I have been waiting for this book for more than a year. It was first published in August last year, but I couldn’t afford to buy a hardcover edition worth more than 24,000 won. So I waited and waited until finally it came out not only as a cheap 17,678 won paperback but also as an updated and expanded version 2.0! It’s obviously true that Friedman has not been lazy and satisfied. Plus a lot of things have happend after the publication. This Hot, Flat, and Crowded 2.0 edition plus 54 pages not only has newly written first three chapters about the last year’s financial crisis and following recession but also has some new facts and ideas in the rest of the chapters including President Obama’s green policy. So I would say this 2.0 edition deals with all the latest issues from the financial meltdown to the glacial meltdown. I am also proud that I am one of the first readers in the world who read his new version. 

Friedman has been the living example of American Globalization. In Lexus and Olive, he seemed to say that Globalization is obviously Americanization or Anglo-Americanization. This Anglo-American Globalization is so powerful and beneficial a force that the world can’t help but emulate what Americans do and say. He kept saying Anglo-American Globalization is benign world norms and trends that every one in the world would benefit from this ever-increasing worldwide connectivity and free trade. Alas, he’s right about the newly formed immense Global Economy based on IT technology, but he didn’t know what will happen if this Great Global Economy meets laissez-faire financial capitalism and unquenchable American consumerism with the borrowed money. American’s Real Estate & Mortgage Rush tragically ended with the sudden disappearance of the fantastical mirage of Anglo-American Globalization. It is a myth that American way is the best way. 

Friedman sadly admitted. He admitted he was dumb, Americans were dumb. They believed they can live a highest quality of life while borrowing the money from else where and borrowing the present from the future generation. Americans spend, consume, and waste resources and energy mindlessly. But he didn’t just sit on and brood over the failures and mistakes his fellow Americans made. He stands out and argues that the end is near and we all have to stand against the impending catastrophes.

 He readily wants to be the Green Moses who will lead us out of slavery of dirty fossil fuels. This Green Revolution is 21st century Green Exodus. Yes, there will be hardships and obstacles. We should walk across the Red Sea of Climate Change and through the Wilderness of Energy Poverty to the Promised Land where abundant, cheap, clean, reliable electrons flow.  

Friedman is also a Green Noah, who vocally insists that we build a million Green Arks to preserve the biodiversity. This Green Arks are designed to save not only animals and plants but also human beings. "Everytime you look into the mirror, you see the endangered species." Human beings are in the verge of extinction from the environmental degradation, pollution, climate change, and energy shortage. 

Lastly, Friedman is a Green Jeremiah, who foretells the climate disasters are near. Both poles’ glaciers are melting fast and sea level is going up rapidly.

His book deals with uncertain future, so it is difficult to predict what will exactly happen if we just sit down and do nothing. Maybe this time he’s right about our future. I believe we’d rather have to mobilize all our resources and knowledge to challenge this enormous tasks. 

This book is very complicated with numerous excerpts from newspapers, magazines, and reports. There are also lots of quotations and commentaries from world leading figures of different subjects from environmentalist, journalist, economist to climatologist, executives, and politicians. The first half of the book is unstoppable and fast pace because it is mainly about the threats of the imminent problems. But the rest half of the book is time-consuming and somewhat redundant, boring because it is about how to solve the problems. The problem-solving techniques are complex, entangled with lots of other issues from education, interest groups, politics to elections, lobby groups, leadership. It’s not attractive. Nevertheless, 2.0 edtion is the must read for all the endangered human beings!