The World is Flat

So I switched from Un Lun Dun to The World is Flat. Half because I really wanted to say, “Oh, I’m reading a book that is described as ‘a brief history of the twenty-first century,’” instead of saying, “Oh, I’m reading a fantasy novel written for 11 year-olds.” And half because of the curse of Un Lun Dun. 

Anyways, The World is Flat is a rather daunting book with a total of 635 pages (or 632 since it starts on page 3) with a 19-page index. The print is small, and the paper is thicker than paper found in the phone book and the Bible but much thinner than printer paper. 

The basic premise of The World is Flat is that the world is becoming smaller and equal opportunities are emerging not only for countries and companies but also for individuals. And these individuals are not all American or European males. In fact, many of them come from different parts of the world and are, as Friedman says, “every color of the human rainbow” (11). The book begins with Friedman in India where he is taken aback by the enormous amount of outsourcing in the country. He notes that many menial and simple jobs are now being shipped over seas and that only the personal, high-skill jobs remain in America. 

So far, The World is Flat gets a solid three stars from me. The idea of “the world is flat” is a gimmicky way of saying “globalization.” I was hoping for a book that just tracked history from the year 2000 and onwards. Also, I think the idea of “the world is flat” is presented in a way that makes it seem like some novel and amazing idea. But it’s not. It is, in fact, an obvious statement. And if the entire 600-some pages of this goliath is Friedman fanning himself over how incredible his discovery is (he actually compares his discovery to Columbus’s discovery that the world is large and round), then I’m dropping this book, and I’m picking up Un Lun Dun. However, to the book’s credit, it wouldn’t hurt me to learn a little about the finer details of the world shrinking in recent years, so I’m going to try to stick with it. Like a trooper.