This is one of those books where, about halfway through, I began to wish I’d been taking notes. Thomas Friedman argues that due to universal increases in access to technology, the earth — if not physically — is flattening with respect to growth and opportunity, becoming a much more level playing field.

It took a few chapters for Friedman to really engage me, but I was soon both engrossed and alarmed. It becomes crystal clear that in order for the US to maintain its powerhouse economic leadership in the world community, it must adopt a much more active, rather than complacent, attitude or eventually be trampled by any of several other rapidly growing economies currently nipping at its heels.