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Noroton's First Rule of Wikipedia Researching: Always assume Wikipedia already has an article on it.

This is interesting

List of people known as father or mother of something |image_skyline = BristolSkyline11.jpg

Barren articles:

  • Sylvia Plath, Ariel: The Restored Edition (Harper Perennial)  ??????
  • Brian Turner, Here, Bullet (Alice James Books)  ???????
  • Jane Hirshfield, After (Harper Collins Publishers)  ???????
  • Philip Larkin, Collected Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 1988???????
  • Naomi Shihab Nye, You & Yours by Naomi (BOA Editions) ??????????
  • David Tucker, Late for Work (Houghton Mifflin Books)  ???????
  • Richard Siken, Crush (Yale University Press) 2005
  • Mark Haddon, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea (Vintage Books)  ?????????????

Organization of the book

Part I: How the World Became Flat

Chapter 1: While I Was Sleeping

This chapter serves as an introduction, giving initial statements taht will be delved into further in future sections and giving a partial explanation for the title of the book.

The title: Friedman contrasts the reasons and results of his own journey east to India with Columbus' attempt to reach India by sailing West under the theory that the world is round. Friedman said his journey was in many ways the opposite of Columbus' (Columbus searched for the "hardware" of his day, finding it in precious metals and spices; Friedman found software; Columbus enslaved people he thought were Indians; Friedman only reported on people who sometimes were Americans or, in the case of call-center operators, learned to pass themselves off on the telephone as Americans, etc.). (pp. 3-5) He also mentions (pp 7-8) the idea of a "level playing field" that the Internet is making out of a world in which more and more people can do the same jobs from anywhere, given the technology (which is increasingly becoming available) and the education.

Important points made
  • Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys Technologies, one of the earliest and most successful outsourcing companies in metropolitan Bangalore, India, made the point (later repeated more than once in the book) that the Dot.com bubble (the overspending and eventual economic collapse that came in the late 1990s up to about 2001) financed internet technology, notably fiber cables, that made it feasible for Indians to do work on the Internet for First World, developed countries such as the United States.
  • Friedman says his 1999 book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, about the "Lexus" forces of economic integration and the "Olive Tree" forces of identity and nationalism complements this new book. Together, they talk about the eras of globalization:
    • Globalization 1.0, in which the global economy was integrated with brawn — horsepower, wind power, steam power, and countries and governments broke down trade barriers. The main unit was the country.
    • Globalization 2.0,from about 1800 to 2000, in which the world economy was integrated further by multinational companies looking for markets and labor, spearheaded initially by the Dutch and English joint-stock companies and the Industrial Revolution. The steam engine and railroad made transportation quicker and cheaper, and later the telegraph, telephones, the PC, satellites, fiber-optic cables and the early version of the World Wide Web all made communication easier. Hardware breakthroughs from steamships and railroads to telephones and mainframe computers drove the integration. The big question for people to ask by the end of this era was "Where does my company fit into the global economy?" The main unit was the company. (pp 8-10) This was about where The Lexus and the Olive Tree left off.
    • Globalization 3.0 is where the individual is the main unit and the main question to ask is "Where do I as an individual fit into the global competition and opportunities of the day, and how can I, on my own, collaborate with others globally?" (p 11) Because of the convergence of verious technological innovations and inventions, by about 2000, hi tech communications began to allow anyone to upload content onto the Internet for consumption by anyone elsewhere in the world. (p 11) The effects of this new opportunity have been striking and will become even more striking — and very quickly. This will mean vast changes for the world economy, for Americans and in areas beyond the economic — including the societal and political. Many will benefit, some will be hurt. (pp 48-49) Creative innovations will increasingly come from the Third World. (p 11)

Chapter 2: The Ten Forces That Flattened the World

Flattener #1. 11/9/89
Flattener #2. 8/9/95
Flattener #3. Work Flow Software
Flattener #4. Uploading
Flattener #5. Outsourcing
Flattener #6. Offshoring
Flattener #7. Supply-Chaining
Flattener #8. Insourcing
Flattener #9. In-forming
Flattener #10. The Steroids

Chapter 3: The Triple Convergence

Chapter 4: The Great Sorting Out

Part II: America and the Flat World