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Summary and Analysis of

The World Is Flat

A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Further Updated and Expanded

Based on the Book by Thomas L. Friedman

The summary and analysis in this ebook are meant to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction. This ebook is not intended as a substitute for the work that it summarizes and analyzes, and it is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the works author or publisher. Worth Books makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this ebook.

Contents

Context

Thomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prizewinning New York Times columnist, is the author of the bestseller The Lexus and the Olive Tree , a book that examined globalization in the 1990s. The discussion spawned by that book spurred him to write The World Is Flat , which expands on the concepts introduced in The Lexus and the Olive Tree , deepening the readers understanding of the multiple forces driving our increasingly global economy.

Friedman spent time traveling the world and talking to business leaders, resulting in The World Is Flat . Not content to simply let the book age, he updated it with new material in 2006, incorporating the rapid technological changes since its initial publication. For instance, uploadingindividuals putting their own content on the Webhad become so much more of a flattener that he felt it necessary to add a fair amount of content to sections that discussed it.

In August 2007, The World Is Flat 3.0 was published. Once again, Friedman added new material to keep up with the evolving world. The most recent (as of this writing) version includes information on how best to educate children for the globalized flat world.

Overview

Two world events bookended a quiet revolution: the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and the fall of the World Trade Center towers in New York City on September 11, 2001: 11/9 and 9/11.

Between these events, the world saw unprecedented growth in connectivity, aided by leaps forward in technology. We are richer than ever before. Tangled supply chains make us more peacefulnations in business together are less likely to go to war with one another. Even the huge losses of the dot-com bubble paid off in the form of outsourcing and offshore labor. Politically and culturally retooled former Communist economies like India and China emerged to aggressively court foreign investment. Prices of goods and services fell.

But not everyone was happy with this new, flat world. In the Middle East, secular and religious authoritarian leaders encouraged a revolution of hate. Irritated and humiliated by a decadent West, militant terrorist groups used the systems created byand forflattening in order to make a mutated supply chain that assembled bombs instead of computers.

Friedman discusses, often in list form, the many forces underlying the flattening of the world, then considers the future to examine what must be done in order to use globalization to the advantage of humanity, and to avoid furthering the terrorist agendas of organizations like al-Qaeda.

Summary

Introduction to the Paperback Edition

Thomas L. Friedman knows people are wondering why he has updated his book for the second time in two years. His reply: because he could. In an example of the technological changes he discusses in The World Is Flat 3.0 , Friedman says the publishing industry has sped up the process so much that he is now able to revise a book quickly, whereas before it wouldnt have been possible. Another reason for the second update is that he wanted to address questions from parents and educators on how best to raise children in this flat world.

How the World Became Flat

One: While I Was Sleeping

Christopher Columbus, of oceans blue and 1492, thought he could find a better passage to India. Spain wanted in on the spice trade, so they funded his voyage. It was lucky, then, that he reached land before running out of food and water. He declared the natives Indians and proved that the world was round, despite some sketchy cartography.

In the present day, Indians of a very different kind greet Westernersin the form of companies like IBM, HP, Microsoft, and Texas Instruments, as well as consumers in need of a helping tech handthrough phone lines and fiber-optic networks created at great expense and sold cheaply in the early 2000s. These Indians are the first of many people freed from the accident of geography. They handle the work that Americans used to doin fields ranging from accounting to radiology to journalism to tutoring kids. Whatever work can be digitized and outsourced, will beeven if only a portion of the process is sent to India (or Australia, China, or anyplace else where its daytime during the American nighttime). Friedman uses the example of making dinner plans: Sure, you need cooks and waiters in the United States, but someone in Bangalore can easily take your reservation, assign you a table, and store your contact information.

The reason is simple: Indian workers can be paid less than American workers. In India, there is an entire system set up to hire and train call center employeesincluding classes on how to develop an American accent. The people seeking these jobs are educated and upwardly mobile, the type of Indians who mightve immigrated to the United States in the past, seeking advancement. Now, they can have a successful American job without having to leave their families and culture.

Its not just America, either. Friedman discusses Japan outsourcing jobs to China, an odd concept for historical enemies. Chinese workers dont seem bothered by the old animosity, thoughtheyre focused on the bottom line. Their plan is to earn money and learn the newest technology and business so that eventually they can stop working for American and Japanese firms and start their own.

Outsourcing isnt the only kind of sourcing. JetBlue uses home workers in Utah to handle reservations. McDonalds has people in other states taking drive-through orders. The military flies drones in Iraq from a base in Nevada.

The virtual, collaborative community we call the world is flat.

Need to Know: Opportunity costs fell so massively in the decade between the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the events of 9/11 that we might as well call it a new era of discovery, a world gone from round to flat. Friedman believes that this is a watershed development in history, akin to the Industrial Revolution.

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