Flat-Footed: Friedman Shows FSG How to Think Fast

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 3/28/2006

Thomas L. Friedman, author of the bestselling The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (FSG), practices what he preaches. Just one year after the initial publication of his book, which examines the rapid technological innovation and constant change that contribute to the “flattening” of the world, the text is getting an update and expansion, to the tune of 100 new pages and a new introduction. “We have version 2.0 now,” said FSG publisher Jonathan Galassi. “In a way, the revision of the book is in keeping with the spirit of the book.”

The new edition features new reporting, insights and commentary, drawn both from Friedman’s 2005 travels (to India, China and the Middle East) and from his encounters with readers around the country who have shared their accounts of the flattening of the world as they have felt it. FSG senior editor Paul Elie, who worked closely with Friedman on both editions of the book, said, “Because of Tom’s work at the Times, his understanding of how stories change is acute. He publishes 100 columns a year. He has to call it as he sees it at the time, and then refine it as he goes. That’s his temperament, and why shouldn’t we make it happen with the book, if we can?”

Friedman’s new introduction boasts that “it is now possible to revamp a whole book relatively easily.” Elie puts that statement into perspective: “Relatively easily compared to the past, yes. But it’s not easy, it doesn’t do itself.” There was a precedent for revising Friedman’s work, however: his earlier The Lexus and the Olive Tree also received a revision, after its paperback release. “In this case [referring to The World Is Flat],” said Galassi, “the changes were originally going to be for the paperback. But since the book is still selling at an incredible rate, we’ve postponed the paperback.”

The World Is Flat was first published in April 2005, and the new edition of the book, which will have a 330,000-copy first printing, will go on sale April 18. At that point, FSG anticipates the book will have spent 52 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and will have two million copies in print. Friedman will lecture and make national appearances (on the Today show, Charlie Rose and Jon Stewart, among others) to promote the new version.