Amazon.com
Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim, in his new book, The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to.
What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East--is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.) Friedman tells his eye-opening story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns will know well, and also with a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. His book is an excellent place to begin. --Tom Nissley
Where Were You When the World Went Flat?
Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we'd happily have peppered him with questions about The World Is Flat for hours. Read our interview to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?")
The Essential Tom Friedman
From Beirut to Jerusalem |
The Lexus and the Olive Tree |
Longitudes and Attitudes |
More on Globalization and Development
China, Inc. by Ted Fishman |
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz |
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs |
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz |
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli |
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto |
Book Description
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter "Y2K to March 2004," what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this "flattening" of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?
In this brilliant new book, the award-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.
Download Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century
Customer Reviews:
...and so is this book.......2007-10-10
Though it has become an immensely popular book, Friedman's work is fairly shallow and simplistic. It is important to remember that this is a world analysis written by a journalist, not by a political economist or any type of economist or political scientist. His views are oversimplified and his support relies heavily on anecdote, making his 600-pager about 400 pages too long. We read it for a poli sci class and proceeded to tear it apart intellectually.
Ranks up there with Common Sense, Uncle Toms Cabin, The Femine Mystique.......2007-10-10
One of the greatest books ever written. Everyone in America should read this book. Every teacher in America should read and teach Frieman's lessons. Every parent should read and help prepare their children for the world that is coming. Every student should read and begin to prepare for the world they are going to face. This is the most important book of our times, bar none.
Embracing Business Globalization's Irreversibility.......2007-10-10
This is easily the most relevant book written on the new realities of business globalization, its irreversibility, and the practical consequences to our future. Friedman does an excellent job describing the numerous factors that led up to our current global economy including the ongoing fall of communism, the advent of the personal computer, and the ubiquity of the Internet. His historical review and assessment is fascinating and it sets up the reader to understand the context for his theories and practical applications. Friedman delves into numerous industries, businesses, personalities, case studies, technologies, psychological factors, and sociological factors. Although he covers numerous business, technological, and economic concepts, his writing style is very engaging and entertaining, using many personal examples and narratives, thereby holding the reader's interest. Rather than bemoaning some of the common perceived negative consequences of a global economy (such as US auto workers losing jobs to overseas cheaper labor) Friedman helps the reader to understand business globalization's irreversibility. In so doing, he describes many personal, practical, and business strategies for thriving in this new environment. Friedman is realistic and compassionate concerning the changes and the challenges. He states, "the great challenge for our time will be to absorb these changes in ways that do not overwhelm people but also do not leave them behind. None of this will be easy. But this is our task. It is inevitable and unavoidable" (pp. 46-47). As Friedman unfolds his strategies, he gives the reader a broader, global perspective that is filled with hope and excitement. Whether as a CEO, a business student, or a brand new professional embarking upon a career, this book is insightful, practical, and essential reading.
What a good boy am I.......2007-10-06
Reading this book is like watching someone else's kids open their Christmas presents from relatives they don't really know. I'm not sure how the author can possibly be so fascinated by technology and yet know absolutely nothing about it at the same time, but his endless diatribes about the miracles of PayPal and Microsoft Word are beyond laughable, and I was pretty much in shock when he started citing howstuffworks-dot-com as a technical reference on fiber optics and SOAP. What editor told him that this was OK?
So enamored with his own cleverness is he that Mr. Friedman dedicates several pages to explaining the book's title, even though a single sentence would have sufficed. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop after the first chapter; rather than make a point and move on, he has to point out the fact that he just made a point and tell you what a wonderful point it was just in case you missed the point. It's like hanging out with that one friend who sits around smiling and pointing to his hindquarters after he rips one off at the dinner table.
If you want to learn about globalization and are not old enough to remember the first light bulb, go read "No Logo" instead. This is horrible, irrelevant geriatric babbling.
My opinion is flat.......2007-10-03
When a book has had over a thousand reviews, what can I possibly say that hasn't already been said? So I will keep it short and not so sweet.
No one will read this book, or any of the updates, for "fun." Do you NEED to read it? Yes, it contains some important economic concepts and realities, but it's a bit overlong. I'd say it could be cut in half, so skim through some of the numerous "interviews," repetition of central points, and endless advice and encouragement. The global pie is getting bigger and better, but the competition for piecies of that pie is heating up. Smart, ambitious, creative people will thrive; slow, lazy, dull people will languish, and everything inbetween. For too long many Americans have been sitting on their laurels and the day of reckoning is near. Heed this warning: Put down your TV remotes, game controllers, and iPods, and start working like your life (or lifestyle) depended on it. Get your rear into some serious gear, and don't balk at the notion that you should be an "expert" in at least three different, unrelated fields. Does this scare or excite you?
In so many interviews with foreign entrepreneurs, we are told (or reassured) that no matter how much of the "mundane" work is performed by countries other than the U.S., America's creative and innovative spark is still unsurpassed: All the world looks to America to lead the way into the future. I'm not sure. A lot of that "mundane" work was high level and highly paid, and why should we expect that America will continue to dominate in creativity and innovation? The truth is, we're in for a flattening of living standards, and from the perspective of the relatively high American standard of living, it will seem like a drop in standards until we reach another equilibrium (who knows how long that will take?). In any case, the reassurances about the talents and abilities of Americans seem at odds with other parts of the book, such as Bill Gates feeling "terrified at the American work force of tomorrow."
If you're already working hard at becoming an expert in three fields, then you probably don't need to read this book. Indeed, you probably don't have time to read it, or to read and write Amazon reviews, for that matter.
