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

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.

An Audio Book doesn’t need fake accents

Re reading this book after 20 years. If nothing else read the last chapter. Are you a strategic optimist or a pessimist who only sees the past #thebestisstilltocone

Outdated Outdated Outdated Waste of time and money

What would have made The World Is Flat better?

Everything about this book is great except that it's old old old info. He talks about how revolutionary pod casts, the internet, wikipedia and blogging is. Sorry bud, but I've been using the internet for 15 years, pod casts and wikipedia for 10 years, and blogging is no longer cool and no one cares anymore. Honestly a great author, well written, good everything.. but this book should never ever be read again. It's old old old old old.

Has The World Is Flat turned you off from other books in this genre?

No not at all, this was once a great book but now it's outdated. I love this genre of books.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes, he was good.

Shorten it and I might be able to finish it

I listened to a sneak peek of this book early on but decided not to get it as it was long and the tone of the presentation was dry. Then this book was listed as a must read by leaders I respect so I finally got it.

The start is a bit slow and then it ran into my personal interests, I love the topic of software, internet, what can be done, the history of it and all. I still had to shut it down. What could be said in two minutes takes twenty then there is a re-cap. And on and on.

My five hour drive seemed like a ten hour drive.
I don't know why someone would not edit it down. I will look for the Cliff Notes.

This book has aged horribly

With the benifit of hindsight, we can say with certainty, Thomas Friedman has been proven wrong over and over, specifically on Globalization. You will be hard pressed to find any of his claims or opinions that haven’t been disproven but The World is Flat is the greatest example.

It’s 27 hours of the same dates point being hammered out

The message from this book could have been written on one page. The author uses boring, basic and incredibly dated examples to make the same point over and over again. Save your money.

Outdated

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Those who want a history of innovations before 2004.

Has The World Is Flat turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

Would you be willing to try another one of Oliver Wyman’s performances?

perhaps, but here he sounds too much like he's doing a voice-over for an ad (and I am a former voice-over artist).

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

not that I can think of

Any additional comments?

It's just outdated. Old News. Was great for it's day, but no longer.

If you like cliches...

This is a runaway bestseller??? I listened to the whole 27 hours and didn't hear anything I haven't been reading in Forbes, WSJ and Business Week for the last 10 years. I guess if you've been in a cave since 1997 or parachuted here from Mars and need a quick lesson on society, this could be helpful. Otherwise, I strongly discourage this. It is full of cliche and group-think. I felt I should have been given a medal for enduring the whole ordeal.