Finished reading (listening) this excellent book by Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat. It is a very insightful book that tries to explain everything about globalization and outsourcing using lots of examples and anecdots. The book talks about the rise of India and China as knowledge and manufacturing powerhouses and how that is affecting the US and global economics. It interestingly theorizes that the factors that brought about the spurt of globalization, global supply chaining and outsourcing are the same ones that are helping the spurt of Islamic terrorism.

Most of us have lived through the computer and internet revolutions of 80’s and 90’s. It was nice to read that whole history in a nutshell in one place. The chapters about global supply chaining were quite interesting as I didn’t know much about it. Next time I open a box of something that I ordered online, I’ll wonder about all the wheels that turned behind the screen to make that happen.

Friedman gives career advice to the young people in USA that they should concentrate on education, especially science and engineering. They should not take it for granted that USA will remain as the richest and technologically advanced country forever. USA used to be a leader in this area but, is seriously being challenged by the rest of the world as all US college graduates are scrambling to become a lawyer or get an MBA. He provides statistics that show the reduced number of science graduates and reduced numbers of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles from US compared to the rest of the world. It is still not too late for this trend to reverse but, there needs to be a big change in the educational system and attitudes of ordinary people and politicians towards science.

Friedman talks a lot about India in the book. I was taken aback by a couple of things…

  • He repeatedly says, “India, a country with almost no natural resources…”. It made me wince the first time I heard it. But, later his point became clear to me. He meant that India does not have large natural resource such as oil, that she can drill and sell to the world. This activity basically doesnot require any skill. All you need is ownership of the land on which the oil-well stands. India’s biggest natural resource is her talented people that can be tapped for outsourcing.

  • He talked about the plight of untouchables and their lack of access to schools and other services, etc. I thought that it was true in my grandparents' generation and somewhat true in my parents' generations, but, I hadn’t seen untouchables being treated badly or discriminated based on castes. Maybe, it is because of the sheltered city life that I lived.

Overall, it is a very well written book and I highly recommend it.