Rating: 
Summary: The Song Remains the Same
Review: Thomas Friedman breaks no new ground with this book. He doesn't have to. The bulk of "Longitudes & Attitudes" is a collection of his regular New York Times columns from December 2000 until July 2002. Friedman regulars will have read most or all of these columns, and even his occasional readers will be familiar with the handful of pieces that have gained fame for the clarity of their vision and their new insights into old problems. Friedman's message is simple. Anti-democratic Arab regimes conspire with radical Muslim clerics throughout the Middle East in an unholy alliance to maintain the illegitimate governments in power with the support of religious leaders spewing medieval backwardness and hatred. The U.S. props up many of these regimes in the name of an expedient short-term stability aimed at milking them of their oil reserves. Who suffers? Everyone. Arab societies are trapped in a backward-looking anti-modernist world of illiteracy, intolerance, repression of women, and censorship. A foreseeable by-product are hate-filled xenophobic young men who would rather kill themselves and thousands of innocents than search for creative solutions to this seemingly intractable impasse. Against this backdrop always looms the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which fuels the flames of anti-Western rhetoric while simultaneously distracting Arab societies from the pressing need to reform themselves. And this conflict can not be resolved until Israelis withdraw from their settlements in Palestinian areas and until Yasir Arafat is no longer a player.Friedman sounds this drumbeat over and over, with anecdotes, insights, analysis, and ruminations. His language is as simple as his message and has won him three Pulitzer Prizes. He is an unabashed American patriot with excellent contacts throughout the region. He is not an academic, but someone who has a heart, passion, skill, and is gifted with the ability to make sense of chaos and to find threads of music in cacophony. Thomas Friedman is an excellent writer.
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Summary: Understanding The World After 9/11
Review: Towards the end of "Longitudes and Attitudes," Thomas Friedman states "we are not at the beginning of the end of understanding (September 11th) or its implications." While that may be certainly true, this collection of New York Times columns and diary entries from Friedman go a very long way in understanding why that terrible day happened and why the world still has a long way to go in preventing such tragedies in the future. The book is quick and easy reading with Friedman packing an amazing amount of information in a short amount of space. It is easy to see why Friedman has multiple Pulitzer Prizes for his commentary. Hopefully I am not alone in feeling somewhat embarrassed about how much I did not know about what is/has been going on in the world. Since this book is basically a re-hash of Friedman's columns, regular readers of the NY Times will find much of "Longitudes" old material. Likewise, in reading the columns over a short period of time, one notices recurring themes in Friedman's writing. But any repetitiveness only serves to drive home some very important points. Friedman leans to the liberal side of the political fence, so staunch Bush supporters and/or those who do not have warm and fuzzy feelings about ex-president Clinton may get a bit riled up at times. But hopefully this will not detract anyone from reading this enlightening and thought-provoking volume and should not be merely dismissed as yet another 9/11 entry on the bestseller lists. Simply put, in this sometimes scary and still uncertain world, "Longitudes" should be required reading for every American.
Rating: 
Summary: Like watching a game of ping-pong
Review: Reading this book is like watching a game of ping-pong. Mr Friedman argues out of both sides of his mouth about Iraq, the middle east, Islam, Arabs, Jews, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One can't help but walk away feeling that in Mr Friedman's opinion, everything would be fine if we just signed up to the Kyoto treaty, the World court, increased taxes, cut oil consumption and kept the ABM treaty. Mr Friedman is a brilliant writer and there are great pearls of wisdom in this book. If nothing else, he helps the reader understand the world as other see it. However, the most important lesson I draw from the book is that you never want a person like him, an intellectual elite, in a leadership position because they are incapable of making up their minds. They are incapable of drawing hard moral and philosophically based lines by which to judge decisions and actions. Everything is relative; there is no right and wrong just shades of gray which prevent progress. No matter how straight the road, if you zig-zag and back-track you never get anywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite fair and balanced - and insightful
Review: Understanding the root causes of the horrific events of September 11th is a difficult task, though one can count on Thomas Friedman to distill these quite well. Friedman has always been a most insightful writer on issues Arab/Israeli and this book showcases his thought pre-and-post 9/11 on these issues, as well as globalization touched upon in The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and the ramifications thereof in the post 9/11 world. Friedman is as accessible as he is insightful, and everyone can and should read this work. My few issues with this work are that it is not the amazing "whole" that his previous works have been. Because these are merely reprinted columns, essentially 740-word sound bites, this book lacks the in-depth narrative scale and analysis of Friedman's earlier, excellent works, From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Also, the material is actually quite repetitious. This is not immediately obvious if you read his Times column on its twice-per-week basis - but seeing the material all strung together, it smacks you in the face. Repetition between the columns and his own personal journal is also very obvious, but in the end, I am glad that he published all of it. For, as a record of what the world looked like to one journalist - admittedly, a very pro-American journalist - during 2001 and the first half of 2002, Longitudes and Attitudes will be an amazing record when we look back at this eventful epoch years from now and bring back all of our recollections, memories, and fears from the various stages of the "Gray War" in which we currently find ourselves engaged.
