13th Gen : Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

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Summary: Every 13'er (born between '61 and '81) must read this!!!
Review: If we want to really light a fire under our generation, this is the book which will help us. Finally, someone bothered to research the subject by talking to the 13'ers, and they got it right. This book was a requirement for a grad-school marketing class I recently took. It's ideas have completely fired me up. As a 13'er myself, I've come to understand the importance of some of the institutions I thought were stupid. In the process I've discovered that in ceding these institutions to others who were all too willing to keep their hands on them, we have hurt only ourselves. What's next for us? Read the book, and then decide for yourself.

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Summary: Written for them, not us ...
Review: It may be offensive to some of us who are 13ers, but this book is very well written to be given to a boomer. That's who this book is for. If you are a 13er and you want to be understood, give it to someone even lots of people who misunderstand us. It may be offensive at points to those of us who are in these shoes, but to the outsider it is excessively hard-hitting ... it may break through to them, if they read it.

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Summary: Half of the picture
Review: Like a lot of books about "GenX" or "13ers" or what have you, Howe and others present really only half of the picture when it comes to this age group. Looking at the reviews it is easy to see this schism between people who think it is dead on and those who think it's worthless. From my own informal research, the book seems to resonate more with people born towards the begining of the demogaphic group and with Boomers. The latter half of the "Xer" wave is much more optimistic, social and able to work with people both younger and older than themselves. Being myself born at the tail end, I identify not at all with the picture presented here and in "Generations" (Strauss & Howe). I suggest that we are much less homogenous according to birthdate than these people would have you believe.

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Summary: The Perfect Book for the Gen. X Crowd
Review: Like the generation of whiners it portrays, this whiny book tries to justify why Gen. X'ers feel the world owes them a living. That's about it. You won't find much else in this book.

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Summary: Over all a well writen overview of the 13th Generation.
Review: Over all the "13th Gen." presents both sides of the boomer-13th generation argument. The 13th Gen. does a good job of dispelling some stereotypes about the 13th generation. However they also back up some stereotypes by saying that the reason we are "dumb" is from watching too much TV. This is troubling to people from my generation because, in a way, the authors are supporting this stereotype. Besides this one affirmation of a stereotype, the authors do a good job of describing the majority of our generation. Perhaps the most accurate metaphor used by the authors was the particle man metaphor. I felt that it was a very innovative and accurate means of describing our generation. I did not agree with the over generalizations that were made about our generation. Most, however were piercingly accurate, and positive.

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Summary: I felt that 13th Gen had many positive and negative qualitie
Review: Overall, I felt that the book had many positive qualities including the ability to capture the image of the thirteenth generation in a optomistic manner, despite the preconceived, negative notions from our elders. Alot of the cultural aspects aspects that were portrayed in the book still pertain to us, eventhough it was published six years ago. However, I did find that the layout of the book was slightly distracting from the text. The quotes, online conversations, and cartoons were both informative and interesting, but the way in which they were presented didn't seem to correspond with one another.

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Summary: We, the 13th gen are not slackers, we are hard workers!
Review: The book "13th Gen About, Retry, Ignore, Fail?" by Neil Howe and Bill Strauss, is a very interesting book! This is not a typical book. It contains many different events that go on during the story. The book has a segment, kinda of like on-line talking. The conversation takes place between an 13th gener (called a crasher) and a Baby Boomer (Boomer). The conversation is basically about the Crasher trying to defend themselves from the Boomer. The book also contains lots of quotations that help shows the 13th generation's mentality and point of view by other 13th generation members and some elders. However I chose to dislike this book for the simple fact that it is all about teen bashing. The 13th generation is NOT a bunch of slackers! We are as good as the other generations and besides, what makes the other generations better than us. I see us as all equal. We all work hard and face basically the same problem, however we are looked down upon! We are and will always be seen as a generation without a name that will always be slackers and never make anything of ourselves. Well, we are the future and we will be running the country in a few years so the other generations better start giving us some respect or everything will go downhill. I wish that this book would have given the 13th generation some positive comments. The criticisms that this book gives on the 13th generation, will hurt our fates! See, we want to grow as people but if society really sees us this way then we will never make anything of ourselves. This is why I really dislike the book.

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Summary: WRITTEN TOO EARLY!
Review: The book was written too early, I couldn't relate to its content. It felt like being told how and what to feel about my generation. Well I think it should've been written in 1999 or 2000. I think the boomers were trying to be hip with this book but it was too obviously contrived. I threw it out a year later, I got it in '94. It had no foundation to theorize on what we did or do because we have been having an extended "growing up" peroid throughout the '90s and just now am I seeing us maturing in the late twenties and early thirties. Also, I believe there are two categories of Gen13ers, the X-ers and the Y-ers. The Y-ers are separate from the Millennial generation. The Fourth Turning is a better book than 13thGen by far. So read that one instead.

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Summary: A non-apologist explanation of the culture of Generation X
Review: There is much misunderstanding of the generation which followed the baby boom. This book paints a rich, deep picture of what forces shaped the 13th Generation (aka Generation X) into the reactive generation it is. Taking evidence from census data, sociological statistics and cultural trends, this book shows the 13th Generation as babies when demon-baby movies (Omen, Exorcist, etc.) were popular, as the generation most affected by the 1980's recession (just as it was entering the workforce) and the generation for which social security will be bankrupt by the time it retires. But the book is not apologist. Rather, the book is an in-depth example of the generational paradigm of history put forth by Stauss and Howe in _Generations_ and shows that such a reactive generation is part of a larger historical cycle that has been operating since before the Pilgrims landed on American shores. The book has a great layout for the short attention span audience. The sidebars give great quotes to support the text, there is an ongoing e-mail dialog between the baby boom authors and a gen-x critic, and the mostly black humor cartoons are well chosen to illustrate the text. A must read for anyone who wonders why Gen X folks just don't behave the way they "ought to," or for those Gen X'ers who wonder why the world is so messed up

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Summary: Written too early, mostly for the nostalgic
Review: This book evokes strange feelings. You get the feeling like "Yea, this was so true... 2 years ago!" Unfortunately, most of the people who would identify with the subjects of this book were too young to be reading it when it came out. And, a couple of years later, what would have seemed techno-savvy is just odd & out of place. The BBS terminology just doesn't work in the Internet world. (In the few months prior to me reading this book, 90% of the BBSs in my area had been shut down due to the emergence of the Internet.)

The other thing is that many of the 13th Gen are now managing Starbucks or have made millions on their IPOs. What would be fascinating is a follow-up work... "13th Gen, 2nd Edition." Unless you're really looking for nostalgia, and early-1990s late-teen/twenty-something angst... wait until the 2nd edition.