Get “The World is Flat” on audio for free
Reading some other blogs over the weekend, I saw a special offer on Thomas Friedman’s site. It’s a free audiobook download of his book The World is Flat.
Thomas Friedman is the foreign affairs correspondent for The New York Times.
I have not read Thomas’ blog or this book, so I can’t speak to the book contents or his politics. Based on his position and his employer, I would guess he is an accomplished writer and the topic is certainly an interesting one for many leaders.
The Google book review lists the following official synopsis of The World is Flat:
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter “Y2K to March 2004,” what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world’s two biggest nations, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization? And with this “flattening” of the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place, has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their political systems to adjust in a stable manner?
In this brilliant new book, the award-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.
While not directly related to Leadership, the subject matter is certainly pertinent and an issue we should have an understanding on. As the synopsis states, the rise of India, China and others to disrupt our existing supply chains is a worldwide event of such a scale that it cannot be ignored. At the very least, we should understand the issues; for many of us, it is a manner of adapting to this new dynamic.
So if you are interested in a free audiobook version, follow the link above. I tried the registration process in an attempt to give you a head’s up should it be overly onerous or a disguised marketing scam, and have nothing to report as yet. The link takes you to a page with a brief overview of the offer. Click another link and you are asked to fill in your first and last name, and your E-Mail address. After that, you are advised that further instructions will be sent to your E-Mail.
UPDATE: Just read my E-Mails, and there is definitely a marketing play at work here. The first E-Mail I received “confirmed” my subscription to an E-Mail list:
Thanks for joining the Farrar, Straus and Giroux Marketing Department email list!
I thought I was just asking to receive a free audiobook! In all fairness, the E-Mail did include a confirmation link for the subscription and a link to change your mailing preferences, and an opt-out list. Still, I really do not like these “offers”. They really come off feeling like a bait and switch.
The second E-Mail contains a link that you can follow to download your free audiobook. Well, not exactly. You can download Part 1 of your free audiobook. They’ve broken up the download into three parts and the preview of Thomas’ upcoming book is download four. This give them three more opportunities to market to you, and of course you want the download so you’re not going to unsubscribe.
In all fairness, the Part 1 download is 132M, which is a fairly big download even in this age of broadband. So breaking up the download is convenient. But let’s be honest – they could have simply put all four links on one page and let me download them whenever I want.
If the book is a good as advertised, then I guess the value I am receiving is worth the hassle of the unwanted marketing, but I wonder if these companies give any thought to the perceptions they are creating.
Am I just a grumpy old man or does anyone else find this “free download offer” to be poorly executed?
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