Free Downloads Connectography: Mapping The Future Of Global Civilization
Connectivity is the most revolutionary force of the 21st century. Mankind is reengineering the planet, investing up to 10 trillion dollars per year in transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure linking the world's burgeoning megacities together. This has profound consequences for geopolitics, economics, demographics, the environment, and social identity. Connectivity, not geography, is our destiny. In Connectography, visionary strategist Parag Khanna travels from Ukraine to Iran, Mongolia to North Korea, Pakistan to Nigeria, and across the Arctic Circle to explain the unprecedented changes affecting every part of the planet. He shows how militaries are deployed to protect supply chains as much as borders, and how nations are less at war over territory than engaged in tugs-of-war over pipelines, railways, shipping lanes, and Internet cables. The new arms race is to connect to the most markets - a race China is now winning, having launched a wave of infrastructure investments to unite Eurasia around its new Silk Roads. The United States can only regain ground by fusing with its neighbors into a super-continental North American Union of shared resources and prosperity.
Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 16 hours and 13 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Audible.com Release Date: August 23, 2016
Language: English
ASIN: B01JYC3L1E
Best Sellers Rank: #6 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Trades & Tariffs #10 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Politics & Current Events > International Relations #12 in Books > Business & Money > Processes & Infrastructure > Infrastructure
The author of this book has done something no one else has done – I say this as the reviewer of over 2,000 non-fiction books at across 98 categories. For the first time, in one book, we have a very clear map of what is happening where in the way of economic and social development; a startlingly diplomatic but no less crushing indictment of nation-state and militaries; and a truly inspiring game plan for what we should all be demanding from countries, cities, commonwealths, communities, and companies, in the way of future investments guided by a strategy for creating a prosperous world at peace.This is a nuanced deeply stimulating book that makes it clear that China’s grand strategy of building infrastructure has beaten the US strategy of threatening everyone with a dysfunctional military that crushes hope and destroys wealth everywhere it goes; that connectivity (cell phones, the Internet, roads, high-speed rail, tunnels, bridges, and ferries) is the accelerator for wealth creation by the five billion poor that most Western states and corporations ignore; and it provides to me more surprises, more factoids I did not know, more insights – than any five to ten other books I have read over time.At one point it occurred to me that in some ways the author is our generation’s successor to Alvin Toffler, Peter Drucker, and Robert Kaplan, combined.
Many of us who came of age in the late 20th Century see the world reaching a pivot point. The old 20th Century world of nation-states organized in camps of “Free World, Socialist, and Third World Non-aligned” now seems a quaint and archaic relic of a bygone era.But what will replace it? It the 1990’s and early 2000’s the vision of a globalized world based on free trade prosperity took root in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Standards of living in every country were supposed to soar when barriers to free trade between nations were removed. Then the free trade agreements were signed, and the global economy promptly collapsed into the Great Recession. Growth rates in most countries have stagnated since then, and living standards may actually be falling in many developed countries.So, what does the future hold? What will the world look like at mid-21st Century? Will the stagnation continue, or will the promised global prosperity finally emerge?Author Parag Khanna argues the case for global prosperity based on the “connectivity” of human migration, communication, and infrastructure:===The road map of this book follows several interconnected thrusts. First, connectivity has replaced division as the new paradigm of global organization. Human society is undergoing a fundamental transformation by which functional infrastructure tells us more about how the world works than political borders.Countries run by supply chains, cities that run themselves, communities that know no borders, and companies with more power than governments— all are evidence of the shift toward a new kind of pluralistic world system.
Reading Connectography is a real adventure. The expert knowledge of Parag Khanna has produced a comprehensive and fascinating book encompassing a wide variety of topics anchored in his particular expertise of geography but extending out to every field that connects people around the globe. His deep insight into communications, logistics and the many other globally critical areas is remarkable.The book first explores connectivity and how it has replaced division as the new paradigm of global organization, secondly how devolution is a powerful political force that has resulted in empires splintering and authorities dissipating, and thirdly how global supply chain competition is replacing wars over territory.His explanations regarding the history and development of maps are particularly revealing. I found myself taking notes as I read to follow up on a number of sources he talked about. He explains the key is the very complex task of mapping man, nature and technology that he says will require a completely new geographic literacy.One of the most important points he makes is how the arc of history bends towards connectivity and those countries lacking connectivity with cross-border flows of resources, capital and technology do not develop and grow. I can certainly confirm that from my own experience visiting countries all over the world and noticing their development or lack thereof. The winners in the battle for hearts and minds would be those who help develop connectivity. He points out that is no surprise that China is welcomed by populations in Africa and Latin America because it has helped them develop the foundations of better connectivity through roads, ports, telecommunications, etc.
Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization The Renaissance: A History of Civilization in Italy from 1304 -1576 AD (The Story of Civilization series, Volume 5) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) The Reformation: A History of European Civilization from Wycliffe to Calvin, 1300 - 1564 (Story of Civilization series, Volume 6) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) Mapping Australia (Mapping the World (Gareth Stevens)) 3D Robotic Mapping: The Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Problem with Six Degrees of Freedom (Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics) Mapping South America (Mapping the Continents) Sweet Medicine: Continuing Role of the Sacred Arrows, the Sun Dance, and the Sacred Buffalo Hat in Northern Cheyenne History (Civilization of the ... Civilization of the American Indian Series) The Age of Reason Begins: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558 - ... Book 7) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) The Age of Louis XIV: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Pascal, Moliere, Cromwell, Milton, Peter the Great, Newton, and Spinoza, ... Book 8) (Story of Civilization (Audio)) The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future! The Mystery of Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future The Mystery of the Shemitah With DVD: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future! The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy (Economic Controversies) Poverty and Hunger (Mapping Global Issues) The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future Dreaming the Future: Reimagining Civilization in the Age of Nature The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers, and the Future of Urban Life (The Future Series) Future 2 package: Student Book (with Practice Plus CD-ROM) and Workbook (Future English for Results) Writers of the Future 26, Science Fiction Short Stories, Anthology of Winners of Worldwide Writing Contest (L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future)
