Book Log 2006 #36: The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Between the hullabaloo about outsourcing jobs overseas and all the commercials focused at how a company is the one to choose to help you take advantage of the new global economy, it'd be hard not to have some exposure to this book's main idea: changes in technology and communications have "flattened" the world and made it easy - and often cheaper - to create and collaborate with individuals and companies regardless of their physical location.

Friedman sees this as a good thing, and spends most of the book pointing out how this flattening will benefit everyone, even if it does present an opportunity for those who would use the flattening for nefarious purposes. I think he may be a little too optimistic about how this will all work out, but his arguments are reasoned and give hope that it will all, indeed, work out.