The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2005

ISBN-13:978-0-374-29288-1

Thomas L. Friedman 1953 -   

Link to World is Flat listing on Amazon.com

This is a book of clever stories and neat lists.

It examines the potential and perils of the third great era of globalization - when people become globally connected across the world. The two previous eras (beginning in 1492 when Columbus made his trip) connected countries and companies.

Friedman says that the world has become flat as a result of globalization. Barriers between trade and communication have come down (been flattened). The playing field on which people, companies, and countries compete and play has been leveled. The world is no longer large and round; it is a small and flat. The people on the playing field are just as likely to be brown and Eastern as they are to be white and Western.

Ten forces, some social (such as the falling of the Berlin Wall) and some technical (such as the rise of internet and broadband communication) flattened the world.  These forces converged with business and political developments to create what Friedman calls Globalization 3.0.

Of course, the flattening process is not complete. Many irregularities and rough spots remain. Nor do all people and countries profit equally. Some people, the sick, old, ignorant, and less agile are likely to get squished in the grand flattening. Nor is the process inevitable or irreversible. A grand old fashioned war could throw everything off.

Right now we are in a sorting-out period, figuring out what (and who) gets flattened and what (and who) is allowed to remain somewhat irregular - perhaps for compassionate or sentimental reasons.

Friedman offers advice to individuals, companies, and countries on how to survive and prosper during the great flattening.    

Caveat This report is a summary, a simplification. It is only intended to convey the main ideas of the book - the skeleton, not the meat. It is an elaborate and positively biased book review - an homage. To get the full flavor you need to purchase the book. Also, the author of this report, for legal and ethical reasons, ensures that only chapter titles, list headings and a few irresistible phrases are quoted. For better or worse the remaining words are his, which means that the mistakes are also his.