Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Starred review from September 29, 2008
At the intersection of leveled economic and technological access (flat) with an aggravated environment (hot) and a surging population (crowded), Friedman stands behind his pulpit as preacher, prophet and promoter of a green revolution starting in the United States. He provides an exhaustive and convincing argument about the need for the United States to transition to more sustainable systems of energy soon or risk any possible chance of maintaining hegemony. His ability to identify and summarize succinctly the issues and controversies over resistance to a green revolution is matched by his clear and definitive solutions to these forthcoming problems. Oliver Wyman provides a congenial and gentle voice that works well with the text. Given its overwhelming nature, Wyman performs without a hint of condescension. He navigates quotes within the text with distinguishing voices that sometimes hints at personality traits not referred to in the text. Impressively, Wyman keeps a consistency of cadence and tone throughout the entire reading. A Farrar, Straus & Giroux hardcover.

September 8, 2008
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Friedman (The World Is Flat) is still an unrepentant guru of globalism, despite the looming economic crisis attributable, in Friendman's view, to the U.S. having become a "subprime nation that thinks it can just borrow its way to prosperity." Friedman covers familiar territory (the need for alternate energy, conservation measures, recycling, energy efficiency, etc.) as a build-up to his main thesis: the U.S. market is the "most effective and prolific system for transformational innovation.... There is only one thing bigger than Mother Nature and that is Father Profit." While he remains ostensibly a proponent of the free market, he does not flinch from using the government to create conditions favorable to investment, such as setting a "floor price for crude oil or gasoline," and imposing a new gasoline tax ($5-$10 per gallon) in order to make investment in green technologies attractive to venture capitalists: "America needs an energy technology bubble just like the information technology bubble." To make such draconian measures palatable, Friedman poses a national competition to "outgreen" China, modeled on Kennedy's proposal to beat the Soviets to the moon, a race that required a country-wide mobilization comparable to the WWII war effort. Recognizing the looming threat of "petrodicatorship" and U.S. dependence on imported oil, this warning salvo presents a stirring and far-darker vision than Friedman's earlier books.