Customer Reviews

The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

5 star:		(129)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(45)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(45)

 

 

The Lexus And The Olive Tree was recommended to me by my Economics teacher. After reading it I can see why she thought I should use this book for my assignment. It is about Thomas L. Friedman's original look on the new international system. This new system is known as globilization and it has replaced, as Friedman would call it, "the Cold War system." Globalization has changed how we invest, our technology, and ways of communication while shaping world affairs today.
Friedman uses the conflict of "the Lexus and the olive tree" to help explain the concepts of globalization verse ancient forces of tradition. The olive tree represents everything that roots us, like family, community, religion, or a place called home. The Lexus represents all the financial institutions and computer technologies found in the global market today.
I enjoyed reading this book because it gave me a better understanding of globalization. Something that I had never really heard of before reading it. Friedman did a very good job of showing the advantages and disadvantages of this new international system. His vivid stories helped explain a lot of what he was trying to tell the reader. There still was some things that I didn't understand completely. This is just because I'm new at this economics thing, and I didn't know a lot about the history behind some of his concepts.
After reading this book I feel that America homogenizes countries too much. And we do it for our own needs. We do it to make them more accessible to us so we can use their resources. This is just my opinion on the whole thing after reading the book.

Finally a book that describes the era of globalization and development of free market economies in a way that promotes the good side of the equation! Very understandable book that uses real stories by the author that illustrate what is going on in the world with respect to globalization. Especially recommended read for those folks who may have been involved in the demonstrations against it.

The Lexus and the Olive Tree is an important book, but in many ways Thomas Friedman renders his own creation irrelevant. He is almost schizophrenic in his writing style, arguing with himself as if he has yet to make up his mind about the things he is writing. In some ways, it seems like he just prefers to share anecdotes (which are vivid and usually humorous) from his travels around the world, rather than the typical kinds of fact-based research one finds in these sort of books. The result is that the reader can understand some of the concepts, but they can also get a little tedious, and it is hard to translate the anecdotes into something that I assimilate into my worldview.

Furthermore, Friedman seems to love to quote people at length, but one wonders if indeed he is quoting word-for-word, or if he is just sort of crafting something to fit his book out of a vaguely similar comment the person may have made. But, then one thinks again, because the book is almost a little choppy in places because Friedman quotes random characters from all around the world for pages upon pages. One would prefer that he just paraphrase or use shorter quotes.

Because it was written 5 years ago, some of the reading is tedious (he explains what a DVD player is, for example), and in some areas he seems to be caught up in the "irrational" dot-com whirlwind. In his revised version of the book, it sort of just drones on, pontificating for about 20-30 pages too much. Thomas Friedman is a very personable guy, and he has a lot of interesting things to say about the world, but honestly, one doesn't care for his own political/religious philosophy being injected, mostly toward the end of the book. It was just awkward to read through the final chapter or two; the book has multiple personality disorder in some regards.

One almost feel like the book is written for an audience of Dick Gephardts. He wants to win the protectionist wing of the Democratic Party over with the book. He seems to be speaking to them. Maybe he is speaking to Republicans as well, but if so, he lectures a little too sanctimoniously on the environment and the notion of a social safety net (he calls Republicans "mean-spirited voices... uninterested in any compromise" and tries to argue that Africa, with its near-anarchy in places, would be a Republican's dream) to win conservatives over entirely. He sort of just randomly breaks into prostheletyzing, arguing, for example, "That the NRA should feel guilty about the Colombine massacres went without saying." Why even go into that? That's just tacky.

Finally, a reader gets sort of annoyed reading his own made-up terms (Golden Straightjacket, Electronic Herd, etc.), over and over, particularly since none of them caught on whatsoever in the past half-decade since the book came out.

Some of it is dead on, though, particularly when he writes as an observer of the world rather than an activist, and this book is a good way to conceptualize globalization for those who are having a hard time adapting their political ideology in the post-Cold War era. In general, I'd say The Lexus and the Olive Tree starts off strong, ends weak, and that's a shame. It was on track to get 5 stars from me, even with the early tributes to Al Gore and other political cheap shots, but the final part of the book was just THAT lacking, that it falls to 3 stars.

In the book friedman describes several interesting points ranging from the trade offs of culture and capitalism, to the basic efficiencies of different economies, though the way he describes things is almost insulting. The metaphors and anologies used seem to indicate a journalist writing for the elderly or those who have no idea what a digital medium is. Being a young student this quickly wore on my attention span.

I tried to read the book twice and failed becuase I get so fed up with his style. For example, he has a tendency to end paragraphs with exclamations that are as corny as the saying "click on that!" This drove me to the point where I would read the entire paragraph except the last sentence, obviously not the best way to read a book.

The good news is that the liberal bias seen in From Beirut to Jeuraslim(sp) is nowhere to be seen, replaced by ideas that only the free-est of the free markets would survive, a complete contradiction to his pro-arab Beruit book.

I would recommend milton friedman over thomas friedman, anyday, if you want an accurate portrayal of the power of the free market.

Friedman's book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is an excellent illustration of basic globalization principles and strategies, told in simple and easy language for the layman's point of view. The heavy use of anecdotal evidence also lends a comfortable "storytelling" perspective that generally keeps the reader's attention focused.

