The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

4/10

Time to dust off the old blog cover for another post. I read this book probably seven years ago. I remember it well. I read it for extra credit for my Information Systems class. I read probably a little less than half and then wrote up a little paper about it and voila, hello barely getting a B. I then actually finished the book a few years later, I believe in 2009. Yes, because I remember playing an all-day softball tournament in Delta (where we took 2nd place and I got a long sleeve t-shirt that has since served as my pajama shirt during the winter months) and I brought this book to read during the breaks between games. I was reading it on the bleachers without the book cover and someone legitimately thought I was reading Twilight. Then another person, after being told the title, thought that the book was about a person who really believed that the world was literally flat.

Now with that long intro that has nothing to do with the actual book, I will give my very brief thoughts about the book. It was a sometimes interesting, sometimes boring book about how the playing field has been leveled, businesswise. A kid in his basement can innovate and compete in the marketplace because he has access to many of the same tools as the big guys. Or something like that. And companies need to realize this and make adjustments accordingly. And how places like India are taking advantage of the flatness of the world what with their call centers and such.

It was ok to read, not my cup of tea obviously because I'm not too smartsy in this area and couldn't always keep up with the computer lingo and concepts. But, I have read it and thus am posting about it in my books that I've read blog.

Some quotes:

"Change is hardest on those caught by surprise."

"All of us are smarter than one of us."

"In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears - and that is our problem."

"Remember, in China when you are one in a million - there are thirteen hundred other people just like you."

Quoting Will Rogers: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Quoting Winston Churchill: "To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."