Thomas L. Friedman - The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Pros: Explained in easy to understand language. Enlightening with current information.
Cons: None

Columbus sailed west to find an easier route to India and by doing so also prove the world is round. The premise of the book is to illustrate how the world is flat, not physically, but getting more on even terms. The author opens with Columbus as an ...

Pros: Great analysis; helped shape my thoughts in regards to outsourcing and the like.
Cons: Does tend to drag in a few spots, but keep reading

Outsourcing and open borders has been the topic of many discussions in recent times including several debates during recent elections. Depending on the point of view of the individuals engaged in the discussion, outsourcing can range from a useful tool ...

Pros: Entertaining look at the current digital revolution and where it is taking us.
Cons: Few, if any.

Thomas L. Friedman’s The World Is Flat is a book of optimistic prophecy about where in the world we actually are today as we are swept forward on the new tidal wave of technology, politics, and economics of the twenty-first century. ...

Pros: Exceptional analysis, impressive information, excellent support of thesis
Cons: Maybe too much information

It goes without saying that Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat is one of the most talked about books of the decade, and for good reason. The book offers a detailed analysis of everything from exporting, outsourcing, trade barriers, terrorism, ...

Pros: Popular and trendy geo-political ideas that upward office goers should be  familiar with.
Cons: Redundant, overly business focused, with a narrow view of humanistic impacts of his theories.

Friedman is a well-known and engaging author who's premise in this book tries to set itself upon the mantle of earth shattering political-history-theory texts.  As the title suggests, the world we inhabit in the 21st Century is in essence "flat" and ...

Pros: Great primer for living and competing in a globalized world.
Cons: A little lengthy

Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat should be mandatory reading for every high school senior. The world is changing and some folks are bound to be left behind. Allow me to illustrate. Just consider for a moment that you are reading a book review ...

Pros: Fantastic book, with great information
Cons: (none)

Ever walk into a room and hear EVERYONE talking about a book? Neither did I, till I read this book. It is unequivocally one of the best books of this decade by far. Friedman does an excellent job relating to us the explicit facts of the ...

Pros: Easy to read
Cons: Extremely repetitive, "facts" are doubtful,

Friedman writes in such a way that makes it very interesting to read. Unlike some books on economic issues, The World Is Flat is easy to follow without getting too bogged down in the mire of economic lingo. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily a good ...

Pros: Easy to read;
Cons: Verbose at times

This book brought to me more than just analyses and documentation of various recent (pre-2005) economic events. It opened up a whole new world of social and personal responsibility in which I, like others, have important roles to play.Yes, on the ...

Pros: * Excellent first 100 pages. * Wake up call to American kids.
Cons: * Too long. * Truly contemporary. Won't have much relevance five years on.

Friedman continues to be an important observer and translator of contemporary forces at work. In this particular book I found him to be far too enamored of Google and Ebay, and simplistic about India as a source for U.S. labor (certainly U.S. kids need to focus much more on their education, but moving work offshore is vastly more difficult and complicated than portrayed in this book.) Important, but too long and too stream-of-consciousness to rate with his previous work.

Pros: it covers a wide range of topics, very simple language, relaxing
Cons: sometimes the book states opinions which are obvious, a bit too expensive

There are very few books people read more than once, especially as far as contemporary books are concerned. This book was first released in 2005 and was later released as an updated edition in 2006. Thomas Friedman's latest book is a brilliant book explaining why the world now is so special. Concepts such us outsourcing, open-source licenses, globalisation and many other are explained in a simple but interesting way. The book is highly recommended to readers who want to understand social and economy phenomena, which are typical for the last two or three decades.

Pros: Life Changing with optimistic anecdotes technological knowledge not needed
Cons: repetitive enough to paralyze you. Too many made up words

This is an amazing read. My eyes have been opened up to the changes in globalization and the flattening of the world. Blah Blah Blah

This book is repetitive.
It's almost like he is getting royalties every time he mentions a previous chapter in the current one that your reading.

Yes it's informative and you can reshape your future with it. But why does it have to be so painfully repetitive?

Pros: Informative, Unpolitical
Cons: Verbose, Just too long and repetitive

This books could have been written in one magazine article, and it would have been readable in that case. In the form this rather laborious book, it gets monotonous and a bit irritating. But there are some nice anecdotes and details about stuff like how supply chains work, etc., which just about make sure it's not a total waste of time beyond the first few pages. Overall, I learnt some new things, but it was far from entertaining, mainly because of the verbosity and repetition.