KEY POINTS:
The fifth instalment in a nzherald.co.nz summer business series about the reading habits of a selection of our prominent businesspeople.
For a man involved in the technology industry, recommending a title called The World is Flat seems a little out of touch with current scientific thinking.
Jade Software boss Rod Carr read Thomas Friedman's book, which is actually an analysis of globalisation in the 21st century, on the advice his 18-year-old son.
Written in an easy-to-read style, Carr describes it as a "high level social, political commentary on megatrends".
"[Friedmann] has been around the world talking to, and trying to understand the new economic, social and political forces that are sometimes called 'free trade', sometimes called 'labour mobility', and sometimes called 'outsourcing'," said Carr.
The book talks about the enormous gains which can be made by moving work, people and capital around the world, he said.
You can't stop these trends and it's not that bad, said Carr, because some of the better quality jobs remain and opportunities are created.
Carr said it was written by an American for a largely American audience but was interesting in that Friedman is critical of a number of issues about America today.
Carr said this book should be read by politicians, community leaders, business leaders and educators -- "anybody who wishes to think about and have an opinion about some of the big issues of today".
Over the Christmas break Carr intends to finish reading Persian Fire by Tom Holland, an historical novel set in the fifth century BC when Persians and Greeks were "thumping each other".
It has all "that good stuff" said Carr -- technology, battles, politics, economics, winners, and losers.
Carr began reading Persian Fire in early November when he ran the Athens marathon in Greece.
* Rod Carr is head of Christchurch software company Jade Software Corporation. He joined Jade in 2003 after a career in banking, including five years at the Reserve Bank as a director and deputy governor, plus five months as acting governor.
Carr was recently appointed to the board of Taranaki Investment Management Limited, the company which manages New Plymouth District Council's Perpetual Investment Fund.
Recommends: The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-first Century. By Thomas Friedman.
