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The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Audiobook (abridged)9 hours

The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Written by Thomas L. Friedman

Narrated by Oliver Wyman

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? 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? And with this "flattening" of the globe, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?

Editor's Note

Offshoring, uploading, digitizing…

An essential read on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks from Pulitzer Prize–winner Thomas L. Friedman.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 24, 2007
ISBN9781427201782
Author

Thomas L. Friedman

Thomas Loren Friedman is a political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues.

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Reviews for The World Is Flat 3.0

Rating: 3.700849093074173 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

2,238 ratings95 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a scientific debate between Flat Vs Round but a display of multitude of factors contributing to the globalization of this planet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author has good insights into the state of our planet, enjoyed his views. And he is not a flat earthed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The book was rather on the tedious side on the whole, and its views on globalization and its impact on the US job market is much too rosy to be realistic. Friedman assumes that everyone has the resources and education to forge a career that would not be impacted by globalization, which just proves that he lacks in perspective beyond the executives he knows and interviews.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the international world. This is why when we call Dell help we reah India.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very interesting, though a little dated.

    Except for the pages describing how his laptop came to be, 3-5 examples rather then every single part would have sufficed, a pretty easy read.

    I'd be interested in a follow-up regarding some of his theorys, the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention for example and how it panned out, or maybe he'd like to have lunch with me sometime and answer my questions, but it would have to be your treat Tom, I'm not a best-selling author [McD's is OK] ;-)
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    The famous globetrotting rube flies to India, plays golf with a high-tech sweatshop executive, and has an epiphany in the form of a nonsensical metaphor. “The playing field is level” does not translate into “The World is Flat.”

    The torturous prose and incoherent, overwrought analogies aside, his entire premise is bogus. The playing field is not, and never was, level.

    When will the jig be up for this self-proclaimed deep thinker? To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, “This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I tried to plow through this book, but Thomas Friedman is the most brain-dead parrot of the ruling class I have ever known, so I couldn't finish it.His view of globalization is that now, thanks to the paternalistic global order constructed by US multinational corporations, there is cultural and monetary things of worth out there in the vast unexplored jungles of savagery called "not the United States." As an ahistorical text that ignores the fact that elites have been trading from Occident to and from Orient for hundreds of years, the book ignores entirely the poor.How wonderful it is to be ruling class in this new era, where poor people from all over the world can service the rich like Friedman. What an asshole.Recommended for: fireplaces, doors that need stopping, houses without coasters, etc.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I had heard of this book for some time; well in fact years and never quite got around to reading it. Nor did I read it this time actually listening to an audiobook version. Took 25 or so hours to do that. My first impression was that it is a book that needs to be read in a timely mannerl; meaning closer to publication date as it got dated quickly. So being a good ten years behind I could see all I missed in the intervening years.Thomas Friedman no doubt put a lot of thought and analysis into the ideas presented here and many I felt were quite on the mark. The central theme being whittled down into the fact that the explosion of information technology and computer centered technology to be more specific has indeed flattened the world. India and China being the seemingly big winners and the U.S. ultimately one of the big losers. Having launched much if not most of the technology that made this flattening possible we now stand by and watch as these rising star countries make use of it siphoning off our past dominance in world trade among other things.He covers a wide array of topics and makes it a point to expound on his more liberal viewpoint on how the world is and the future should be. And we know who the bad guys are according to Friedman. He may have some valid points here and there but unless you are aligned to his viewpoint you clearly are on the other side of what supposedly got us into this mess.