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The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century
Thomas L. Friedman
Farrar, Staus and Giroux
April 2005
839 Pages

I'm convinced. Columbus got it wrong. Globes, maps, satellite photos from NASA -- all show a sphere. Ask your science professor and he'll say Earth is round. Of course, he'll be right; the Earth is round. But the world is most definitely flat.

The premise behind Thomas Friedman's latest novel, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, is that the world is becoming flatter as days go by. It sounds preposterous, but after I finished the first chapter, I found myself in agreement with Friedman's reasoning. My advice for the future: get used to it.

It could be assumed that such a bizarre statement would be followed by ludicrous data. Wrong again. Each statement is backed up with increasingly convincing data; our world is becoming flatter. And that's why when you call someone to fix your computer, you speak to someone in India.

The world is not physically becoming flatter, but the expansion of Internet use throughout the world has begun to level the playing field, making it easier for American businesses to outsource some of their more costly and laborious tasks. They would have to pay American employees nearly double for jobs hundreds of thousands of smarter and more motivated Indian citizens who are willing to do it for a quarter of the price. These jobs are not only held in high esteem but frequently are launching points for extremely industrious careers.

Each chapter addresses a specific contributing factor to this phenomenon, ranging from how the world became flat to what America intends to do about it. The breakdown of global boundaries and the increased ease of global collaboration are making it possible to work on part of a presentation in the United States one evening, send it to India to have it finished and then back on their desk the next morning. The range of possibilities is endless, describes Friedman, for a community that no longer is limited by area codes and long-distance calling but instead is in constant communication with each other.

Certain Americans feel that outsourcing, which is related to the other flattening factors of insourcing and offshoring, is holding back the economy and replacing American citizens with foreigners. While this may be true, outsourcing and other trends also allow for American businesses to increase their productivity, profits and customer satisfaction.

Interesting enough premise, but does Friedman accomplish his goal of explaining this fairly complicated process without sounding like a macro textbook? The answer is that he does. The technical-speak is balanced with enough amusing anecdotes and personal interviews to keep it from seeming like a monologue. A deeper explanation of some of the basic economic concepts along with a broader overview of past policies would have been helpful, especially for someone who only briefly glanced at her econ book before the final; however, the lack of previous knowledge isn't a drawback. I expected the book to be more complicated than it really is.

An intriguing topic and an eye-opening experience, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is an enlightening way to take a break from your more banal homework as well as an inspiration to return to it. Plus there's an interview with President Brody in practically every other chapter. What can be better than that?