Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in , as in his earlier, influential , is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists—the optimistic ones at least—are inevitably prey to. What ...
