The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

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The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
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Publication Year: 2007
ASIN: B004VD3POU

A New Edition of the Phenomenal #1 Bestseller. The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks — environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

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About the Book

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
“Nicely sums up the explosion of digital-technology advances during the past fifteen years and places the phenomenon in its global context … Friedman never shrinks from the biggest problems and the thorniest issues.” — Paul Magnusson, BusinessWeek
“[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 (front cover review)
“A brilliant, instantly clarifying metaphor for the latest, arguably the most profound conceptual mega-shift to rock the world in living memory.” — David Ticoll, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“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
“[The World is Flat] is filled with the kind of close reporting and intimate yet accessible analysis that have been hard to come by. Add in Friedman’s winning first-person interjections and masterful use of strategic wonksterisms, and this book should end up on the front seats of quite a few Lexuses and SUVs of all stripes.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Back Cover

“One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal,” the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times, reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. For this updated and expanded edition, Friedman has seen his own book in a new way, bringing fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. New material includes:

  • The reasons why the flattening of the world “will be seen in time as one of those fundamental shifts or inflection points, like Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, the rise of the nation-state, or the Industrial Revolution”
  • An explanation of “uploading” as one of the ten forces that are flattening the world, as blogging, open-source software, pooled knowledge projects like Wikipedia, and podcasting enable individuals to bring their experiences and opinions to the whole world
  • A mapping of the New Middle — the places and spaces in the flat world where middle-class jobs will be found — and portraits of the character types who will find success as New Middlers
  • An account of the qualities American parents and teachers need to cultivate in young people so that they will be able to thrive in the flat world
  • A call for a government-led “geo-green” strategy to preserve the environment and natural resources

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