I have read about half of it so far and discussed it with a few friends as well.. I am a big fan of his, with previous books like longitudes and attitudes being great. I found this book to be a bit too lengthy. There are some great thought provoking ideas and some interesting analysis on recent trends, however, there are an awful lot of repetitive examples to prove a point.

Good, but best for a skim reading approach.

As an aside, I also found that his recent 'successes' have made his writing appear that he is a little too sure of his ideas... I preferred him when he was a bit green and trying to make a mark on the world.

tash
tash, Sep 4, 2006 @ 12:41

i picked up his book about a year ago (never heard of him before) and read through the first couple of chapters. quiet liked it but never got around to finishing it. its a little bit repetitive on some points, but still pretty interesting.
SweetSwede, Sep 4, 2006 @ 14:05

then maybe i should have picked one of his previous books instead of this best seller, i hate repetitive stuff..
Xuelin, Sep 4, 2006 @ 22:15

Did you by chance compare Amazon US / UK? I bought some books a couple months back and did a comparison between Amazon UK and Amazon US. Some books were available in the UK but often at higher prices but this was offset by the shipping cost (and time).

On an only slightly related topic I recently read Freakenomics and thought it was decent. Not Earth-shatteringly good but an interesting and quick read. You may want to check it out.

Cheers,
Matt
mrbeau, Sep 9, 2006 @ 19:45

You may find the book cheaper with this site as the are based in UK , but are tax free (ship from the Island of Jersey) and postage is free, the book you mentioned was £7.49 all inclusive.
britabroad, Sep 9, 2006 @ 20:03

And the worst thing is I was told that my package is lost during the shippement, now they are processing a replacement for me, which means I need to wait for another 20 days.
Anyway, this will be my last purchase on AmazonUS...Yesterday i saw the english version is already available in Fnac, which costs only 28 bucks.
Xuelin, Sep 11, 2006 @ 17:07

An pleasant read but the best parts are when Friedmann quotes other people (plenty of interesting ideas there). He himself is a hyperglobalist and goes far off track talking about Nation States in the 1500s and Y2K freeing Indians. Had me seriously wondering.... especially finding out the guy lectures at Harvard.

Structure of the book:
I - Yes we live in a Globalized world
II - Actually we really don't (ie. he takes back his statement about Y2K freeing Indians admitting it only freed a small minority of Indians)
III - In fact, it's somewhere in between.
So if this is your conclusion, why did we read the first two parts?

If you read French, one of the better books on Globalization out there today is "Atlas de la mondialisation : Comprendre l'espace mondial contemporain" by a team of Sciences Po (Paris Institute of Political Science) lecturers. It's extremely balanced presenting facts and avoiding both the hyperglobalist approach but also the anti-globalization approach one might expect from French authors.

http://www.amazon.fr/Atlas-mondialisation-Comprendre-mondial-contemporain/dp/2724609735/sr=8-1/qid=1158062180/ref=sr_1_1/402-3447549-9704966?ie=UTF8&s=gateway


Jer985, Sep 12, 2006 @ 16:05

This lecture Thomas Friedman gave at MIT sums up the book's key points:

http://mfile.akamai.com/12800/rm/mitworld.download.akamai.com/12800/mitw-ocw-friedman-flat-16may2005-80k.ram

(need real Player)
Jer985, Sep 12, 2006 @ 17:58

Absolutely .. u have just ordered for a very reveeling book .. by Thomas friedmann .. i personally think its a great piece.. if you are not very detailed with happenings that are shaping teh world.. then its teh book to read.. and other wise.. could serve as a good refresher for u ..
Africano1, Dec 30, 2006 @ 01:31