Book Description
Based on the author's extensive experience as a working planner, this book gives readers an insider's view of sub-state urban planning—the “nitty-gritty” details on the interplay of politics, law, money, and interest groups. The author takes a balanced, non-judgmental approach to introduce a range of ideological and political perspectives on the operation of political, economic, and demographic forces in city planning. Unlike other books on the subject, this one is strong in its coverage of economics, law, finance, and urban governance. It examines the underlying forces of growth and change and discusses frankly who benefits and loses by particular decisions. A four-part organization covers the background and development of contemporary planning; the structure and practice of contemporary planning; fields of planning; and national planning in the United States and other nations, and planning theory. For individuals headed for a career in planning.
Customer Reviews:
Get a Broad spectrum of Urban Planning for the Beginner.......2000-07-11
This book gives a broad spectrum of what to expect in the planning field, but there are a few flaws. One is that the book is not written for the technocratic planner, it is written for the beginner or someone who is not going to make planning their career. But this book will give the beginner a broad basis to start from and for this I do suggest the beginner to read this before they choose planning as a career.
Customer Reviews:
Get the 7th edition, instead........2007-09-13
This is an older edition of the book. Get the newer, seventh edition. The ISBN for the 7th edition is 0321451341.
An important and useful text for understanding trade theory.......2006-02-27
Krugman and Obstfeld, two world renowned international economists, provide a full detailed analysis and examples for the basis of trade among nations. It is relatively straightforward to comprehend for both economists and noneconomists. International trade is an important component of economic policy for the growth and development of countries. This book examines various theoretical trade models and provides real world examples of policy formulation and their impact. The authors do not take any political positions, thus making their analysis a purely objective, or positive study.
I would highly recommend this book to students interested in doing research in international trade and development. It is a must read for prospective international economists. Noneconomists might also find it as a useful reference. I found the book to be invaluable in my graduate research and dissertation.
Krugman.......2006-02-25
Some complicated theories explained in a way that can be understood.
Esay flow from a concept to the next.
Not What I've Come to Expect from Krugman.......2005-04-03
First off, even if you totally discount the rest of my review, buy the low price international version of this book. On the March 10, 2005 episode of the daily show Krugman elucidated his feelings quite clearly. "The real money is in textbooks. With other books, people need to decide whether to buy them or not. Students have to buy textbooks." Thanks Paul. I think I'm being charitable when I say that at $125 this book is a ripoff. It isn't even full color.
Anyway, on to the actual content of the book. I have to say that I was excited when I found out that my International economics course at Stanford was going to be using Paul Krugman's book. I've enjoyed his articles for the New York Times because they manage to cut right to the core of issues with an unusual amount of punch. Yet, time and time again I was disappointed with the frequently inpenatrable language and obtuse, unrealistic examples in this book. Unfortunately, the only part of Krugman's characteristic writing style that came through was a feeling of overwrought vitriol, which makes sense in an op-ed but has little place in a textbook. Furthermore, this book occupies a strange niche in the world of econ texts, it is not mathematically rigorous, nor is it well written. Usually we see one or the other but rarely both. Initially, I thought these observations were mine alone, but other students began openly voicing pointed criticisms of the book during class (and I am perhaps being too kind here in not repeating them). I've been in school nearly as long as I can remember and I have never seen such discontent with a text.
During the second half of the course even my econ prof became fed up and abandoned the book altogether. Given that, I find all of the positive reviews for this book rather astounding. My suspicion is that there might have been open rebellion amongst my classmates had not the professor decided to leave this text by the wayside. I also found that it is brimming with misplaced, one-sided arguments that come across as Krugman blatantly strawmanning arguments opposed to his own. One of many examples of this comes out of nowhere near the end of chapter 2. Krugman implies that anyone who doesn't believe in unmitigated free trade is intellectually irresponsible!?! This book pushes for unrestrained market fundamentalism throughout, primarily by misrepresenting any arguments that would effectively challenge it's simplistic and seemingly outdated dogma. This book, in particular, feeds into the same system of self serving scientism so prevalent in economics for the last 60 years.
Please don't mistake this review as the bile of a jilted student, I did quite well in the course. However, this is almost certainly the result of looking for alternative explanations of virtually every topic covered. The reason this book gets one star instead of two is because it lacks a lot of the modern learning tools prevalent in almost every other textbook. Things like quality questions, keywords, vocabulary and historical context all get short shrift in this this volume. If you're into learning about incomplete models that only represent a theoretical version of the world, this book is for you. Unfortunately, just like Krugman said on The Daily Show, if you are a student there is probably little chance that you have a choice on the matter. Buy the cheap international edition for 20 bucks. I would recommend that you use to the difference to buy William Easterly's Elusive Quest for Growth...and a beer.
The Undergraduate International Economics Standard.......2004-06-29
Well, I will start off by saying that the book really probably only deserves somewhere between 4-4.5 stars, but I'll give it 5 to offset some of the questionable reviews below.
No, the book is not perfect. However, it is an academic standard at pretty much any major college or university for teaching undergraduate International Econ/Trade theory, and for good reason. The book makes a clear a concise presentation of basic theory and policy, perhaps in points it is a little too simple. As pointed out, while I'm not sure about the 6th edition, there were some diagrammatical mistakes in the 5th...I bet, however, these were done by a graduate student. A quick bit of reasoning and a second of thought should yield the appropriate picture, however. And yes, I think a bit of Krugman's bias comes through, though its not terribly off-putting.
The book could use a bit more math I think. The real equations and difficult problems are few and far between, and are, for the most part, pretty straight forward. At the very most it would take a basic understanding of calculus, but the majority of the problems and equations can be explained and done without it. I have read a number of undergraduate economics books with far more intensive math. Despite this lack, however, the intentions come across pretty well.
No, this book is not for beginners to economics. At least an undergraduate course or reading in both micro and macro are needed, and really and truly, an intermediate level in each is probably better if one wants to get the most out of the book.
