The Lexus and the Olive Tree ^{2nd Ed.}

In the Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas L. Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times, offers an engrossing look at the new international system that is transforming the world affairs today. Globalization has replaced the Cold War system with the integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders — uniting Brazilian peasants, Indonesian entrepreneurs, Chinese villagers, and Silicon Valley technocrats in a single global village. You cannot understand the morning news, know where to invest your money, or think about the future unless you understand this new system, which is profoundly influencing virtually every country in the world today. Friedman tells you what this new electronic global economy is all about and what it will take to live within it.

With vivid stories drawn from his extensive travels, he dramatizes the conflict of "the Lexus and the olive tree" — the tension between the globalization system and the ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community. He also details the powerful backlash that globalization produces among the those who feel brutalized by it, and he spells out what we all need to do to keep the Lexus and the olive tree in balance. For this new paperback edition, Friedman has substantially expanded and updated his provocative analysis, making it essential reading for all who care about how the world works now.

• Foreword to the Anchor Edition
• Opening Scene: The World Is Ten Years Old
• Part One: Seeing the System
1. The New System
2. Information Arbitrage
3. The Lexus and the Olive Tree
4. … And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
5. Microchip Immune Deficiency
6. The Golden Straitjacket
7. The Electronic Herd
• Part Two: Plugging into the System
8. DOScapital
9. Globaluation
10. Shapers, Adapters and Other New Ways of Thinking About Power
11. Buy Taiwan, Hold Italy, Sell France
12. The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention
13. Demolition Man
14. Winners Take All
• Part Three: The Backlash Against the System
15. The Backlash
16. The Groundswell
• Part Four: America and the System
17. Rational Exuberance
18. Revolution Is U.S.
19. If You Want to Speak to a Human Being, Press 1
20. There Is a Way Forward

OK, the author is a gifted writer and a lousy journalist and scholar. That sums it up.

He invents a lot of theories of his own, which is the stuff you usually do while waiting on planes in some airport lounge somewhere in the world (been there, done that) as you don't have anything better to do. Unfortunately, he is writing a column for New York Times (old-times blogger and as relevant as a blogger) so he gets to spread his thoughts everywhere. He believes in Enron (who shortly afterwards went belly-up) and is extremely US-centric, even while preaching about Globalization.

This is a book you may read in the aforementioned airport-lounge, as it is very well written and have some interesting short-stories and soundbites, but don't take this drivel seriously!