Rating: 
Summary: Around the world in 10 hours
Review: Imagine traveling around the world, to the most interesting places, and with a companion who is extremely well-informed and well-connected. Friedman combines a beautiful writing style with an illuminating historical perspective. Every chapter has wonderful ideas and insights: my favorite is the Golden Arches Theory, that no two countries that have MacDonalds have gone to war with each other (the exception being the Serbian conflict in 1999). After I finished his book, newspapers made a lot more sense to me than than they had previously. It is the kind of book that you want to mail to everyone you like.
Rating:
Summary: REALITY AT LAST
Review: Every day a bit more of the world seems to learn that seeking "humane" alternatives to "savage capitalism" isn't really high on their priority lists after all! If it IS high on yours, probably best to skip this book and go back into the cave to avoid the sunlight. Friedman's book is eminently readable and it's conclusions rationally inexorable.Being an American and having lived and worked in quite a few countries in the past decade, and having witnessed first-hand the positive changes "globalism/capitalism" hath wrought, frankly there is no better way in print than this volume to truly understand what your future will likely hold, and how all the world's individuals will eventually fit together, like it or not. If you're over 18 years old without a large inheritance, then you'll probably have to compete one day, in which case, let this book be your guide to what the playing field will likely look like in your lifetimes (and why). Most critics of this work seem to be the ones still whining about globalization as if it hadn't yet occurred, or as if it were stoppable and there was still a choice about the matter. Hello! The protective walls are already falling, the landscape of much of the world has already changed, and global "capitalistic" competition (where it has been allowed to thrive) has already opened once-closed doors to un-imagined democratic freedoms producing an increasingly interconnected and aware world where individuals are increasingly controlling their own lives. This is the real "American export" which I have observed, which Friedman confirms, and which democratization of technology has now given much of the world the freedom to "purchase", and whenever and wherever they're allowed to "buy", the world doesn't seem to be holding back. Why suppose they would or should? Friedman points out, with real life examples, and through multiple lenses of perspective, both the why and the how of this inevitable global direction; and, because he has actually worked in, as well as witnessed, the existing world as it is changing daily, his work carries a far more realistic authenticity than most other academic works offered on globalization's "theories" and its "consequences". As the world learns in real time that democracy and capitalism are NOT mutually exclusive concepts (the two work in a symbiotic relationship wherever they have had the freedom to exist) no one, including Friedman, says that the beneficial consequences of these transitional trends will be felt instantaneously, or without growing pains, but, the consequent changes are already going along at a pretty good clip, and if you are at all concerned about the ecological and sociological consequences of this, then it would behoove you to read a real world view of what's already happening as opposed to a theory of what might happen. There's past, present and future in this volume-- Friedman confirms all that I have observed that this is the how and the why of the real world and how it is actually working today, and why it is the direction in which it will be heading for a long time to come--so hang on for the ride and consider this book as the guide. Read it and don't weep!
Rating:
Summary: you cannot afford to skip this enlightening book
Review: Whatever profession you work in, you will fall behind if you don't understand the principles that Friedman explains so well. Like From Beirut to Jerusalem, this book is extremely well-written and well-told. It's by no means an easy read, but Friedman helps us out by weaving stories from his travels around the globe and giving enough examples so that even non-technological folk will have no problem following his argument. Suddenly you'll understand why the US must be concerned with crises in other countries. No longer will we be able to say, "Well, that's not OUR problem." That kind of attitude will lead to recession and economic crisis not just in the US, but abroad as well. The interconnectedness of the world is what spurs on globabization, whether we like it or not. Once you read his stories about visiting remote Chinese villages during elections, you'll understand why we should care what happens in these far off places. Friedman spends a good deal of time distinguishing between cold war politics and economics and post-cold war. From his explanations, even a layman can follow the drastic differences in every aspect of the economy. The reader even learns how to evaluate a country's real progress (sometimes "PC's per household" or connections per household). Although this is a ponderous books at times, Friedman's sense of humor shows through -- by the end, you'll understand why if France was a stock, he'd sell. The French take a beating for their lack of forward looking vision. This book is mandatory reading for any US citizen who wants to understand our past and future role in the rapidly expanding world.
Rating:
Summary: a guide for leaders and workers
Review: Friedman helps us all realize how the global market shapes what is happening around us. His keys to a country's success can be applied to a company, organization, even an individual. Those in management should follow his ideas, but those who have ANY connection to a company or organization should know Friedman's explanation of globalization and the keys to making it work; that way, we may be able to influence those in power to be open with information, to follow the rules rather than finding perks for the top leaders, etc. It is only when all of us recognize the interconnectedness of the world that we can be successful. This book makes you think and makes you realize the potential - both good and bad - of the global economy. Friedman's stories, told with humor and interest, make this an easy read, not a stodgy, economics handbook.
Rating: 
Summary: WRONG!!!
Review: Thomas Friedman supports corporate globalization because he belongs to the top 5% of the world's population that actually benefits from it. The Free Market system has failed in both Russia (capitalism run by the Mafia) and China (capitalism with no political rights).
