the world is flat
My boss just asked me to pick up this book so I can understand what directions global companies are headed.
"On an ideological level, Friedman's new book is the worst, most boring kind of middlebrow horseshit. If its literary peculiarities could somehow be removed from the equation, The World Is Flat would appear as no more than an unusually long pamphlet replete with the kind of plug-filled, free-trader leg-humping that passes for thought in this country. It is a tale of a man who walks 10 feet in front of his house armed with a late-model Blackberry and comes back home five minutes later to gush to his wife that hospitals now use the internet to outsource the reading of CAT scans. Man flies on planes, observes the wonders of capitalism, says we're not in Kansas anymore. (He actually says we're not in Kansas anymore.) That's the whole plot right there. If the underlying message is all that interests you, read no further, because that's all there is." - Matt Taibbi
What the hell am I doing??
"On an ideological level, Friedman's new book is the worst, most boring kind of middlebrow horseshit. If its literary peculiarities could somehow be removed from the equation, The World Is Flat would appear as no more than an unusually long pamphlet replete with the kind of plug-filled, free-trader leg-humping that passes for thought in this country. It is a tale of a man who walks 10 feet in front of his house armed with a late-model Blackberry and comes back home five minutes later to gush to his wife that hospitals now use the internet to outsource the reading of CAT scans. Man flies on planes, observes the wonders of capitalism, says we're not in Kansas anymore. (He actually says we're not in Kansas anymore.) That's the whole plot right there. If the underlying message is all that interests you, read no further, because that's all there is." - Matt Taibbi
What the hell am I doing??
posted by j-e-s-s-i-c-a at 1:08 PM
6 Comments:
then again, the guardian, NYTimes, Washington Post, Boston Globe, etc etc have all given it favorable reviews, so take heart!
Friedman's writing is uniformly awful and he is consistently enthralled with "ideas" that are either a) obvious consequences of how the market works or b) total gibberish. I've never understood how anyone would find his work readable, never mind enlightening
I've heard warnings about the effects of big ideas on little minds. He's an example of the dangers of half formed little ideas on a little mind and a big mouth.
Although I haven't read the book in question, based on what I have read of Friedman's work in the past, that review is right on.
I disagree Jess. Friedman is the absolute favorite NY Times writer of my entire family. I've always found his articles extremely interesting, hopeful and open-minded, and full of very good ideas. Maybe he's too hopeful, but I don't hold it against him.
love helena
who knew this was such a popular post? --- anyway, I will hold back my judgment until I actually read it. It's sort of the subject matter that alarms me - and that I have to read a book to get inside the mind of corporate america. no body wants to be inside the mind of corporate america.Right?right.
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