For the most part, Thank You for Being Late is a master class in explaining. It canters along at a pace that is quick enough to permit learning without getting bogged down ... yes, the folksiness will still irk some critics...But criticizing Friedman for humanizing and boiling down big topics is like complaining that Mick Jagger used sex to sell songs: It is what he does well ... an honest, cohesive explanation for why the world is the way it is, without miracle cures or scapegoats.
...his ambitious book, while compelling in places, skips about a lot. His attempt to cover much of the history of modern technology, for instance, quickly descends into gee-whiz moments and ubiquitous exclamation points ... While many of Mr. Friedman’s arguments may be sensible, he seems to believe he must claim that a higher power is on his side ... Mr. Friedman ends his inquiry into technology and globalization with by far the best part of the book: an eloquent mini-memoir of growing up in the small town of St. Louis Park, Minn.
...a sprawling book of astonishing topical breadth and apparent conceptual simplicity. Readers will encounter all sorts of interesting content along the way but they may read the overall picture as less coherent and encouraging than Friedman wishes ... The bigger problem, even for sympathetic readers of this humane and empathetic book, is that Thank You for Being Late provides no clear way of unifying its subject ... When Friedman’s story veers from technophilia and retreats from its commitment to labeling every trend an acceleration of an acceleration, it becomes more compelling — but also more discordant.
