher: Picador
Release Date: July 24, 2007
Studio: Picador
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Editorial 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 |
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.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Growing technology for a shrinking world
Very interesting review of the developments of the cybernet revolution and its implications for human development.The remaining question is "What's next"? From "flat" to "point"?!
Rating:  - Flattery might get you nowhere
This book is anything but a broad and well-considered critique of where the author sees us heading. I suppose it can best be viewed as a survival kit for our current century. "Survival" does not inherently make life more interesting, beautiful or purposeful. For the fortunate few who find the projected future particularly adaptive, the life ahead of us might be bright and rosy. But for the many, it could simply spell out a higher level of consumerism and considerable ennui.
On ... Read More
Rating:  - Way too long, I know a lot of famous people, by the way everything is Bush's fault
This book would have been much better if it had been kept to 200-250 pages. I am disappointed in myself that I kept reading the same thing over and over thinking that eventually some new content would appear. It was tedious how the author had to point out how many famous people he knew. To some extent, this can add credibility, but it was taken to extreme levels in this book.
The book is very partisan, blaming republicans for many problems without making a very strong link. Far from ... Read More
Rating: - And the sky is falling
This book is an eye-poping-opener to what is happening in the history of economics. This was a mandatory read to the completion of my college degree because most industry leaders have read and believe it. The truth is most industry workers will have to compete for their job internationally. However I like to believe the other side of the coin as Friedman's views are negative towards America's position. After recently touring a secured industry compound a material physicist told me, "We're sending them ... Read More
Rating: - Rockefeller asset assures us that globalization is GROOVY-Baby!
Council on Foreign Relations propaganda minister Thomas Friedman writes a decent book trying to convince us that globalization is a great thing. Depends who you are, I suppose. CFR members will do great as part of the world oligarchy. Regular shmoes will enjoy the thrills of competing with factory workers from third world countries who work for 10 dollars a week. Hahaha. Can't blame him though, Friedman's smart enough to play for the winning team. The way to get ahead in the world is figure out who's ... Read More
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