Dynamic Range

How Flat Can You Go?

Thomas P.M. Barnett has a scathing review of Thomas L. Friedman's latest book "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century."

First off, I really wanted this book to be good, because Friedman's decline as a columnist has been painful to watch...  The book is mind-numbing in its repetition.  It seems like every third page there is a CEO named Jerry or Craig from a high-tech company ready with some self-enforcing quote ("Tom, let me tell you why I think the world is becoming flatter by the day!").  In fact, using the word "flat" (or "flatter," "flattening," "flatist," "flattest," "flattener," and so on) seemed to be a prerequisite for getting your quote (and there are oh so many quotes and snippets of "flat" conversations) in the book (you can almost hear Friedman prompting everyone, "Now be sure to use the word 'flat' somewhere in your response or I can't use it!").

The saddest thing about this book is that without the "flat" thing, it's merely a decent collection of his op-eds, which at times still ring with brilliant observations, even as they often come cluttered with mixed metaphors to die for (or from).  I guess he realized, quite correctly, that if he ran his op-eds end to end, like he did so obviously in Longitudes and Attitudes,he'd risk boring his core audience again (Apparently, he and his industrial-strength book-selling machine were really set back by the public's indifference to that book; quick!  Name anything that lasts from that volume!).  So instead of that bald face maneuver being revealed for what it was two times in a row, he came up with this "flat" thing, and God love him for it, because now he's stuck with it and all the goofy phrases he must use to support it.  (The Book Is Flatulent: A Brief Review of Thomas L. Friedman's "The World Is Flat" Op-Ed)

Wow!  Pretty brutal assessment, but I've got to agree.  Friedman wrote this thing on autopilot.  I've struggled to the half-way point of the book and feel like it should have been distilled down to a 10-page pamphlet (I guess that doesn't do much for book sales).  My disappointment is probably exaggerated because I'm a huge fan of his book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization" (I thought it was one of the best book that I'd read last year).

So, if you're brave and don't know much about globalization, give "The World Is Flat" a try.  Otherwise, skip it and read "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" instead.

Freakonomics

I just recently read the newly published and bestselling book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.  The book provides a leisurely look into the often mundate and sometimes bizarre nature of incentives, specifically, "how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing."

Economics is a powerful and interesting subject, but is often presented in PhD-speak, intimidating the average person.  This is unfortunate since a solid understanding of how incentive drive behavior is important in business, public policy, and even when trying to get your kids to do their chores.  If you want a quick, entertaining glimpse into the world of economics, pick it up and give it a read.