If you find the subject matter within to be terribly math intensive and you cannot get motivated to read the subject matter because it doesn't use "pizza and beer" (and um...I don't think I'd want an imported pizza anyway, but thanks), well I guess the subject and this book are not for you. However, if you are trying to enrich your understanding of economics at a very basic level, this book provides a good way to do so.
And, if you want graduate level book, and like Obstfeld, I recommend he and Rogoff's book.
Book Description
This best-seller stands apart from others of its kind by its comparative approach, patient explanation, concern with policy, and ability to stimulate readers' interest. In a clear, accessible style, the authors demonstrate the important role that American states and communities play in the political life of the nation.
Focuses on the sources and nature of conflict in states and communities, along with the structures and processes designed to manage conflict. Includes updates and new topics throughout, with refocused organization; discusses timely issues such as New York City's response to terrorism and the 2000 presidential race. Examines the background and career of prominent political figures. Illustrates a wide variety of current political conflicts, covering issues such as the drinking age and the right to bear arms. Includes informative and entertaining discussion on various aspects of American states and communities such as state birds, nicknames, and ratings for the "most livable" states. provides end-of-chapter "On the Web" sections that direct students to links and additional information on the Internet.
For anyone interested in learning more about the American political process.
Book Description
Now with a free SINGWIN CD-ROM, Evaluating Practice, Fourth Edition is even easier for readers to understand and apply data analysis.
Unsurpassed among human service evaluation books, Evaluating Practice, Fourth Edition, includes the innovative SINGWIN program, created by Charles Auerbach, David Schnall, and Heidi Heft Laporte of Yeshiva University. Evaluating Practice instructs readers on managing cases and charting and filling out scales. Although the authors are best known within the social work discipline, this book can also be used in other professional programs such as nursing, counseling, psychology, and psychiatry. The free supplement with practice test questions provides a number of helpful exercises.
For anyone interested in social work at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Also for those interested in psychology, counseling, psychiatry, or psychiatric nursing.
Customer Reviews:
A great text book..........2007-01-02
I ordered this textbook for an MSW course, and it's wonderful. I love all the examples and the software that comes with it.
Another Edition to a fantastic text.......2005-08-10
This new edition of the text once again proves that these authors are the masters of single subject research. I have used this text for five years in my graduate methods course and am completely satisfied with their coverage of the material of single subject research design. Just when a researcher thought it could not get any better, this new edition comes along with updates to the software.
Get this book.
enough is enough.......2005-03-22
I was pleased to hear that this text had been assigned in a graduate research course at my graduate school of social work. I'm seriously disappointed. I would not recommend this text's continued use. It is excessively repetitive, constantly restating previous material (commonly referred to as 'rehashing'), and, as a sidebar, i can't help but mention an irritating habit of unnecessary references to material yet to come ('we'll talk about that more in chapter 14.'). The writing style is terribly wordy, and in a weighted, clunky pseudo-conversational style that rarely is effective in a textbook. The actual technical information is obscured in a constant river of verbiage, usually in page after page of solid block text, the least helpful format when learning technical information (or when subsequently searching for specific information or techniques). The result? It serves as a strong sedative. Finally, the authors repeatedly express apologies, in what eventually (by page 350) feels like an obsequious and cloying manner, for putting forward an empirical and accountable approach to clinical practice. The worst, though, is the repetition of material, as if the reader were an idiot. The sheer relentlessness of it is what is so galling, and at $100 bucks, neither affordable nor worth the investment. There are other texts out there with clearer, cleaner, more articulate prose, that are more respectful of the reader, and at half the price, such as the classic and affordable: Single-Case Research Designs: Methods for Clinical and Applied Settings by Alan E. Kazdin. Ignore the pollyanna reviews above and below, and avoid this text, or if on the syllabus, protest and suggest an alternative.
A Classic in Practice Evaluation.......2003-11-13
Bloom, Fischer and Orme continue to make an unique contribution to improving practice in the human services by providing a road map by which practitioners can evaluate their effectiveness. I've been using their text book for over 15 years in teaching practice evaluation and in has been an invaluable help. The new edition has a CD Rom with SingWin, CAAP,and CAAS which I was able to install in Windows XP Home edition. You must install CAAS before CAAP for it to work. The sofware computerizes record keeping, score computation, and graph construction. I strongly reccommend this textbook for human services faculty.
Book Description
The fourth edition of STATISTICS FOR SOCIAL DATA ANALYSIS continues to show students how to apply statistical methods to answer research questions in various fields. Throughout the text, the authors underscore the importance of formulating substantive hypotheses before attempting to analyze quantitative data. An important aspect of this text is its realistic, hands-on approach. Actual datasets are used in most examples, helping students understand and appreciate what goes into the research process. The book focuses on the continuous-discrete distinction in considering the level at which a variable is measured. Rather than dwelling on the four conventional levels-of-measurement distinctions, the authors discuss statistics for analyzing continuous and discrete variables separately and in combination.
Customer Reviews:
Statistics for indoctrination, philosophy for real dummies.......2005-05-20
For academic philosophers of science sociology is not a paradigm of successful science. Earlier Bohrnstedt had enforced his ersatz philosophy of social science as editor of the journal Sociological Methods and Research. Now in this book, Statistics for Social Data Analysis, Bohrnstedt, Knoke and Mee attempt to indoctrinate students in this same ersatz philosophy of science.
The authors advocate their version of Haavelmo's "structural-equation" agenda, allege a distinction between unobserved conceptual variables and observable "indicators", and pontificate criteria for identifying causality prior to statistical modeling and empirical testing.
