Thomas L. Friedman

In this book, Friedman does what he does best: take an enormous and complicated phenomenon and break it down into more digestible portions. He should have, however, extended the discussion to a chapter on the specific international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank as well as the many free trade agreements. I agree with Friedman that these global shifts are creating benefits through competition, more opportunities and more collaboration, but how do those institutions fit into these changes? Do they reflect and foster free and fair trade? Has American hegemony allowed it to dictate some of the terms of membership as well as practices?

Friedman could have made the book much more concise by removing the plethora of useless anecdotes he recounts.

Overall, this is a seminal book only to the extent that Friedman is building upon and tying together the ideas of many before him and bringing a loud megaphone to it. His new obsession with clean energy seems to reflect the same pattern.