As original texts, five stars. As a compendium, four.
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Summary: Concentrated Friedman
Review: Longitudes & Attitudes: Exploring the World after September 11 by Thomas L. Friedman is worth reading, and probably even more so if you haven't followed his twice-weekly column in the Times for the past few years. The book is divided into three sections: columns before 9/11, columns after and a diary of Friedman's travels after September 11. It's interesting to read the columns all together, to feel the full force of Friedman's arguments at once, but I did think by the end of the diary, it was beginning to feel a little repetitive. All the old gang of ideas from Friedman's theories are there: The globalization theme that walls are coming down, and as they do, those so far disenfranchised by global capitalism will work to defeat it, sometimes violently; that globalization itself is its own worst weakness by democratizing information, capital and technology even to those in societies in which there are no democratic hallmarks - a free press, equity for women and general civil rights - that the Arab world, particularly Saudi Arabia, is responsible for the lackluster future it offers its burgeoning younger generations and that this society's marriage to fundamentalist Islam as a justification for totalitarian regimes is a danger to everyone on the planet. It's a good read and one that will probably change in resonance as we get further from 9/11/01 and find out how right or wrong Friedman's hypotheses are, or how correct his calls for specific actions may turn out to be.
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Summary: Great book
Review: Very informative book that everyone should read.
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Summary: Simply Amazing, Must Read
Review: I first came across this book and Mr Friedman channel surfing one night. I found a show on the Discovery Channel about Friedman's, basicly it was him traveling arounf the Islamic world interviewing world leaders, scholars, students, and your average citizens. A few days later I bought this book and did not put it down until i was finished. He provides a very insightful analysis about current Mid-East society and politics, the factors that led to the September 11 attacks and the current war on terrorism, and the failure of moderization in the Islamic world. Anyone remotly interested in politics should read this book, and Friedman's column in the NY Times
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Summary: An Expert View on 9/11
Review: If you want to see how right he was with what he wrote before and after 9/11, buy it. Be careful, it is just a compilation of Friedman's writings in his column. There is an extra diary part at the end. I enjoyed Lexus and Olive Tree more but if you are interested in Middle East Politics, buy it. You won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Summary of His Recent Works for the New York Times
Review: Mr. Friedman is an outstanding writer for the New York Times and he has an excellent reputation so his views are always worth a look. Here is a collection of his columns taken direct from his paper plus some other writings. I read The New York Times plus a lot of stories on the web so I probably would not have bought this book. It was a gift. This is not really a book, it is a series of his writings bound into a book. For your own sake and enjoyment, it is better that like his writings, or are at the least neutral and open to his comments. Obviously he is a good writer, and the story is a weave of page after page of personal thoughts, conversations, telephone calls, and interactions with leaders. It includes trips such as his trip to Saudi Arabia. My only negative thing to say is that this is a collection of his columns and other writings which are all bundled together, and as such the book has no index, cross references, or footnotes or similar. But that is fine, it does not detract too much from the collection. Brain food. Recommend buying, but as a "book" it merits just 3 or 4 Stars. Jack in Tornto
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Summary: A great introduction to the complexity of the 9/11 attack.
Review: I picked up 'Longitudes and Attitudes' last time I was in New York. I was looking for some readings into 9/11 and this seemed to be a good starting point. Thomas Friedman is a foreign correspondent with a twice-weekly column in the New York Times. His writing has (so far) won him the Pulitzer Prize three times! 'Longitudes and Attitudes' is a collection of his columns published over a period of 18 months, December 2000 until July 2002. The book also includes a part II - his personal journal from his traveling in Europa, Asia and the Middle East after 9/11. Friedman is an audacious American who has a big heart, is passionate about his writing and is gifted with the ability to make sense of what the rest of us think of as chaos. He has excellent contacts throughout the Middle East, knows the subtle differences between the cultures and he appreciates the fragile balance between them. 'Longitudes and Attitudes' gave me a good insight into the culture and thoughts of those in the Middle East and to the sheer complexity of this war. I would recommend it for everyone that would like a clear and in depth explanation of what fueled the attack on America. PS. This book was my introduction to last year's 9/11 readings. If you only want to read one contemporary account of the aftermath of 9/11, this is an excellent book. However, I read this book, the followed up with books highly recommended from a friend (Thanks Greg!); 'The Base' (Corbin) and 'Holy War Inc' (Bergen). I finished off my 9/11 period with Giuliani's 'Leadership'. These four books compliment each other, and reading them gave me a much broader, deeper understanding of the complexity of the problem(s) we are facing.
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