Contrast their views with some basics of contemporary pragmatism, which prevails in professional academic philosophy taught in universities today:
1. Pragmatist definition of "theory": A theory is any universally quantified statement proposed for testing. It is never defined in terms of any particular ontology - such as subjective motivations. Thus there is no philosophical problem of relating sociological theory to empirical model, because the theory is the model and the model is the theory.
2. Pragmatist criterion for criticism: Only empirical criteria may operate in the criticism of theories. Ontological ideas including preconceived claims about causality are never valid criteria. Thus theories/models may not be rejected merely because their equation specifications do not describe motivations, i.e. do not have a mentalistic ontology.
3. Pragmatist thesis of ontological relativity: The empirically tested and currently nonfalsified theory decides ontology including any claims about causality. Thus one does not firstly know causes and then make theories, but rather the empirically tested and nonfalsified theories/models describe the ontologies of their domains including causality.
4. Pragmatist thesis of pluralism: There may be and often are multiple empirically acceptable - i.e. tested and currently nonfalsified - theories/models. Thus they all make acceptably competing or complementary causal claims, so long as they are found to be empirically acceptable - i.e. not falsified.
In her book, History of Econometric Ideas, Mary S. Morgan writes that there are two ways in which econometrics has been used: (1) discovery or theory development and (2) empirical testing. The contemporary pragmatist philosophy of science assigns statistical analysis a fundamental role in theory development as well as in theory testing. Pragmatism thus invites use of data mining and artificial-intelligence computer systems, which can create and test literally billions of hypotheses.
I believe that this book, Statistics for Social Data Analysis, leaves the reader/student ignorant of the true capability of new technologies such as mechanized statistical analysis of social data for discovery, and that its provincial philosophy of science invites a Luddite attitude toward twenty-first century social science research.
Sociologists who are unaware of contemporary academic philosophy of science will likely not find this review helpful. More importantly such sociologists will also therefore be unable to exploit to their - or their students' - advantage the enabling freedom and contributing opportunities offered by the pragmatist philosophy.
For more: Google my book, History of Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Science at my web site philsci for free downloads, and to view my other book reviews at this Amazon site.
Thomas J. Hickey, Econometrician
For students of social sciences.......2003-03-31
This book is a statistics textbook for students of social sciences, not high-end users. I read earlier edition of this book in undergraduate statistics course. In that course, only basics of statistics were instructed. In social sciences, they don't need to know A to Z of statistics for all they have to know is what the function of SPSS or SAS means and what kind of data is needed and how the data would be analyzed in the statistics packages. There is no need to derive the functions in the textbook mathematically as they do in the courses of statistics department. We should understand what the function means, not how it is derived. This book is written in this regard. Unlike orthodox statistics textbook, this book tackles only the meaning of the statistical methods. In doing so, this book illustrates the methods with various field works and SPSS exercises. This is the stance most textbook written for social scientists takes. It seems that this book succeed in achieving the goal. Explanations are succinct and examples are apposite.
But this book is not that useful when you should do real research. Most social sciences articles use more advanced methods than what this book introduces. This book is good enough to beginners, but not so to who would be real researcher. At that point, you should have read more advanced ones already. If not, you couldn't read a piece of article in the common journals.
Amazon.com
One day in 1992, Thomas Friedman toured a Lexus factory in Japan and marveled at the robots that put the luxury cars together. That evening, as he ate sushi on a Japanese bullet train, he read a story about yet another Middle East squabble between Palestinians and Israelis. And it hit him: Half the world was lusting after those Lexuses, or at least the brilliant technology that made them possible, and the other half was fighting over who owned which olive tree.
Friedman, the well-traveled New York Times foreign-affairs columnist, peppers The Lexus and the Olive Tree with stories that illustrate his central theme: that globalization--the Lexus--is the central organizing principle of the post-cold war world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding onto what has traditionally mattered to them--the olive tree.
Problem is, few of us understand what exactly globalization means. As Friedman sees it, the concept, at first glance, is all about American hegemony, about Disneyfication of all corners of the earth. But the reality, thank goodness, is far more complex than that, involving international relations, global markets, and the rise of the power of individuals (Bill Gates, Osama Bin Laden) relative to the power of nations.
No one knows how all this will shake out, but The Lexus and the Olive Tree is as good an overview of this sometimes brave, sometimes fearful new world as you'll find. --Lou Schuler
Book Description
From one of our most perceptive commentators and winner of the National Book Award, a comprehensive look at the new world of globalization, the international system that, more than anything else, is shaping world affairs today.
As the Foreign Affairs columnist for
The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman has traveled the globe, interviewing people from all walks of contemporary life: Brazilian peasants in the Amazon rain forest, new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Islamic students in Teheran, and the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.
Now Friedman has drawn on his years on the road to produce an engrossing and original look at globalization. Globalization, he argues, is not just a phenomenon and not just a passing trend. It is the international system that replaced the Cold War system; the new, well-greased, interconnected system: Globalization is the integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and, to some degreee, a global village. Simply put, one can't possibly understand the morning news or one's own investments without some grasp of the system. Just one example: During the Cold War, we reached for the hot line between the White House and the Kremlin--a symbol that we were all divided but at least the two superpowers were in charge. In the era of globalization, we reach for the Internet--a symbol that we are all connected but nobody is totally in charge.
With vivid stories and a set of original terms and concepts, Friedman offers readers remarkable access to his unique understanding of this new world order, and shows us how to see this new system. He dramatizes the conflict of "the Lexus and the olive tree"--the tension between the globalization system and ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community. He also details the powerful backlash that globalization produces among those who feel brutalized by it, and he spells out what we all need to do to keep the system in balance. Finding the proper balance between the Lexus and the olive tree is the great drama of he globalization era, and the ultimate theme of Friedman's challenging, provocative book--essential reading for all who care about how the world really works.
