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30 reviews for:
X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking
Jeff Gordinier
3.3 AVERAGE
30 reviews for:
X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking
Jeff Gordinier
3.3 AVERAGE
A great book. Well-written and thoughtful, it shows the origins of Gen-X and their "lost" but vital role in contemporary life.
If I could, I would make everyone I know read it. Highly recommended.
If I could, I would make everyone I know read it. Highly recommended.
Couldn't get into this one. I spent the first two chapters trying to figure out if my generation was the one before X or after, and then I stopped caring.
I was really disappointed in this book. The author is pretentious, incredibly pretentious. To be fair, I am highly suspicious of "generational" talk anyhow - I tend to find it stereotypical and insulting. The beginning was kind of fun - lots of talk about what I remember of the 90s - but as the book moved on, I failed to see any point of its existence. The author definitely cherry-picked his events and pop culture that he felt defined Gen X. I only finished it because of my 2010 A-Z Titles challenge.
I think you have to be an Xer to enjoy this book but maybe a Boomer or two should read it as well. I enjoyed the music references and was reminded to listen to some bands I missed the first time around.
This book made me laugh out loud so many times as it codifies so many conversations I've had with my fellow Xers about the late Boomers and their off-spring. It nails the stereotypes about them and about us. The stereotypes mind you: I know and love many Boomers (even of the later vintages) and many more Millennials. They're fantastic people stuck in generations of narcissists and nabobs. Gen X has some, too, yes. We're dealing in stereotypes here, people!
If you're looking for 4-5 pages devoted solely to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and how it briefly rescued music listeners from garbage noise, then yes to this book. If you want to read about how Colbert spoke truth to power in the most Gen X way possible at the WH Correspondent's Dinner, then yes to this book. If you want to think about Barack Obama as the Gen X President, then yes to this book.
Does the author make ridiculously over the top statements? Yes! But friends, he's being ironic. It's part of the joke.
So much good stuff in here. So many quality music references - a lot of art I missed because I wasn't in tune until a lot later then most - and movies. It does stretch into pretension at times, but again(!) that's the joke, y'all!
Nice work, Jeff.
If you're looking for 4-5 pages devoted solely to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and how it briefly rescued music listeners from garbage noise, then yes to this book. If you want to read about how Colbert spoke truth to power in the most Gen X way possible at the WH Correspondent's Dinner, then yes to this book. If you want to think about Barack Obama as the Gen X President, then yes to this book.
Does the author make ridiculously over the top statements? Yes! But friends, he's being ironic. It's part of the joke.
So much good stuff in here. So many quality music references - a lot of art I missed because I wasn't in tune until a lot later then most - and movies. It does stretch into pretension at times, but again(!) that's the joke, y'all!
Nice work, Jeff.
I was hopeful but found this book to be uninspiring. It was a nice cultural review, but did not live up to the claim "saves the world". Here we are, 10 years after publication and the boomers are still running things while millennials stand in line to take their place. Perhaps X was too cynical of the system to bring about the change needed. Perhaps that gray ceiling was just too numerous.
This book was fun to read. The author's voice and his innumerable references to things made me want to just read read read this book. I brought three books to my daughter's flute lesson figuring I'd read a little of each and decide which to read for real over the next few days, but I never put this one back down.
The manner of speaking and the things being said totally reminded me of a friend of mine.
Book organization: (1) squashed by the boomers, (2) now in comes the flood of millennials, (3) what gen-x is doing that is improving the world.
I did grow up when it was totally uncool to commit to anything, when you kept your enthusiasm hidden because it made you a target. I really like the concept fo stealth mode improvements. I really like the idea of making changes that improve your own little bit of the world and, hey, if other people pick up on it, that'd be great. I do like that gen-x is willing to do what they're going to do without needing to convince other people to go along with it. independence. you don't need a PARADE or a CONCERT to make it so. Yeah, a better public face might be an asset sometimes, but that's not the most efficient place to put your energy.
Also, the idea of replacing lawn with a vegetable garden: I'm going to start doing that. I never saw the point of a lawn anyway.
The manner of speaking and the things being said totally reminded me of a friend of mine.
Book organization: (1) squashed by the boomers, (2) now in comes the flood of millennials, (3) what gen-x is doing that is improving the world.
I did grow up when it was totally uncool to commit to anything, when you kept your enthusiasm hidden because it made you a target. I really like the concept fo stealth mode improvements. I really like the idea of making changes that improve your own little bit of the world and, hey, if other people pick up on it, that'd be great. I do like that gen-x is willing to do what they're going to do without needing to convince other people to go along with it. independence. you don't need a PARADE or a CONCERT to make it so. Yeah, a better public face might be an asset sometimes, but that's not the most efficient place to put your energy.
Also, the idea of replacing lawn with a vegetable garden: I'm going to start doing that. I never saw the point of a lawn anyway.
Entertainingly written, if not very deep. Gordinier argues Generation X is the lost, great generation that never got its shot, but I would argue that the GenX personality type, which exists across time, never really gets its shot. It's not a generational issue so much as it's a personality one.
Still, an entertaining read.
Still, an entertaining read.
One of the better explanations of GenX attitudes, influences and trends I've read.
informative
slow-paced