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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scholarly without being boring, September 9, 2004
This review is from: Rising Elephant: The Growing Clash With India Over White Collar Jobs (Hardcover)
More than the job losses of some of my IT community friends, my real eye-opener to the growing Indian challenge was when I was doing a little Internet research on Thunder and System X, America's two most powerful supercomputers (Thunder runs at our top nuclear lab Lawrence Livermore), and saw that the manufacturer California Digital was founded and run by Indians. This book has hundreds of such examples.
Even though I was, at first, a little put off by its India-feelgood tone, I believe the author is simply stating facts, and his sometimes strong tone is probably because such facts should have been evident long ago. The Indian IT jobs challenge is clearly not recent, and tomorrow's India with its satellites, rockets and rural broadband will definitely impact massively on the world.
I agree with what the author calls the Emperor's New Clothes and the Rip Van Winkle effect - that those responsible for our future have either been blind with prejudice (oh, those snake charmers !) or playing a game.
I like this book. It is scholarly (there is a massive list of references at the back) without being boring; in fact, the writing style is superb. I also learned a lot about India's rich history and its leading place in the world of science and mathematics, and its huge cultural contributions. These do explain why India is now doing so well. As an American who still believes in freedom, democracy and human rights, I also feel comfortable to know that India has some major advantages over China, including stability and military strength.
This book may have answers to the urgent need for Americans to understand the powerful faraway forces, which are (and have been) shaping our lives. As the author says, India is only doing its job, as it has to.
I still wish the final chapter was a little more detailed, but there are solid recommendations for both our government and American IT workers like myself.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A unique effort, September 23, 2004
This review is from: Rising Elephant: The Growing Clash With India Over White Collar Jobs (Hardcover)
What I like most about this book is the way it connects, explains and provides evidence about a lot of different but major developments: the software jobs crisis in America, the role of Indian-Americans in technology and now in business and finance, the excesses of the dotcom boom, the development of India and its fight against poverty, its huge historical role in developing mathematics and making some of the biggest breakthroughs in science, and of course its continuing rise to eventual superpower status as well as the key differences between it and China.
As an Indian, I have learned a lot about my country and its rich history (from Nalanda to World War II and the Belgian Congo), and understood that some of these unique features explain why it is succeeding in a knowledge-intensive field like IT.
I also advise American colleagues to read this book because it explains that they are not victims to job stealers. I think no discussion on international economics should leave out purchasing power parity any more, and there is a lot on this concept in the book. I believe the first chapter alone is a better explanation of the whole jobs crisis in the US than any one else has done so far, and the list of notes shows how carefully the author has done his homework.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Future is Here and it Tastes of Tikka Masala, January 16, 2005
This review is from: Rising Elephant: The Growing Clash With India Over White Collar Jobs (Hardcover)
Though I have no pretensions of being a scholar, I believe Rising Elephant will ten years along be noted as THE seminal work of our time.
Everyone knows how successful Indians in Britain are and the emphasis they place on education (I just read they are going to introduce the Theory of Relativity in Indian schools, and kids there are making money providing Americans with online tuition !)
But India also has most of the ingredients in place to displace America. As this wonderful book explains, both India and China are impacting on the world like America itself did at the turn of the 19th century, but the key lies in the difference between the two Asian giants. This is not just about technology (lots of comparative data on IT, biotech, space programs, nuclear technology etc.). It is also about society, culture and more.
When I visit Africa or the Middle East, I do not see a Chinese parallel to Bollywood's influence. I have not heard of Chinese fashion or car designers beginning to strike gold in Paris, Milan and New York. Nor have I heard of a Chinese parallel to people like Ravi Shankar or Ali Akbar Khan (which may explain why other than Zubin Mehta, India has produced no world-class Western musicians, unlike the Chinese). And who can argue that China's model of political and religious freedom will inspire anybody ? So this is not about just IT, or economics and business.
As our rich, self-satisfied societies here begin to age, India's influence will be far-reaching. This book explains it with remarkable sophistication and readability, and just in case you have doubts, check the 30 pages of footnotes.
But get prepared for India's arrival. And if, like me, you have just visited Sri Lanka and seen whose military very quickly but quietly did most of the work there, while the Americans took the credit (at least on TV), spend a lot of time studying the chapter which speaks of the Great Indian Absence.
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