Still by far my favorite Thomas Friedman book, it's easily the one that's had the biggest overall impact on my career, because when it came out I had been trying, for about half a decade at that point, to cast myself as a "globalization expert." It was tough going in the sense that a lot of established experts pooh-poohed the notion even as the concept became ascendant. Friedman's book really put it over the top and, by doing so, turned my quest from seemingly pathetic to seemingly prophetic. For me, then, this was an immensely empowering book that helped enable the most important career evolution of my life to date.
When people send me emails about "The Pentagon's New Map" altering their life-paths, I truly appreciate the notion, because this is the book that did the same thing for me.