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The World is Flat is a book on the history of the 21st Century, and the rapid pace of globalization made possible by technology, by Thomas L. Friedman. Summary of the Book The world has changed. 1989 didn’t merely signal the fall of the Berlin Wall, but also the rise of Microsoft and the IBM PC. No longer is information carefully hidden with medieval scorn. Instead, the World Wide Web bolsters sharing of information at a global scale. Technology has become the main play of the 21st century and Friedman shows how this changes things in the world of economics and politics. He explains that globalization of resources – and inevitable effect of worldwide communications – has enabled companies around the world to join hands to make changes that weren’t possible before. He begins with the advent of Windows and how its graphical interface and intuitive features won the hearts of all the people around the world. He explains that Netscape and the Web jointly changed things by bringing everyone from five-year-olds to ninety-five-year-olds to the Internet by 1995. He follows up with explaining the various work methods made possible only because of these changes. Workflow software, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, insourcing and informing have their place in this revolution of work methods, reducing production times and increasing quality like never before. Friedman attributes the awakening of his ideologies to a visit to Bangalore, where the former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani’s statement inspired the title of this book. About Thomas L. Friedman Thomas L. Friedman is an American journalist and writer. He writes a biweekly column for The New York Times and has also written From Beirut to Jerusalem, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Longitudes and Attitudes, Hot, Flat, and Crowded and That Used To Be Us.