Rating:
Summary: A competition of ideas between democracy and capitalism
Review: No sane and resonable person can accept the evident lack of sustainability and absence of logic and ethical standards offered by the version of globalization depicted by Thomas L. Friedman, in The Lexus and the Olivetree. Friedman's offering of a booster shot for the mad dream of capitalist paradise, which other thoughtful authors have denounced as a formula for disintegration of civilization (see e.g., Vigdor Schreibman, Global Civilization: Disintegration & Rebirth (2000), online at URL: http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/Sustainable_Development/Fins-SD2-04.html; James K. Galbraith, Created Unequal (1998); George Soros, The Crisis of Global Capitalism (1998); William Greider, One world, ready or not : the manic logic of global capitalism (1997)), largely disregards the interdependent goals of social equity and ecological integrity upon which the biospere of Planet Earth is dependent. Indeed, it is the big lie alone, offered by The New York Times and other mass media, which sustains savage capitalism in the world. It is irresponsible, merely caving in to narrow self-interest and raw economic power, to pretend that the whole world is blind to the possibilities of a more humanitarian future. The explosion of global protest against such savage capitalism, subsequent to the publication of Friedman's book, by tens of millions of citizens around the world, gives voice to an alternative ethical future derived from principles of democtratic sustainability, holism, synergy, and popular government. In a free and open competition of ideas between democracy and capitalism, the latter is absolutely indefensible, dead meat.
Rating:
Summary: He gets right to the pit of the Lexus
Review: A particularly enjoyable treatise on a very complicated problem. Thomas Friedman seems to write effortlessly at multiple levels. The almost parable like approach leaves me with a surface satisfaction, and the knowledge that if I were to dig deeper, I would find more. This was a throuoghly engrossing work, so much so that I have bought 9 copies to distributre to the executive team of my company. One member refused it - an interesting observation in its own right! I can see how some of his theses could appear offensive to non-Americans. His paean to free market thinking smacks of American imperialism, but he does address that towards the end of the book. Not in quite as much detail as I would like, however.
Rating:
Summary: So simplistic...
Review: This book is so disarmingly simplistic, deterministic and so much imbued with american culture that one starts believing this to be intentional. Reality is much more complex than the author wants us to believe and development is not one-way: there are always options, but Friedman does not want to show them to us. Seattle, Jose Bove and the renewed emphasis on the tobin tax are there to prove it. Pretty a useless reading, not in touch with the daily life of 4/5 of the world population.
Rating:
Summary: Best book on Globalization!
Review: I am an economist by profession and my job is to analyze the economic and political risk of countries. I have found Friedman's book extremely useful in helping me understand the factors shaping today's global economy. Some people, as I have read in this website reviews, may find Friedman's analysis cold hearted, as the book argues, quite well, that free market capitalism is here to stay, and countries, companies, and individuals need to adapt to the system, or run the risk of being left behind. Not only does the book describes the new system masterfully, but also dares to make recommendations and tries to explain the trends of this new global system. The book's conclussion is one of hope: We do not necessarily need an all encompassinng global government to police the world; the power given by the democratization of technology (internet and widespread information) can create all sorts of organizations that will find all sorts of solutions (and excert pressure) to end corruption, increase transparency and democracy, all of this with market base remedies. It is an excellent book, probably the best I have read on globalization. Don't read "One World, Ready or Not" as one reviewer recommended. The author doesn't have a clue about economics and totally misses the picture. Other than "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" I recommend "ButterFly Economics", which explains why current economic theory is outdated and the author introduces Chaos Theory in order to better explain behavior in today's markets.
Rating:
Summary: You will NOT like this book IF:
Review: 1.) You think the UN is flying black helicopters over your house. 2.) You have ever said "megadittoes." 3.) You plan to vote for Ralph Nader. 4.) You are an economics MBA looking for close statistical analysis. That being said, this is the BEST introductory book on Globalization for the person who DOESN'T read the Wall Street Journal every day (though that newspaper gave the book a sterling review), or who DOESN'T want numbers thrown at them. Friedman uses several storytelling techniques to make complex matters simple: he imagines a conversation between world leaders; he refers to his laptop as an example of the technologies that change the world, using a concrete symbol that impacts our own lives; the man is a fantastic speaker, and it shows in his writing style. There are several important conclusions he reaches, to the delight of no particular ideology: -The world is becoming so super-connected that we all see how everyone else is living, so unless a tin-pot tyranny wants to go the way of Afghanistan and ban TV it can look forward to increasing discontent from people who want McDonald's, Baywatch, and a Lexus. You can't understand what's happening in China or Iran unless you understand this. -Nations are going to find themselves increasingly under pressure to save their cultural roots from Americanism. You can't understand the debate over genetically modified foods unless you understand that people in other countries are afraid of being homogenized into a Greater American culture. -America created Globalization. We fought for an entire century to make it The End of History; we are the nation best equipped to win in a globally competitive world; and we need to understand it and adapt our political and economic thinking to it NOW. Friedman is not saying anything new, and he won't pretend that he discovered this himself. But for those of us just finding out about it, and who aren't part of the economic intelligentsia, Globalization makes sense for the very first time in this book.
| 
