The World is Flat

The World is Flat

Thomas L. Friedman

Non-Fiction

This book is for the type of reader that likes informative, non-fiction books. This book doesn’t have a plot or any characters rather it’s about the author trying to sum up the history of the 21^st century. If you want a book with an elaborate story line this book is not for you. Throughout the book the author describes how the world has been changing through technological advances which bring us all together. The internet, the development of outsourcing and cell phones are just some of the things he talks about that have affected the world in a drastic way. Through all these advances we have been making the world has increasingly become smaller where everyone is united. Therefore, he believes the world is “flat”. In one of his examples of this “flattening” or uniting of the world, he talks about how companies are expanding throughout the world like an Indian call center helping out American customers with their products.

In a book review by the New York Times the book review calls Friedman’s metaphor of globalization to the flattening of the world ingenious. He also goes on to say the way this book was written makes it very accessible to read. I agree with both, writing in first person definitely helped me understand the book better. Friedman’s evidence for the flattening of the world was put into a fairly easy to read format. I gave this book a 7 because of how interesting I personally thought it was. It might not be the greatest book for others to read, but I enjoyed reading about his ideas (plus it was easier to read than I thought).