One of the things that interested me about this book was Friedman's attempted placement of his work alongside other authors on similar subjects. In the introduction, he plainly states that his purpose in writing this book is not only to fully explain the concept, analysis, and anecdotal evidence of globalization, but also to add to the body of knowledge that is shaping and defining the post-Cold War era in history. Citing other seminal works that have been described as groundbreaking descriptions of this time in history, he lists 3 other books that he hopes to complement on that very subject: "The End of History and the Last Man" by Francis Fukuyama, "The Clash of Civilizations" by Samuel Huntington, and the collected works (books and articles) of Robert Kaplan. In truth, I have recently read all 3 of these selections and can honestly agree that Friedman has successfully accomplished his goal.

For the most part, I already understood globalization (and how it ties in with the greater subject of economics and capitalism) so I thought I might get bored with his tedious simplification and excessive detail... but surprisingly, I found this not to be the case. Overall, I found Friedman to definitely be an expert on the subject, which is often rare for newspaper journalists - and especially the NY Times foreign affairs correspondent who covers the entire planet. This subject is less about "foreign affairs" than economics... but then again, Friedman was the Wall Street correspondent at the Times before he took the foreign affairs desk.

One caveat, though.... this book was published before 9/11 - the first edition was 1999 and the 2nd was in early 2001. So one or two of his predictions didn't pan out, but as to globalization I don't think he'd change much in a 3rd edition. I can only think of one subject in the book where Friedman was dead wrong - his idea that stronger US relations with eastern Europe (specifically the Baltic states) was a bad idea because it might antagonize Russia. Turns out NATO expansion into Europe has gone relatively well... and Russia has practically eliminated their early protestations since 9/11, and in fact are already looking to stronger ties directly with NATO.

Having read those other 3 works, I can honestly say that Friedman has penned a true masterpiece on the post-Cold War body of knowledge. And Friedman is mostly pro-globalization too (unlike the anarchist WTO and G-8 protestors that get all the press), even when he objectively presents both sides of the argument. His overall thesis is basically this: globalization is here to stay, there really isn't anything people can do to stop it (much like the sunrise), so it's best to get used to it, understand it, and realize how you can find yourself moving with it instead of against it. In the end, Friedman uses his considerable journalistic (if not storytelling) talents to offer a subject where readers at all levels of economic expertise can find something to enjoy.

You need to read 'Longitudes and Attitudes' along with 'the Lexus & Olive Tree' to understand what's changed. Further, read his columns in the NYTimes. He's not perfect, but one of the few people with original, reasoned opinions these days. Most of American political dialogue is talking heads discussing other talking heads statements. TLF is refreshing, candid, and takes what the chinese call 'the long view' of history.

As a high school student who does not know very much about globalization or surrounding topics, this was a good book to introduce this subject to me. Friedman explains globalization very well, referring to it as the new system for global communications and interaction.

At times the book seemed very one-sided though; Friedman only discusses the advantages to globalization and never goes into what may be happening on the flip-side due to the progression of globalization. Also, the style that the book was written in makes it seem as if it is all personal opinion. There are no real, cited credible sources dealing with the subject matter, other than interviews, and therefore I am wary to absorb completely all the information he presents us, since I do not have any prior background knowledge to compare his opinions to.

This book was easy to read and overall enjoyable. I enjoyed some of the humor that Friedman incorporated into his writing, as it kept the book going when the topic alone may not have sufficed. I am glad that I read this book because I gained a new perspective on what has been going on in the world during the past decade, and learned a lot also.

I had trouble keeping my attention while reading the book. The subject didn't grab me and I am not being a great reader to begin with struggled with its long stories. In the book, Thomas Friedman states that this new system referred to as "Globalization" the new economic system for the world. It adds a collection of things but mainly the idea is that with the inception of the internet and spread of information that one massive market has been created for the world. This new system allows people from all over the globe to be connected and keeps allowing for more chances for people to connect. He concentrates mostly on the good of globalization and doesn't look at many of the bad parts of it. I do believe though that if someone is very interested in the subject that this book would be a very good place to start in the understanding of globalization.

This work provides a general understanding of the drivers behind globalization, but Friedman often leaves concepts in mid-air without closure. And for that reason much of the book seems like speculation or 'best guess as to why' Q&A.

Friedman's admiration for Enron will make you giggle and the little attention he gives to terrorism as a backlash to globalization weakens the entire work.

Perhaps so much has changed since 9/11/01, its outdated that quickly.

I would recommend it for high school students as an intro to the topic.

An easy and pleasant introduction to the topic of globalisation. I found myself not being able to put it down at times.

However, the description of globalisation is the only good aspect of the book; 3.5 stars because it does this very well.

Some arguements are weak and don't question enough the problems caused by globalisation. The book doesn't take an impartial view of globalisation, being a bit pro-market (but only a bit). Don't accept Friedmans view that globalisation cannot be controlled, and that no other alternative exists, being a refined system or a fundametally different one.

Part one and two are the guts of the book, part three is not broad enough in discussion and part four is boring (I admit however that I am not American. If you are not American you are probably aware of the issues discussed in part four.).

Overall though, I enjoyed it and am glad I read it.