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A' class informative book about globalised world in 21st century. It talks away the notion of round world. Thomas Friedman identifies forces of flattening of the world beginning fall of Berlin Wall to major events that shaped internet revolution in globalised world of equality. Spread through the pages are perspectives on America, developing countries and companies w.r.to the flat world. Towards the end, the book draws attention to effects of these forces on you and I as individuals. It also indulges in resultant effects on geo-politics and offers a window of future imagination. Highly research oriented book and a definitive read to know digitisation that's already happened to America, and that's trickling down to developing world thence. First published in 2005, this book is a comprehensive account of forces that are shaping our future currently.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. This was a fascinating look at how the world is shrinking in on itself as industry improves, standardizes, and becomes interconnected. Pretty interesting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    My take away, if we do not have open markets, create trade deals, etc others will and this will leave us poorer and further behind.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I wish there were half stars, because this book is between really amazing and I really liked it. It is a very long book, filled with so much I forget what came before each revelation. Reading the book after the events described gave me an interesting viewpoint on the changes in the world I live in. So many changes and they are still happening. Some of the things the author hoped would happen socially and politically have not yet come to pass, but they might. They would improve the future, but I feel too much pushback from the fearful, who see these changes as diminishing their influence and power.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It is a good, optimistic read on a variety of fronts. Unfortunately, he got a big one wrong in citing the so-called McDonalds Theory. In 1909, an English author named Norman Angell wrote a book titled "The Great Illusion" which he won a Noble Peace Prize in 1933. His primary argument was that the commercial and industrial interconnectedness of Europe and its peripheral nations such as the US and Canada would make war too destructive to bear and was thus a powerful deterrent against war. Many readers overshot and believed all the way until Germany invaded Belgium in 1914 that war was impossible. Even afterwards, all were convinced by Angell's arguments that war would be short and sweet. Unfortunately, that very narrow approach to social conflict which thinks everything spins around economics, was sadly mistaken and a whole generation of Europeans was wiped out, with the remainder losing faith in any of the buttresses that had made their civilizations great - God, country, family, rationality. The McDonalds theory states the same principle. The McDonalds theory states that if 2 countries both have a McDonalds they are unlikely to war on each other as the presence of a McDonalds implies an advanced set of economic, social and legal preconditions and economic interconnectedness. By viewing increasing commercial ties as a basis for international diplomacy, Friedman shows a definite lack of awareness of world history. Reality and history both show us that while increased commercial relations may provide a braking action toward conflict, it is not a principle factor in most scenarios. One can see how India and Pakistan both having McDonalds hasn't affected their animosity. Unfortunately, both having McDonalds does not correlate to economic interdependence. China is making aggressive territorial moves, yet it is highly interconnected with all of those same neighbors. WW1 saw European civilization commit suicide over national prestige. WW2 saw Europe take the whole world down as a result of its interconnectedness. Europe's economy was so completely blasted, it took 30 years and billions in foreign aid and investment to get it back on its feet.While I have nothing against free trade and globalization, let's not overstate its impact on the decision makers.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Often dry, excessively anecdotal, and not terribly entertaining.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The author had a lot of insightful observations, but the frequently recurring theme of the "flat world" metaphor got old by about page 500. I get it, the world is flat.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The best thing I can say is: the author's arrogance shines through the book. I suppose you have to stand out from the crowd if you want to be noticed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Drive-By Review