Customer Reviews:
Tons of theories, and examples, good read for learning about Globalization.......2007-10-16
Mr. Friedman is very effective in defending the globalization. It did not paint the picture all peachy and cream about globalization. I remember hearing a term, "those who suffered from globalization always know who they are, those who benefited from Globalization does not always know who they are." A lot of the example in the books are quite relevant. The title of the book is a bit off I think, it is a bit puzzling to me. Globalization is inevitable according to Mr. Friedman, I think it is very hard to resist also. Especially when all the information is flowing freely on the net, it is going to get harder for any countries trying to hold on to the old non-competitive way of living.
What is globalization?.......2007-09-16
Just about everyone has a definition of globalization and a view as to whether it is 'good' or 'bad'. For most of us, relative 'goodness' or 'badness' will depend on how we perceive globalization to impact on us individually or on our local communities.
The case for globalization is not made in this book. The relative measurement of global benefits and disadvantages is not something readily accessible to most of us: what benefits me is likely to disadvantage you.
What makes this book worth reading, in my view, is that by using concrete examples (ownership of the olive tree, or desire for the Lexus)readers may come to see debates about globalization as not just being the realm of economists and governments. Whether we like it or not, globalization is part of the current world landscape. We need to consider what this means at an individual level.
This book does not provide answers. What it does provide is a starting point for identifying and thinking about some of the issues.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
utterly vacuous...the case for globalization is made far better elsewhere.......2007-08-21
I read this book years ago. While I realized then that the book was poor, only now after reading several other books on the same topic do I realize just how much. Friedman's only discernible talent seems to be filling pages with fact-like tripe and passing it off as, well, something worthy of attention. In the process of course he's swindling people who are actually interested enough in globalization to buy a book. Thomas Friedman isn't an economist, from what I can tell he's not an expert on much of anything, and his long-sustained role as some sort of eminently knowledgeable commentator on these topics bothers me to no end. People like this slow down the progress of all human kind.
Since I'm what you could characterize for lack of a better term as "pro-globalization", this book makes me doubly angry, as it manages to damage the cause it purportedly supports. He can't even preach to the choir properly, since the choir thinks he's an idiot.
Critics of globalization are laughed off in 20 pages, and even if he spent more time he doesnt have the expertise to make a remotely convincing case. This is done far better elsewhere, I'd recommend Martin Wolf's 'Why Globalization Works.' Its a much tougher read for an intro to globalization, but thats because, uh, Wolf actually knows what he's talking about. So if you're "anti-globalization" and want a book to challenge your perceptions, or are just someone generally interested in the topic, read that. But if you feel like having a laugh at a self-absorbed, self-appointed 'expert' and cheerleader for processes he cant possibly understand, then by all means read Friedman.
And just to reiterate for everyone who's read this already, if you think you learned something from this book about globalization, either for or against, you probably didn't.
Excellent Globalization Primer.......2007-07-25
Even though this book is seven years old, I still found it to be a highly adept examination of globalization and a good primer for anyone who, like myself, has not read every tome on the growing global economy. Friedman is obviously an accomplished journalist and author, and brings these talents to bear on much of the book. I found myself pausing quite often to reflect on some of the theories he presented, like Golden Straightjacket, DOScapital, or - my favorite - the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention.
This last concept serves as a perfect example for the intellectual tone of the book, and some of the debatable concepts. While he was on one of his many globetrotting expeditions, Friedman formed this theory from the observation that no country capable of a sustaining a McDonald's franchise had ever gone to war with another of similar standing. The theory is that by the time the middle class of a country is large enough to support a McDonald's franchise, there is too much for it to loose in terms of global trade capital, to risk a protracted war with another McDeveloped state. Of course, this theory has its adversaries, who often point to the US intervention into Panama or NATO's bombing of Serbia, but that healthy intellectual debate is exactly what makes reading this book so fun and thought provoking.
I only failed to give Mr. Friedman's book 5 stars, because in the end, I thought he could have made his point more succinctly. For, if we truly live in a global world, where we compete against everyone else on the planet, who has time to read a book of over 500 pages?
Mixed reviews.......2007-07-23
I initially found this book pretty interesting. I watched Thomas Friedman's interview on Charlie Rose and found him to be an interesting speaker on timely issues related to globalization.
When I got the book and started reading it, I got pretty tired of reading the made-up terms he used, eg. electronic herd etc..
I found the book to be biased towards the benefits of globalization and dismissing the disadvantages.
What I did like about the book was some of the personal anecdotes he relates to the readers, ultimately giving you the feel that you're hearing the story from the man on the ground.
I found doomsdayer520's review of this book to be particularly helpful.
Book Description
Exceptionally up-to-date and rich in cross-national examples, Political Science offers an unbiased and thorough introduction to the basic concepts and theories of political science. With a critical look at the major theories, it exposes students to many ways of thinking, and challenges them to think critically. Emphasizing both U.S. and comparative politics provides students with a solid foundation for connecting their studies ot what is happening in the world around them.
Customer Reviews:
Author needs to take Political Science 101.......2005-08-31
While study one night I had to stop and write up a review for this "textbook". I agree with the other 1 star reviewer. At first I thought the person was exaggerating. Boy was I wrong.
The author is very biased and one sided and that is just not acceptable when writing a Intro to Political Science book. There are ignorant and bias thoughts and sentences throughout. Here are two examples, both on the first page of the first chapter:
"Interest in politics in the United States has slumped. Not only students but also attentive and educated citizens have turned away from politics."
Here's another, a paragraph down.......
"Perhaps terrorism and recession are needed to renew interest in politics." This guy is an ass!!
Do no waste your money on this rubbish. I suggest in its place "Ideals and Ideologies: A reader" (5th ed. by Terence Ball) as an excellent Intro to Political Science textbook. If your professor requires this "textbook", bring to the attention of him or her that this is not good study material.
