Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America

Hot, Flat and Crowded   Nov 20, 2008
I can't get as excited about global warming as Friedman has. First half of book paints worse-case scenarios in my opinion and is very tiresome reading - very repetetive and overdone with metaphors. Solutions in latter half of book are interesting, but are they all possible or necessary? Am usually a big fan of Friedman's recent op-eds, so a bit disappointed with the book.

30% recycled content   Nov 20, 2008
Haven't read more than the synopsis yet, but are we to believe Friedman's call for a "green revolution" when it's published on 70% new paper, and only 30% recycled material?

That's a revolution?

When Friedman apologizes for his part in cheerleading for the waste of over a trillion dollars in Iraq, money which would be enough to make all the renewable fuel we would ever need, then he can say he's serious.

Sorry, Tom, some of your ideas are good, but they're coming from someone living in a credibility canyon. You showed us all what an ugly person you were when you endorsed the use of false pretense to attack a country which never threatened us:

"The ''real reason'' for this war, which was never stated, was that after 9/11 America needed to hit someone in the Arab-Muslim world. Afghanistan wasn't enough."

[.................]

Deeply Intriguing Ideas Buried by Breezy Style   Nov 20, 2008
Thomas Friedman's writing is new to me, and from the glowing reviews of this book I expected a little bit more. I'm a climate change professional and one of those "revolutionary bureaucrats" that he praises in his book for doing the real work in protecting human health and the environment (thank you, Mr. Friedman), and I agree with 95 percent of his ideas and solutions - especially placing the true price of dirty fuel back onto the consumer (only then will people choose clean energy over dirty fuels). I give the book three stars mostly because it feels like a review of things I've already read, and it could have been written a little better. However, the book earns four stars if it's one of your first three books on the impacts of global warming; and if this is your first serious book on global warming I'd give it a top five-star rating.

Although the book puts together important ideas, my primary disappointment with the book is that it reads like one especially long newspaper article, very light and breezy, and almost glib in tone at times. A much better book if you want more on climate change and its impacts upon human societies is "Hell and High Water - Global Warming, the Solution and the Politics - and What We Should Do" by Joseph Romm.

I've also read thousand-page compendiums on climate change, so to me, the science of global warming is incontrovertible. That part of his book didn't require convincing for me. I'm not an economist, so I could not evaluate his economical solutions to the degree I'd like, although I do agree that externalities should be included back into the price of everything, especially chemicals, fuels, or processes that are harmful to the environment. One of my main disagreements I have with Mr. Friedman is that growth in the third world is necessary or good. Even the author admits that the world can't sustain any more Americas.

At least Mr. Friedman is exactly spot on about how the "green revolution" is more of a "green party", where everybody gets to feel good without actually accomplishing anything. If we want to keep the world livable for us humans, I'm certain that big changes, painful changes will have to take place.

I am also fairly certain that voluntary behavior change will not be enough to limit carbon dioxide emissions into the air. Which do you think is easier?
1): Convince the average motorist that high-mileage hybrid vehicles are the best vehicle to buy (even though they cost more upfront); or
2): Mandate higher minimum fuel efficiency standards that all vehicles must meet.

Personally, I know fuel efficiency standards work, because they worked in the 1970s very well. As for voluntary behavior, what is the market penetration of hybrid vehicles? A lot less than 5 percent. I'm an environmentalist, but I will not buy a hybrid until the price of gas becomes very, very, expensive.

Stay tuned, I think climate change is the most important story of our times. In a few years, the economic downturn (in late 2008) will be in the past, gasoline will be at $7 to $8 per gallon, and we will still be trying to keep the planet from turning into a desert - only the later we start to make meaningful change, the more difficult it becomes.

Interest and Thoughtful as usual but a tad over long   Nov 20, 2008
Thomas Friedman is one of the most insightful and thought provoking writers of the current era. Hot, Flat and Crowded does what each of Friedman's works do, they make you think and they provoke a discussion on the topic that he brings up. The nice thing about Friedman is that he isn't some gloom and doom prophet but more a cheerleader of change. I think that Friedman's greatest ability is that he gets people to discuss change without polarizing like so many other writers.

If there is one downside to any of his writing, it's that he can be too gushy, like someone with a new toy. While it's nice to see enthusiasm you cant help but wonder if that drives his thought process over detachment.

Timely and Cohesive Analysis   Nov 19, 2008
Tom Friedman has the singular gift - honed by years of journalistic experience as a successful and honored New York Times columnist - of being in the right place at the right time. HOT, FLAT AND CROWDED takes a sobering look at the consequences of globalization and integrates the issues of rapid population growth, limited resources, rapidly changing economic changes, transformational energy and technological challenges, and accelerating environmental degradation.

Unlike earlier books, which offered an unabashedly upbeat tonic of global expansion, Mr. Friedman displays a more mature, holistic approach to the forces that are impacting the international "order." While some may deride his opinion as "inconvenient truths" or pandering to the "liberal intelligencia," Mr. Friedman has shown his journalistic credentials in synthesizing a comprehensive analysis of those issues that will be in the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere for years to come. You may not agree with everything he says, but you cannot deny that he says it all in a compelling and engaging fashion.