Another by Friedman

I'm months behind in my book reviews. My excuse is I've been feeling uninspired, but also because I've been doing a lot of re-reading which isn't conducive to book reviews. I just moved halfway across the country and re-reading some of my favorite books is like visiting an old friend. I haven't made any real friends yet, so I compensate by re-reading. It sounds pathetic, but it's really not a bad system.

I did however, force myself to engage in some intellectual stimulation by reading Thomas Friedman's (author of The World is Flat) new book Hot, Flat and Crowded. I read the World is Flat for one an international agriculture class my Junior year of college, but it was before I started this blog and was never reviewed. I'll review it now: The World is Flat is 600+ pages, and Friedman could have conveyed the same message in about 200 pages. Conciseness people, conciseness.

Hot, Flat and Crowded is much better because it's far more focused than TWIF. While TWIF explores all aspects of globalization, international trade, overpopulation and outsourcing, HF&C concentrates on the energy crisis and the immediate need for huge reforms, based on the growing world population and the modernization of poor* countries.

The most interesting part of the book is a section in the middle in which Friedman describes in detail an energy-efficient world in which we're all connected to an electricity grid. We take from and contribute to the grid; saving money, time and energy. Everyone works from home and facilities are shared; for example, the local elementary school kitchen is used by a bakery at night, when electricity is cheap, and the kitchen isn't being used by the school.

The idea of coexisting with intelligent appliances, vehicles, homes etc., and being connected to a giant grid that monitors our every action is a bit Big Brother-esque, but in terms of energy efficiency it makes the most sense. I have no doubt this type of system will be implemented in the future. I probably won't live to see it, but, at the pace we're going now, it is a necessity.

Every American should read this book. Or at least, pick it up and read the 15 or so pages in italic print.

*A British professor of hunger and poverty at K-State refuses to use the terms "first-world" and "third-world" in reference to countries because it implies differences in quality. He has traveled to more than 100 of the 204? countries in the world, and says he almost always prefers being in the so-called "third-world" countries. Hence, he uses the terms "rich" to describe first-world countries and "poor" to describe third world countries. I've been to my fair share of both types, and respect his system, so I use it too.