The novel The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and what it means for us all, written by Robyn Meredith, is a very interesting and thought provoking book that discusses how India and China are changing our world. The elephant in the title represents India and how it has slowly moved forward to gain economic strength. In contrast, China symbolizes a dragon that intimidates and moves tremendously quickly in its rise to power. Throughout the book, Meredith provides examples of what is happening and what will happen to the world economy. However, it does little to explain to the reader what to do to solve the problems occurring in the global economy, particularly in the United States of America. Overall, the book reads like an interesting 252-page news article and is a good read; but a review with more up-to-date statistics and facts could be useful. The book begins with a brief history, explaining the context of China and India in the mid-to-late 20th century. Meredith explains key events that are essential to understanding the extent of change that has occurred over the past two decades in both countries. Explain how the political repression created by Mao Zedong, a Chinese communist leader, impoverished the Chinese people. Furthermore, post-colonial Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru's choice of an isolated, self-sufficient economy hindered India's growth. The transformation and continuous change of China and India are astonishing. Meredith suggests: “Perhaps the most sweeping changes are being felt in the new global job market… Globalization has proven good for the poor even as it puts pressure on the American and European middle classes.” (p. 12) This means that “by 2030, economists lay out…half of a sheet of paper…very dry and it almost seemed like they were just writing down the facts. Unfortunately, this is not enough to keep the book interesting for most readers. It just seems to bring awareness to this topic and let the reader understand how to prepare for the changing global market. It only provides solutions like increasing research and development. Or work in professions that cannot be easily outsourced to defend themselves from these countries. She would have been better off without having the section on what the United States needs to do. On the other hand, Meredith should have gotten help from someone with that kind of expertise to explain to her in more detail what should have been done. His attempt to give ideas about what America needs to do is the book's major flaw. Overall, I give this book three and a half stars out of five for its interesting information on these foreign powers.