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reading (Longitudes & Attitudes)
Longitudes & Attitudes is a non-fiction book primarily made up of the authors NY Times editorials shortly before and after 9/11. There is a lot of interesting and thought provoking stuff in the editorials. The second part of the book is a sort of diary, covering the same time with some more background. I think it would have been presented better to have the background before and after the individual editorials because as it was formatted it made more repetition and ended up reading like two books about the same thing.
Since the book was published ten years ago, it's a bit like reading a near future sci-fi story written in the past. Friedman makes predictions and mentions things he thinks will be important. Like anyone trying to predict the future, he gets it wrong. But he was right in highlighting some of the trends, trends that later blossomed in ways he couldn't guess. He repeatedly talks about how the advent of Arab satellite TV and the Internet were making it harder for the old Arab regimes to control their population. He didn't see them loosing power in the short term. So he got the root, but didn't guess what it would grow to. That shows his insight and how hard it is to predict the future with accuracy.
Overall a thought provoking book.
53. Thomas L. Friedman Longitudes & Attitudes
Since the book was published ten years ago, it's a bit like reading a near future sci-fi story written in the past. Friedman makes predictions and mentions things he thinks will be important. Like anyone trying to predict the future, he gets it wrong. But he was right in highlighting some of the trends, trends that later blossomed in ways he couldn't guess. He repeatedly talks about how the advent of Arab satellite TV and the Internet were making it harder for the old Arab regimes to control their population. He didn't see them loosing power in the short term. So he got the root, but didn't guess what it would grow to. That shows his insight and how hard it is to predict the future with accuracy.
Overall a thought provoking book.
53. Thomas L. Friedman Longitudes & Attitudes