"Unbiased?" Yeah, right!.......2005-02-01
Let me start by admitting I have the Seventh Edition (2000), not the 2002 version. However, I doubt that there could be much improvement. This "textbook" can only be the product of gross incompetence or extreme bias, I will let you decide which.
For example, page 340 reads "It is true that some regimes commit acts of great evil; military regimes in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala killed thousands on the slightest suspicion of leftism. But how is it that these military regimes came to power? Why does system breakdown recur repeatedly in such contries?"
So, does the author not know that we, the US, overthrew the democratically elected Arbenz in Guatemalla, and Allende in Chile? Everyone else knows this...and does the author not know that Chile, prior to this installation of Pinochet, was the one stable democracy in Latin America? So how then is Chile a case of this "recur(ing) repeatedly? (sic)" It happened once. Does the fact that two of his three examples of internal "system breakdown" leading to regime change actualy represent partially, or largely, the external actions of a superpower interfering in the internal affairs of weaker soveriegn countries not seem to be problematic? How can these be used as examples of internal processes when everyone knows what really happened, and that is not it? The author, in order to assert this, must be grossly ignorant of history (thereby disqualifying him as a viable authority in the field) or, knowing history, must be intentionally and knowingly distorting it for political reasons (thereby making him unquestionably biased, intellectually dishonest, and also therefore unsuited for the field).
On top of that we have the unfortunately normal systemic incompetence of the Political Science field in general. "Theory" and "causation" are words which they have no grasp of the meaning of in academic discourse. Methodology is a joke; a pile of correlations mushed together with assertions and assumptions (some already disproven for a few decades elsewhere) to create just-so stories does not make a legitimate theory or even hypothesis. We know too much about human nature, via studies done in Psychology, Neurobiology, and Evolutionary Psychology, and empirical information from anthropology, primatology, and ethology, and theoretical and empirical knowledge supplied by evolutionary biology, to just "assume" that humans are rational and go merrily on our way as Political Science is still doing. There is a huge body of knowledge on this question now, entire books debate it back and forth. It is in no way legitimate to simply plead ignorance and continue to build huge mental constructs of how the world works based on assumptions we in no way can justify making given what is known.
If this field were in any way deserving of the word "science," the knowledge that a fundamental "assumption" was seriously in doubt would result in massive questioning of the veracity of the ideas based on that assumption. That has not happened.
I urge you all not to waste your money on this book, I could give many more equally damning examples but the above should suffice. I also suggest that Evolutionary Psychology would be a far more profitable course of study if you want to know about human political behavior.
Amazon.com
Since September 2001, the United States has "undergone a transformation from republic to empire that may well prove irreversible," writes Chalmers Johnson. Unlike past global powers, however, America has built an empire of bases rather than colonies, creating in the process a government that is obsessed with maintaining absolute military dominance over the world, Johnson claims. The Department of Defense currently lists 725 official U.S. military bases outside of the country and 969 within the 50 states (not to mention numerous secret bases). According to the author, these bases are proof that the "United States prefers to deal with other nations through the use or threat of force rather than negotiations, commerce, or cultural interaction." This rise of American militarism, along with the corresponding layers of bureaucracy and secrecy that are created to circumvent scrutiny, signals a shift in power from the populace to the Pentagon: "A revolution would be required to bring the Pentagon back under democratic control," he writes.
In Sorrows of Empire, Johnson discusses the roots of American militarism, the rise and extent of the military-industrial complex, and the close ties between arms industry executives and high-level politicians. He also looks closely at how the military has extended the boundaries of what constitutes national security in order to centralize intelligence agencies under their control and how statesmen have been replaced by career soldiers on the front lines of foreign policy--a shift that naturally increases the frequency with which we go to war.
Though his conclusions are sure to be controversial, Johnson is a skilled and experienced historian who backs up his claims with copious research and persuasive arguments. His important book adds much to a debate about the realities and direction of U.S. influence in the world. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
"Impressive . . . a powerful indictment of U.S. military and foreign policy." Los Angeles Times Book Review, front page In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was described first as the globe's "lone superpower," then as a "reluctant sheriff," next as the "indispensable nation," and in the wake of 9/11, as a "New Rome." In this important national bestseller, Chalmers Johnson thoroughly explores the new militarism that is transforming America and compelling us to pick up the burden of empire.Recalling the classic warnings against militarism-from George Washington's Farewell Address to Dwight Eisenhower's denunciation of the military-industrial complex-Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past. Turning to the present, he maps America's expanding empire of military bases and the vast web of services that support them. He offers a vivid look at the new caste of professional militarists who have infiltrated multiple branches of government, who classify as "secret" everything they do, and for whom the manipulation of the military budget is of vital interest. Among Johnson's provocative conclusions is that American militarism is already putting an end to the age of globalization and bankrupting the United States, even as it creates the conditions for a new century of virulent blowback. The Sorrows of Empire suggests that the former American republic has already crossed its Rubicon-with the Pentagon in the lead.
Customer Reviews:
A Critical Review.......2007-08-05
This book gets everything wrong.
Johnson argues that the demise of the USSR was a great economic victory, having everything to do with the failure of socialist economics and nothing to do with the successes of American foreign policy. Unfortunately for Johnson, the wasted resources of the Cold War arms race - and the wasted resources of the Cold War arms race alone - were what bankrupted the natural-resource rich Soviet states. The United States fought and won the Cold War economically, by forcing the East into a battle it could not win - a battle where the biggest spender (necesarily the economically liberal west) wins by default. Left to its own devices, the Soviet states could have persisted indefinitely in moderate prosperity thanks to the global capital markets and the value of their domestic resources, the lunacy of their domestic economics aside. See China, India, and even Venezuela today.
