The World is Flat -- flatter than it was, anyway

bobreb — Mon, 28 May 2007 20:01:28 GMT

The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
by Thomas L. Friedman

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The World is Flat makes a club of the point that we are living in a shrinking world of increasing complexity, interdependence, and competition. It’s enlightening, threatening, both pessimistic and optimistic in turns, prescriptive, sometimes painful, and authoritative.

The only drawback is the time Friedman spends promoting his particular social and political agenda. My guess is that he feels it goads readers into joining a broader public policy debate. Perhaps it does for some. For me it had a dampening effect and reduced the impact of the work overall – but not fatally.

The world is not flat in the sense Friedman uses the term. And he’s fully aware of that fact. Nevertheless, the trend is well established and it’s already flat enough to make a difference in all of our lives. Friedman makes it clear that the next few generations will live and work in an increasingly global community, and that the social forms to which we have become accustomed will evolve in response.

While painful to many, there's always opportunity in change. I think you read this book if only to stay on the right side of Pasteur's famous quote: "chance favors the prepared mind."

Process of Change : books ideas opinion

The World is Flat -- flatter than it was, anyway