• The Elephant and the Dragon

  • The Rise of India and China, and What It Means for All of Us
  • By: Robyn Meredith
  • Narrated by: Laural Merlington
  • Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (339 ratings)

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The Elephant and the Dragon  By  cover art

The Elephant and the Dragon

By: Robyn Meredith
Narrated by: Laural Merlington
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Publisher's summary

In the streets of India, camels pull carts loaded with construction materials, and monkeys race across roads, dodging cars. In China, men in Mao jackets pedal bicycles along newly built highways, past skyscrapers sprouting like bamboo. Yet exotic India is as near as the voice answering an 800 number for one dollar an hour. Communist China is as close as the nearest Wal-Mart, its shelves full of goods made in Chinese factories.

Not since the United States rose to prominence a century ago have we seen such tectonic shifts in global power; but India and China are vastly different nations, with opposing economic and political strategies - strategies we must understand in order to survive in the new global economy.

The Elephant and the Dragon explains how these two Asian nations, each with more than a billion people, have spurred a new "gold rush", and what this will mean for the rest of the world.

©2007 Robyn Meredith (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Robyn Meredith's systematic analysis fills the gap in a spirited, readable manner." (Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes)
"An exciting and journalistic account of one of the great economic stories of our time: the transformation of China and India." (Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winning economist)

What listeners say about The Elephant and the Dragon

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Readable, even enjoyable, macroeconomics

This is an excellent synopsis of the emerging Asian economies of China and India presaging the implications of their economic growth and "coming of age" as global powers.

The author does a wonderful job of combining economic statistics with the stories of leaders and individuals that illustrate the meaning of the raw numbers. Economics may be the "dismal science," but Robyn Meredith makes it quite readable, even enjoyable.

Some of author's own political opinions color the "hard facts" contained in this book - which would be fine if clearly written as such. On the other hand, it would be almost impossible to write anything but the most bland statistical "yada, yada, yada" on this theme without some of the author's point of view creeping into the pages. Fortunately, these "transgressions" are few and detract little from the overall reading (or listening) experience.

On a technical note, the audio recording's volume levels seemed to be on the low side making listening on my "smartphone" difficult in the car, and other noisy environments. On my laptop, I could compensate for this, but some smartphone or portable MP3 player users may have similar difficulties. The recording's volume level can be corrected using volume compression, or normalization, during playback on many devices.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good content, awful narration

I spent the whole book wondering: Is there really is someone so relentlessly bland employed in this capacity, or did they just have a computer read it? The info is good if a little dry, but the narrator put me to sleep faster than a nine-iron upside the head.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Informative Read

I'm sure I will listen to this at least two more times. If you enjoyed The World Is Flat, you will appreciate this also. The author provides a great snapshot of the historical underpinnings behind the growth of India and China and also explains the intersection of culture, politics and economics.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

very good

An excellent book - providing key information for people who want and need to understand the transformation of our economy. Really, everyone should listen to this. Well read too.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting Reading

Excellent overview of recent economic developments in India and China. Good general interest information or starting point for more detailed study.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great educational read.....

Great book, lots of insight on how stupid people, even smart people do stupid things for a few bucks, like, holding back half a nation out of greed, ignorance and stupidity.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very Interesting read...

I really enjoyed this informative audio book... very well read with interesting thought provoking ideas...

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    out of 5 stars

Eye opening book

Worth reading

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Sj
  • 01-22-08

Automaton narrator

This book was a fantastic read (hear?). I didn't know anything about Indian or Chinese history and it gave me the basic tools to understand why both of these countries are drawing such attention, by drawing comparisons and contrasts between the two countries over the last 50 years. I feel "smarter" and more aware of current politics outside of the American political bubble we live in.

The only drawback (and this was my first audiobook so maybe this is just the way things are) was that the narrator sounded like an automaton, like a computer recorded voice that says "for english, press one."

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Does an excellent job of explaining how both India and China came to hold near-superpower status. This book goes beyond The World is Flat as it addresses the link between the US and Chinese economies. I have recommeneded it to many friends and have listened to it many times.

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1 person found this helpful