The World Is Flat

Further Updated and Expanded

By: Thomas L. Friedman

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, what will they say was the most crucial development in the first few years of the twenty-first century? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations? And with this "flattening" of the globe, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?

©2007 Thomas L. Friedman (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

“Excellent...[This book's] insight is true and deeply important... The metaphor of a flat world, used by Friedman to describe the next phase of globalization, is ingenious.” —Fareed Zakaria, The New York Times Book Review (cover review)

“Captivating . . . an enthralling read. To his great credit, Friedman embraces much of his flat world's complexity, and his reporting brings to vibrant life some beguiling characters and trends. . . . [The World is Flat] is also more lively, provocative, and sophisticated than the overwhelming bulk of foreign policy commentary these days. We've no real idea how the twenty-first century's history will unfold, but this terrifically stimulating book will certainly inspire readers to start thinking it all through.” —Warren Bass, The Washington Post

“No one today chronicles global shifts in simple and practical terms quite like Friedman. He plucks insights from his travels and the published press that can leave you spinning like a top. Or rather, a pancake.” —Clayton Jones, The Christian Science Monitor

Great book about the new world!

Any additional comments?

This was written a while back but is even more relevant today than it was when it was written. Written by a great writer who knows his stuff and has been all over this world and interviewed some of the most influential people the world has known. I had a wonderful epiphany while listening to this book! I think it will change my life! The book is far out of the realm of my usual listening or reading curriculum, but I am so glad I gave it a shot. I recommend this book to everyone.

Intersting

There are definitely some good points in the book. I do feel, however, that it was a bit drawn out. I'm guessing that the book could have been about half its length and been just as effective.

A verbose intro to the 21stcentury flat tech world

The book provides an interesting perspective into the beginnings of the 21st century flat world by giving countless examples of outsourcing activities to India/China, and remote work across various global tech companies. The book is pretty verbose and the audio version feels more quite so, but it shared an interesting perspective by going back about 20 years in time and talking about the incremental flattening of the tech industry (listening in 2x helps for sure!). Friedman talks about the whole unplugged story of the creation of the internet and the World Wide Web from Netscape going public to PayPal to Salesforce and their strategies. Development of today's most used internet protocols like HTTP, HTML, TCP, IP, SMTP, POP, SSL, XML, SOAP, AJAX are discussed. Sections about different organizations' success stories like Google's introduction of the page rank algorithm, Walmart’s supply chain genius, development of the open source / community developed software and the Apache foundation, successes of Napster and BitTorrent, examples of successes in the airline industry and e-commerce like Jet Blue, Ebay, Aramex and many more - although a little outdated for 2020/2021, give various insights into navigating across the flat world. Overall, the book encourages the new generation to be strategic optimists and embrace this change, keeping in mind the increased economic competition in the flat world that we live in today.

Repetitive and unending...

Unabridged, repetitive and unending! A few good concepts dragged out for 27 hours. I only listen to unabridged audio books to assuage my guilt about not having time to read the real things. However, I can't believe this is just a reading of the book - 27 hours?! - the book is not that long - I've seen it. This is an unabridged "audio production," which apparently means talk until your audience falls asleep at the wheel.

Awesome book very informative...

Great analysis of the growth and roots of the global economy..a must have for your business library collection

Great book

Friedman does a great job in highlighting the changes that are shaping our world. While the book was revised as recently as 2007, there are many references that are a bit out of date, which only proves his thesis about how technology accelerates the technology.

I write this review on an online audiobook site for a book I listened to on my phone, using the phone to write the review from the beach.

nice book will help you understand the world

loved it its help you understand where the world is going and how to handle it

Very technical.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book contains a lot of discussion about technology. I found it hard to follow. If you're into computer programming, you might be able to follow along a bit better.

Interesting Book, horrid reader

The content of the book is very interesting, although definitely kind of old news by now. Still, it's interesting to consider all the various issues surrounding globalization.

The reader, Oliver Wyman, however, is terrible and his imitation of foreign accents is highly insulting and pejorative. And his Indian accent and Indonesian accent are exactly the same, even though they should be very different. I can't believe the production company allowed him to use such stereotyped accents.

A good introduction to the 21st century

The audiobook is definitely worth listening to if you are in any way interested in what is going on in our world today. In especially the first half of the audiobook you are introduced to how the world is flattened in a simple and easily understandable way. The audiobook only gets 4 stars, since it never seems to end, and you need several cups of coffee to stay awake through the entire audiobook.