Hot, Flat, and Crowded

).

The book was released on 2008-09-08 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The audiobook was released simultaneously by Macmillan Audio. The cover art is taken from Hieronymus Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights".

Summary

In the book, Thomas L. Friedman addresses America’s surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11 and the global environmental crisis. He preaches how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the expansion of the global middle class through globalization have produced the convergence of hot, flat, and crowded. The solution to the environmental threat and the best way for America to renew its purpose is linked: take the lead in a worldwide effort to replace wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation. This means that the big economic opportunities have shifted from IT (Information Technology) in recent decades to ET (renewable Environmental Technologies) [http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/996.html] . Friedman frequently uses 2050 as a marker for when it will be too late for our world to reverse the harmful effects of climate change.

Friedman writes that the needed green revolution of the title would be more ambitious than any project so far undertaken: It will be the biggest innovation project in American history; and it will change everything from transportation to the utilities industry. This project is described in terms of nation-building.

The book alleges we've gone from the "Cold War Era" to the "Energy-Climate Era", marked by five major problems: growing demand for scarcer supplies, massive transfer of wealth to petrodictators, disruptive climate change, poor have-nots falling behind, and an accelerating loss of biodiversity. A green strategy is not simply about generating electric power, it is a new way of generating national power [http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/996.html] .

Much of the primary points of the book were built out of his "New York Times Magazine" essay "The Power of Green" [cite web | author=Thomas L. Friedman | title=The Power of Green | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/magazine/15green.t.html?scp=1&sq=%22green%20is%20the%20new%20red%20white%20and%20blue%22&st=cse | work=New York Times Magazine | date=April 3, 2005 | accessdate=2008-09-10] and the "Foreign Policy" article "The First Law of Petropolitics" [cite web | author=Thomas L. Friedman | title=The First Law of Petropolitics | url=http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3426 | work=Foreign Policy | date=May/June 2006 | accessdate=2008-09-10]

The Chapter 18 Project

Hot, Flat, and Crowded contains 17 chapters; Friedman has asked readers to submit ideas for the expanded edition's 18th chapter. He will use these ideas in a forthcoming expanded hardcover edition or the paperback edition. Users can submit their ideas and vote on others' ideas [http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/chapter18 online] .

Editions

1st edition, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780374166854 ISBN 978-0-374-16685-4] Unabridged Audio book, Macmillan Audio, 2008, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781427204585 ISBN 978-1-4272-0458-5] Abridged Audio book, Macmillan Audio, 2008, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781427204608 ISBN 978-1-4272-0460-8]

References

External Links

* [http://www.thomaslfriedman.com Official website]
* [http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780374166854#Excerpt Excerpt]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/ Columns for "The New York Times"]
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/525/000022459/ Thomas Friedman] at NNDB
* [http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/aroundthetable/friedman.html Washington Week biography]
* [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2002/commentary/works/ Friedman's 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning works]
* [http://us.macmillan.com/author/thomaslfriedman "Thomas L. Friedman's Author Page at FSG"]

Talks and Interviews

Radio

* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94385403 NPR Interview] on "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, Sept. 8, 2008

Video

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsiIw7iV3fU "Hot, Flat, and Crowded"] , animated video for FSG
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26591180#26591180 "Meet the Press"] , video interview with Tom Brokaw, Sept. 7, 2008
* [http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/09/09/1/a-conversation-with-thomas-l-friedman "Charlie Rose"] , video interview with Charlie Rose, Sept. 9, 2008
* [http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5750554 "Good Morning America"] , video interview with Diane Sawyer, Sept. 8, 2008
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVmJpM_UFVs "Late Show"] with David Letterman video interview, Sept. 9, 2008
* [http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/09/15/gps.zakaria.friedman.intv.part1.cnn Fareed Zakaria GPS Part 1] on CNN, Sept. 14, 2008
* [http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/09/15/gps.zakaria.friedman.intv.part2.cnn Fareed Zakaria GPS Part 2] on CNN, Sept. 14, 2008

Interviews

* [http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/09/thomas-friedman.html One-on-One] with Fareed Zakaria, Sept. 7, 2008
* [http://environment.umn.edu/momentum/standout.html Interview and Podcast] with Momentum Magazine, Sept.-Dec. Issue, 2008