Friedman's writing style is mostly conversational and easy to read, though he tends to talk about his own friends and adventures way too much. Also, Friedman can't stop making up his own terminology, like Golden Straitjacket, Electronic Herd, Globalution, Glocalism, and the especially irritating DOScapital. The problem is, Friedman merely throws these terms at numerous and scattershot examples of phenomena that may possibly lend them meaning, but fails to adequately describe them himself.
Parts One and Two of this book are actually quite strong as Friedman remains mostly objective in describing the rise of globalization and where things stand today. He also includes a surprising amount of coverage on the negative effects on the environment and non-Western cultures (for the time being). Unfortunately, this book collapses into a firestorm of arrogance in Part 3, which is misleadingly titled "The Backlash Against the System." Here Friedman actually spends more time criticizing those who can't or won't jump on the sacred globalization bandwagon. He uses the derogatory term "turtles" for people who are being left behind by the new economic realities around the world, and doesn't care if it's not their fault. He demeans concern for disadvantaged peoples and countries as "politically correct nonsense" (pg. 355).
Some portions of this book are getting outdated, which is not Friedman's fault, but the gaps are very revealing. Several times he cites Enron as a strong global company with the world's best interests at heart, and failed to predict the tech stock crash of 2000 and how it would drastically slow down the US-led growth of the world economy (see chapter 17). This shows that Friedman's predictions in this book are already starting to fall apart. Friedman also completely avoids the issue of corporate domination, as rulings by the pro-corporate WTO have allowed multinational companies to supersede the laws of sovereign nations (such as the blatant disregard for Nigeria's environmental laws by Western oil companies). Finally, Part Four of this book descends into anemic boosterism as Friedman tries to convince us that American culture and corporations will solve all the world's ills as peoples around the world happily embrace globalization. By this point, Friedman has left objectivity far behind. His clear contempt for those who are concerned about globalization's destructive effects, and his apparent belief that American corporations only wish to solve the world's ills, prove that he has not succeeded in telling the full story. Not even close.
However, the description of globalisation is the only good aspect of the book; 3.5 stars because it does this very well.
Some arguements are weak and don't question enough the problems caused by globalisation. The book doesn't take an impartial view of globalisation, being a bit pro-market (but only a bit). Don't accept Friedmans view that globalisation cannot be controlled, and that no other alternative exists, being a refined system or a fundametally different one.
Part one and two are the guts of the book, part three is not broad enough in discussion and part four is boring (I admit however that I am not American. If you are not American you are probably aware of the issues discussed in part four.).
Overall though, I enjoyed it and am glad I read it.
Although a bit lightweight at times (it is a journalist's depiction after all), but very readable it's also still very relevant, even more so perhaps in a post-9/11 world full of "Clash of Civilizations" rhetoric. Free trade leads to intertwined economies and shared interests in the future. Economies build and produce what they do best in a perfect globalized world economy. Freidman is at his best when he points out globalizations benefits to the third world and the world in general.
The major criticism that can be leveled at "Lexus" is that Freidman downplays the negative side of globalization. But that isn't the point of "Lexus". It's strong pro-globalization cheerleading is firmly rooted in spirit in real world economics.
I find myself in agreement with Feidman's overall attitude, but hold a skeptical reservation for the negatives that can and do sometimes accompany globalization. While those negatives don't approach the apocalyptic baloney that the fervid anti-globalization crowd spews, they're real enough that they need to be addressed.