Johnson further argues that the Pentagon failed to "restructure" and/or "demobilize" following the Cold War. This is categorically false. The United States military (particularly its Army and Air Force) was phased down radically in the two decades between the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the September 11th terrorist attacks. A signifigant Naval presence was maintained as a matter of apparent national necessity - even without a Soviet Union, the post-globalization world demanded the West have at least one member capable of global power projection as a simple matter of motivated self interest. The United States has ALWAYS maintained a signifigant peace-time naval capacity, however. This is nothing new and certainly no product of a "military-industrial" complex. Washington himself, that great hero of the anti-military renegades and oft-quoted as decrying standing armies, comission the first permanent and standing warships of the USN to protect the young country against - whoulda thunk it - Islamic terrorists.
Johnson then argues that the Pentagon's involvement in the war on drugs and terror is a dishonest effort at justification of a bloated budget, but this is historically inane. The American armed forces have always been intimately involved in the enforcement of extramilitary foreign policy. American soldiers pursued Mexican criminals across our sothern border over a century and a half ago. We have dispatched the Navy repeatedly throughout our history to deal with piracy and barbarism when local authorities have been noncooperative. The war on drugs - and military involvement therewith - is simply an extension of this legacy. So, too, is the war on terror.
Everything this book argues is backwards and apparently nonsensical. And everything that Johnson proports to be a "new" product of post-Cold War Pentagon amokism is as old as the Republic he so claims to love. The man could do well to get himself an elementary history lesson, and to spend 15 minutes outside the safe, secure, and utterly arealistic ivory tower that is American elite society. Our half a trillion dollar military is the foundation that keeps his - and to an extent all of our - tower(s) of ignorance erect and pristine. We would all do well to realize that our lives and lifestyles are both historically unprecedented, and unique to our borders and our civilization even today. THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES NOT LIVE AND THINK LIKE WE DO.
The United States maintains the worlds largest and most capable standing army in the history of the planet not because it wants to, but because it must. The world is a dark place. Most if its people are not like Americans (and Westerners), and most of its countries are not as benevolent as America (and the Western world). While the rest of our civilization surrenders its capacity and will to defend itself and its ideological allies, the United States has willfully chosen to bear the burden alone, knowing full well the costs and consequences of this decision. We do this because we have confidence in this old, and grand, Republic. And because we know better than to trust and surrender our fates to the good-will of our less Republican neighbors.
Secrets of our Empire............2007-07-26
Truly a revealing expose of things you never knew about our American military and related.....now you do...and it may surprise you or scare you.....read this book...very revealing.....
might does not make right.......2007-07-03
From George Washington and James Madison to Eisenhower's farewell address in 1961, some of our country's greatest leaders have warned about the dangers of standing armies and the military-industrial complex. In this second installment of his "inadvertent trilogy" about the costs and consequences of America's belligerent empire, Chalmers Johnson describes in meticulous detail the nature and extent of American militarism. In his first book, Blowback (2000), he warned that our global militarism and predatory economic policies virtually assure retaliations for decades to come. He published Blowback about eighteen months before the 9/11 attacks, and in retrospect his warning now reads like a diagnosis. His third volume, Nemesis (2006), is more like an autopsy; it describes our destiny with Nemesis, "the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris" (in Greek, "nemesis" means "to give what is due").
Unlike ancient empires, our imperial hegemony consists not of conquered territories but of military bases. Today the Department of Defense admits that America deploys 254,788 (double that number if you include dependents) military personnel to at least 725 military bases in 153 countries (there are 189 countries in the United Nations). That does not include numerous secret and officially nonexistent bases. Our own country is home to 969 separate bases in all fifty states. It's hard to believe, writes Johnson, that at the beginning of World War II our regular army consisted of 186,000 men; today it numbers 1.4 million. Nor is this any longer a citizen's army, but instead a professional warrior class (41% of whom are nonwhite).
Johnson's book documents our militarism beginning with the 1898 Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish-American war; Woodrow Wilson's fervent belief in America's moral exceptionalism and obligation to export democracy to the world; the incestuous marriage of the military to the incredibly lucrative for-profit arms industry, and merry-go-round of former military and corporate personnel; America's sale of weapons to the world; our violations of international treaties and courts that have generated global distrust of much of what we say and do; the roles of oil (our import levels are "at the highest levels ever recorded") and Israel; and the predatory nature of economic globalization.
In a final chapter Johnson suggests four sorrows of our militaristic empire that he now considers all but unavoidable: a state of perpetual war, the loss of democratic processes and institutions, endemic lying by the state (glorification of war, disinformation, propaganda, etc.), and financial ruin. Empires don't last forever, he reminds us. In the last hundred years nine "empires" have collapsed: Nazi Germany, imperial Japan, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, China, Austro-Hungaria, and the Ottomans. Despite our deep delusion about our good intentions and moral exceptionalism, we have no reason whatsoever to expect that history will treat our belligerence and hubris any differently. What we should expect is a meeting with Nemesis.
Better Than Blowback.......2007-06-10
In the first nine chapters of the book, Johnson writes about his perception of an increasing American militarism, and also says there is an emerging American empire. He also describes the privatization of the military through war merchants and mercenaries. A solid case is made against some members of the current administration, but he doesn't spare Clinton's "globalization" in the book either. The tenth and last chapter alone is nearly worth the price. After making a very strong case for the United States to turn from its interventionist tendencies of the last 30 years, Johnson outlines four great dangers the USA will face as it wades deeper into the waters of interventionism. He finds fault with all recent past presidential administrations, and says that Congress has abandoned its duties and responsibilities in favor of greasy palmed careerism.
