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

Bueno para conocer casos reales del año 2000 -10

Me costó trabajo terminarlo la segunda mitad ya no se me hizo tan interesante pues ya habla de cosas que hoy en día son evidentes.

Eye opening and thought provoking

Thomas Friedman’s history of the tech rise in the world and how it has brought us together as a planet of beings who need connection to each other to survive, clearly has some liberal overtones... However, As I listened to his colorful stories and examples, I didn’t feel like I was being led down a path. There are many takeaways in this book that will stay with me for a long time and having just finished this book, have already sparked a change in the way I think about economics, business and the world. I am very happy to have been exposed to this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of politics, economics, business and the human condition. Bravo Mr. Friedman.

Exceptional

Can not wait for an ubdated new book about the outcomes. Well worth the read!

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.

Unfortunately a skewed political piece...

Surprised to hear a story, so skewed to attacking anyone with wealth, even those that struggled to earn it..... must be a piece to support a cause....

Get the Abridged version instead

I made the horrible mistake of going for the unabridged version because I thought I would be missing out on important stuff. I should have taken the reviews more seriously because the unabridged version was a nightmare of "slowness". The author spends time detailing his talks with people he interviewed for the book which makes it extremely repetitive and boring. As I have worked in the IT-industry since the mid 90's I had knowledge of how businesses have moved across borders which means this book didn't bring anything new to the table for me. And I honestly think you would have to been living under a rock not to know about most of the things in this book.

I have tried five times to listen to this book and finish it, but it get's so boring so quickly I have to shut it off after a while. Also I feel that the author several places makes assumptions for the future that we already know today isn't going to happen anytime soon. I feel the author seems to have a wish for the World to become even more flat and this wish seems to be shining through between the lines of the book. This means the book is not looking at stuff in a critical way with serious analysis of the facts, it is more like: "Here's how I see it, so it must be so". This annoyed me.

The narrator is ok in my view, though I think he goes a bit too far in talking with an Indian accent when he's reading the parts from the Indian interviewees. I didn't like that at all.