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The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Updated)
By Thomas L. Friedman
Picador 2007, 672 pages
$10.88 paperback, $9.99 Kindle
The ironic title helped to make this a huge best-seller, but a more apt one would be “The World is Connected.” Friedman’s main premise is that Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (especially in Asia). Thanks to technological advances in such areas as Internet telephony, collaborative websites, open-source software like Linux, and ubiquitous connectivity (as well as lowered trade barriers), feelancers and startups anywhere in the world can compete not just for low-wage manufacturing and IT labor but, increasingly, for high-end scientific and legal research, engineering, programming, and design work as well.
The outsourcing and offshoring trends are unstoppable and desirable, even exciting to the optimist Friedman. Americans should adapt rather than protect: prepare to “create value through leadership.” The 2007 edition is updated with info about the political roots of global Islamism.
The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy
By David M. Smick
Portfolio 2008, 320 pages
$10.51 hardcover, $9.99 Kindle
Smick refutes Friedman’s description of the “flat” world produced by globalization, arguing instead that political resistance to globalization, retaliatory protectionism, a lack of transparency in the global financial markets, and overheated economic development in China, among other conditions, have created a world where events and their consequences are unpredictable. The author writes clearly, illuminating complex subjects for general readers. Smick was an economic adviser to central bankers and legislators for some 30 years. (Derived from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal reviews.)
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America
By Thomas L. Friedman
Farrar, Straus 2008, 448 pages
$9.78 hardcover, $9.99 Kindle
The USA has become a “subprime nation that thinks it can just borrow its way to prosperity,” says Friedman (him again). Nevertheless, the U.S. market is the “most effective and prolific system for transformational innovation.” Although professedly a proponent of the free market, he still advocates using government to create conditions favorable to investment.
One of those conditions is a cleaner global environment. We need alternate energy sources, and stronger conservation and recycling programs–a green revolution. We need to achieve greater energy independence to counter the “petrodictatorship” threat from the Middle East.
But one of the biggest threats, Friedman warns, comes from within: America’s loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11/01. Whether or not you agree, Friedman’s book is entertaining, with vivid anecdotes—this man has been around the block.