Like the first part of the trilogy, Chalmers Johnson writes about blowback, a CIA term for unintended consequences of covert action. His theory is that the perils of blowback are increasing, and the country is rapidly descending farther and farther away from its democratic moorings and into a militaristic empire.
This book is written in a more interesting style than part 1 ("Blowback") and keeps the reader interested through out.
Weakness-Some of the original source work is not strong and it is clearly written with a more popular audience in mind. For example, the suspect web site Capital Hill Blue is used as a source. So, perhaps some of the evidence presented is flawed, but the main theme still rings true.
This book, coupled with "Blowback" have seriously altered my thinking of foreign policy matters. I recommend both.
What else has Mr. Johnson done for the Republic lately?.......2007-06-03
Gore Vidal has been writing far longer and more eloquently than Mr. Johnson on the end of the Republic as a consequence of the American Empire. Mr. Johnson adds a dispassionate and steadily accumulating set of figures, monetary and otherwise, that show the true costs of the American Empire and its negative eroding effects on the Republic.
This is Mr. Johnson's second book in his "American Empire Project". The first Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (Second Edition), published before the events of Sept. 11, 2001 now seems eerily prescient. That book pointed out the unintended but inevitable consequences of American foreign policy and interference abroad and suggested a consequent "blowback".
The problem I have with Mr. Johnson and other eminent diagnosticians, even Vidal (though he did try running for elected office in CA a long time ago), is they seem unwilling to go further than write books. Mr. Johnson makes much (pp. 12) of Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the US Constitution which says "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time." Now the latter clause regarding publication of accounts has been honored only in the breach, at least in recent times. I wrote Mr. Johnson asking "What legal attempts by private citizens have been made thus far to attempt to have this provision enforced?" Mr. Johnson replies that "You ask an excellent question but it would take a Constitutional lawyer to answer it." Now if I am to trust Mr. Johnson in his avowed belief in the Republic, its Constitution and the enforcement thereof, I would have expected him to have explored this avenue of enforcement already.
Given that the Republic is not yet dead, and that the rule of law is at least intermittently permitted, and that the courts are not yet entirely corrupt or partisan. I for one don't understand why those of Mr. Johnson's ilk, with their resources, don't approach the courts or petition the few honest or semi-honest legislators left to force the light of day on the costs and consequences of our empire. At least then, no citizen of this our disappearing Republic will be able to say that Mr. Johnson didn't do his best to tell them so. Only writing books doesn't cut it.
Customer Reviews:
A very good guide for an undergraduate course.......2007-03-22
I used several times the fifth edition of the Krugman and Obstfeld's book to teach International Finance to undergraduates in economics and I found it comprehensive, understandable and very didactic. True, the book does not follow a rigorous mathematical approach, less a dynamic approach, but I think that is not the authors' intention. On the contrary, they use simple equations, basic graphical analysis, empirical data illustrations and some economic history to show the main issues they want to. And I must say that they clearly succeed in explaining virtually every topic an undergraduate student should know about international economics.
There are several essential topics that should be part of the backbone of a course in international finance and they are included in this book:
- the asset approach to exchange rates;
- the crucial role of expectations;
- the relationship between money, interest rates and the exchange rates in the short run;
- the long run relationship between prices and exchange rates;
- the internal and external equilibrium for small open economies;
- the interaction of fiscal and monetary policies in an international context;
- inflation bias and other policy formulation problems;
- fixed exchange rates and foreign intervention;
- A description of the evolution of the international monetary system;
- floating exchange rates; macroeconomic policy and international coordination;
- optimum currency areas;
- recent topics on the global capital markets; and
- growth, crisis and reform in developing countries.
In sum, Krugman and Obstfeld's book is a pretty good undergrad textbook to learn for the first time the core of monetary issues in international economics.
One word describes the book.......2007-03-11
Verbose! The authors spend pages upon pages wasting trees trying to explain a concept that could be explained using one paragraph. The authors go in circles in my opinion, sometimes i feel that they forget what they had initially started. And the shyness to use math and write out what could be written as a single equation makes the book about 600 pages when it should only be 200.
A not-so-bad survey of international economics.......2006-11-28
Regarding Gerald Senarclens de Grancy's comments: The idea of Krugman as a Bush administration cheerleader is pretty funny. At first I thought this was a joke but then I realised it wasn't. Granted, the book doesn't mention the Tobin Tax, but there's only so much you can pack into a superficial survey text like this. Overall, I think the authors are pretty unbiased and mainstream. (Haven't used the web supplements, so can't comment on that).
Having seen this book evolve over several editions, I can honestly say that the current one represents a distinct improvement, with the new introductory chapter on the gravity model providing some much needed perspective at the start. However, it's not an ideal book to learn trade theory and open econonmy macro from. My favorite (although slightly more rigorous) is "The International Economy" by Kenen. And if you are only interested in trade theory, "International Trade, Theory and Evidence" by Markusen et. al. is superior.
Totally dissatisfied.......2006-03-28
I'm really unhappy with both the book and the services provided that come with the book. This has several reasons of which I'd like to point out a few here (though I have to note that I only read the second part - the one about international monetary policy):
o) the book follows a pure neclassical approach and seems very biased against everything else
o) it sometimes reads like propaganda for some republican presidents
o) it doesn't discuss (or even mention) very important contemporary concepts such as the tobin tax which could have a deep impact on international monetary policy
o) the web applications are not provided for users of any other software than the core Microsoft systems, which makes them unusable by those who like eg. Apple, Firefox or Linux
o) even running in Internet Explorer the web exercises have some major problems (some of the suggested answers are simply wrong)
o) the web applications refer to graphs that do not appear in the newest edition
o) the explanations are sometimes not very clear, in my point of view there are even contradictions
o)...
concluding I have to say that this book represents to me both a waste of money and a waste of time.
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