    Accurate picture of how the global economy is evolving, and how our skills are going to need to change to keep up.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    On the Charlie Rose Show Mr. Friedman said half of what he said was false and that he needed that to make the book exciting to readers. Yes, he was laughing when he said it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book should be a must read for those in High School and above. Even though written nine years ago much of it holds true today and is even like read a prophecy of the future. The book is very insightful about what is going on today throughout the world. This book also explains why there are issues in the Middle East, outsourcing, and how India and China are way ahead of the United States. Really eye opening reading.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thorough and informative! The World is Flat aims to present an unbiased perspective of the changes that have and continue to influence globalization, and predict how we might influence these changes in the future. I was surprised by the amount of time spent focusing on Islam, and the beginning seemed somewhat slow and repetitive, but later parts definitely picked up the pace.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I can't think of a book I've read recently with which I agree with almost every single premise in it so much. The idea that free trade can solve all the world's problems was shown to be nonsense after 2007. Capitalism is not the answer.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Well, he writes for the New York Times . . . so this is a bit predictable. Government investment is the solution. If you already agree with him, you'll bobble head with joy as you read it - if you can get to the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting and informative, but good heavens, 20 cds take far too long to listen to. This is the first work of Friedman's that I've "read" and was quite impressed. He makes some very salient points (India/China are NOT racing us to the bottom and 31% of Wal-Mart employees receive state assistance in Georgia). I also appreciate his 11/9 v. 9/11 dichotomy and their respective effects on the flattening of the world, and the resulant "unflattening" that may be in process.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An interesting read; well written and strongly argued, but a bit too business focused for my liking. I found the first half of the book, Friedman's historical account of how the world had come to be flat, to be the most interesting aspect of his work. The latter part, how the flattening effects business and what they need to do to adapt, I found to boring. It is worth reading, however, for the historical account of the flattening effect.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Talk about enlightening! A must read for all high schoolers!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Once you get past the author’s pure hatred of President Bush which come up repeatedly throughout the book you can see that this is pure genius.I wish I would have read this when it first came out because Friedman does an amazing job of walking through the current technology and with some logical progression pointing out the direction it is heading.Such simple concept as “outsourcing” and “insourcing” are explained so the masses can understand the cons and the HUGE pros that we can come from them.I’ve got his next book lined up just need the time for it!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Political must read for anybody with an interest in current affairs.Puts politics, technology and social developments into perspective showing ways out of the decline of America.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has continued to update and expand his seminal book, "The World is Flat" since its initial publication. The most recent edition is a paperback listed as "Release 3.0." Subtitled "A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century," it offers Friedman's compelling thesis that recent geopolitical changes have combined with an influx of new technology to create the beginnings of the democratic global economy. These changes dramatically affect American infrastructure and educational needs in the 21st century economy.Filled with a combination of interviews and anecdotes, many related to upstart companies from around the world, the book attempts to make sense of the new global economic and political environment and its impact on jobs, travel, entertainment, and community development. At the heart of Friedman's analysis is his conclusion that the lowering of national barriers— exemplified by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 — has allowed new cyber technologies — exemplified by the release of the first widespread Internet browser, Netscape Navigator, in 1995 — to drastically change communication and commerce.Businesses have exploited the technology of the Internet, particularly with its opportunities for real-time collaboration between any places worldwide that have high-speed connections, with little government intervention -- or at least much less than before. This has allowed many companies to outsource parts of their workforces (such as the ubiquitous phone service centers for American corporations that are in India), but it has also globalized the manufacturing supply network. In fact, Friedman believes that this efficiency in production has actually gained more American jobs than were lost in outsourcing.As interested as he is in describing the situation as it is now, it seems obvious that Friedman is more concerned with imagining what the changing context means for the future. Although he is not specific, he sees the trend continuing to dramatically change the shape of the working environment, with more people working more hours -- or all of their hours, eventually -- from home, eliminating the overhead costs of workspace. He also sees the diversified worldwide production system as likely to affect other industries than just manufacturing and technology, which will change how people work and with whom they interact for their jobs -- if they have the training to keep those jobs.These changes necessitate certain reassessments of American infrastructure -- especially with regards to Internet connectivity -- and the American educational system. Time and again, Friedman shows how various countries have invested heavily in Internet infrastructure in contrast to the scatter-shot approach of American telecommunications and cable companies, implying that Americans are falling behind and will suffer for this in the coming years.In all, the book is enlightening and engaging, tackling a complex subject with humor, awareness, irony, and discernment. Friedman's style is fairly conversational and narrative driven, but he has done an excellent job coalescing his stories and analyses under specific themes, offering a roadmap through the vast subject. This book is excellent reading for those who care about where the world has moved at the beginning of the 21st Century and where it is headed for the foreseeable future.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Everything and everyone IS connected. The world is opening up faster than the minds can follow. I hope we all catch up and start acting wisely and for everyone's benefit some time soon, to reduce some of the unnecessary harm happening all around us. Positive action is all it takes, however small. We do live in a very small world, after all.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was originally published in 2005 and updated in 2007. I read the 2007 edition. I know it is not a newly published work, but reading it now gives the reader a look back at the 'good old days' before the Great Recession. This book is a discussion of globalization and how it has changed life in the twenty-first century. A lot has changed in the three years since this book was published. Sometimes it is hard to remember what it was like back in the good old days.When I began to read this book (which was more than six months ago- I've been very busy with school), it seemed as if Friedman was a crazy cheerleader for globalization and classical economics. But, the more I read the more it seems like he was a crazy optimist for globalization and what it could do for humanity if it was done with some sort of ethical tone to it. I agree with some of his ideas and disagree with others but overall this is a good book to read if for nothing more than a history lesson of just how fantastic and rosy things seemed before the economy collapsed in 2007. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but he completely leaves out any mention of the economic boom being fueled by the real estate bubble. Were we really so blind back then?One especially glaring example of this is Friedman's characterization of Ireland as the economy that was doing everything right. They did do some things right like investing in the education of their people, but the growth was based on the ethereal real estate and derivatives market. Ireland was at the top of the world and now they are worse off than they were before they started their amazing race to the top. I'm sure there are similar examples of this same type of thing from the 1920s before the Great Depression.Friedman does, however, have some great ideas about educational reform. Sadly though, these ideas are not really new. I just finished another book, Teaching as a Subversive Activity, that had many of the same ideas and it was published in 1969 (Review to come...). These ideas seem so simple but have been very difficult to implement (teach innovation and critical thinking, allow imagination to flourish). But, that's another soap box for another review.Overall, this is a really interesting read that I would have finished much sooner if not for those darn books I had to read for classes. I would recommend it to everyone because much of what he discusses will affect the reader (if it hasn't already) in this new, flat world.A definite recommend.