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Rather than simply mention this book in the nonfiction thread as one I just finished reading, I’m starting a new thread in the hope others who have read it might comment on it. For those who haven’t, I’ll summarize it briefly. It’s by Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist who has written a number of books (e.g., From Beirut to Jerusalem) and tends to focus on the Middle East. This book focuses on global warming (Hot), globalization and leveling of the world’s economic playing field (Flat) and the rapidly growing demands on natural resources due to the rapidly expanding world population (Crowded). I haven’t read a lot on these subjects, so this served as a useful and interesting primer, especially on the subject of petrodictators who have siphoned off so much of our nations’ and others’ wealth. BTW, Friedman wrote an earlier book, The World is Flat, which discusses globalization in greater detail, I presume.
The first half of the book stakes out the problems that face us, and surmises that we pretty much squandered an opportunity to go green and reduce our petrodependency after 9/11. We are now in what he describes as the Energy/Climate Era, in which the quality of our lives, if not our existence, will depend on how we address the problems described in the book’s first half.
For me, the most interesting part was his discussion of the effect of oil on the Middle East and how it has killed the entrepreneurial spirit and academic research in that region. When all you have to do to produce a valuable product is draw it from the ground, why bother with anything else? Consequently, the countries in the Middle East most likely to show innovation and entrepreneurship are those who have run (or are quickly running) out of oil, like Bahrain.
The second half of the book discusses how we get out of the worsening mess. He proposes a kind of energy internet where a variety of alternate energy sources (solar, wind, nuclear, etc.) are promoted with much better sharing and linkage within communities. I thought it was very interesting, but I’d love to hear a critique from engineers and others as to its feasibility. I get the sense that Obama has read this book, or at least has become familiar with its themes, as his public works ideas (sketchy though they’ve been) seem directed toward the same objectives as Friedman’s.
The first half of the book stakes out the problems that face us, and surmises that we pretty much squandered an opportunity to go green and reduce our petrodependency after 9/11. We are now in what he describes as the Energy/Climate Era, in which the quality of our lives, if not our existence, will depend on how we address the problems described in the book’s first half.
For me, the most interesting part was his discussion of the effect of oil on the Middle East and how it has killed the entrepreneurial spirit and academic research in that region. When all you have to do to produce a valuable product is draw it from the ground, why bother with anything else? Consequently, the countries in the Middle East most likely to show innovation and entrepreneurship are those who have run (or are quickly running) out of oil, like Bahrain.
The second half of the book discusses how we get out of the worsening mess. He proposes a kind of energy internet where a variety of alternate energy sources (solar, wind, nuclear, etc.) are promoted with much better sharing and linkage within communities. I thought it was very interesting, but I’d love to hear a critique from engineers and others as to its feasibility. I get the sense that Obama has read this book, or at least has become familiar with its themes, as his public works ideas (sketchy though they’ve been) seem directed toward the same objectives as Friedman’s.
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