Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The celebratednbsp;New York Timesnbsp;columnist diagnoses this unprecedented historical moment and suggests strategies for resilience and propulsion that will help us adapt.Are things just getting too damned fast? Friedman (Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolutionand How It Can Renew America, 2008, etc.) cites 2007 as the year we reached a technological inflection point. Combined with increasingly fast-paced globalization (financial goods and services, information, ideas, innovation) and the subsequent speedy shocks to our planets natural system (climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, geochemical flows), weve entered an age of accelerations that promises to transform almost every aspect of modern life. The three-time Pulitzer winner puts his familiar methodologyextensive travel, thorough reporting, interviews with the high-placed movers and shakers, conversations with the lowly moved and shakento especially good use here, beginning with a wonderfully Friedman-esque encounter with a parking attendant during which he explains the philosophy and technique underlying his columns and books. The author closes with a return to his Minnesota hometown to reconnect with and explore some effective habits of democratic citizenship. In between, he discusses topics as varied as how garbage cans got smart, how the exponential growth in computational power has resulted in a supernova of creative energy, how the computer Watson wonnbsp;Jeopardy, and how, without owning a single property, Airbnb rents out more rooms than all the major hotel chains combined. To meet these and other dizzying accelerations, Friedman advises developing a dynamic stability, and he prescribes nothing less than a redesign of our workplaces, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and communities. Drawing lessons from Mother Nature about adaptability, sustainability, and interdependence, he never underestimates the challenges ahead. However, hes optimistic about our chances as he seeks out these strategies in action, ranging from how ATT trains its workers to how Tunisia survived the Arab Spring to how chickens can alleviate African poverty. Required reading for a generation thats going to be asked to dance in a hurricane. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Choice
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

This wonderful book is a balance of astute perception and creative introspection, the hallmark of the author's biweekly columns in the New York Times and his previous six books. He is a master of weaving the dynamics of technology, economics and finance, politics, and culture into a fabric that makes intuitive sense even for those who are more narrow and specialized, with bones to pick here and there. The narrative starts with a blogging Ethiopian parking attendant in Bethesda, MD, and ends with the author's roots in a Minnesota suburb, both reflected in the remarkable quality of Friedman's writing and the shaping of his opinions in the media. In-between stands the "Machine" (not Friedman's word), an unfixed but compelling model of how things work. Somehow it conjures up a Rube Goldberg-style contraption of gears and belts and levers and whistles but with cause-and-effect relationships that continually change. The key forces are globalization, technological change, and climate change. Friedman explores their interaction and its acceleration, which affects individuals and groups, cultures, and values. Acceleration of the pace of change turns out to be a key issue that doesn't necessarily bode well for the Machine, so there are good reasons for taking breathers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Ingo Walter, New York University