The IBIC Guide to Books About Generation X
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November 15, 1994
As a '61 baby, I'm perched on the cusp between Baby Boom and
Generation X. I spent my twenties in an Xerish state of anomie
combined with a Boomerishly insincere flirtation with
Bohemianism. Then, since marrying at 28, I have spent the last five
years exerting an enormous amount of effort--full-time work plus
law school at night--simply to attain a decent Boomeresque
standard of living for self and family. So I identify with
neither the meritocratic Clinonesque Boomers who flock to our
nation's capital nor with those Xers who accept the grunge
lifestyle with its peripheral MacJobs, the ephemeral
satisfactions of age cohort solidarity, and lack of health insurance.
I identify more with the Depression and WWII generations whose
careers were postponed and who had to work hard for everything they
got.
Perhaps the foregoing explains why I couldn't finish 13TH
GEN: ABORT, RETRY, IGNORE, FAIL by Neil Howe and Bill Strauss
(Vintage Books, 1993). I don't doubt the premise that there is a
Generation X, and
that its issues and attitudes are significantly different than
the Boomer generation's. My brother ('66) and sister ('68) definitely
have different perspectives than I do, and some of it is generational.
But 13TH GEN is not the book to read if you are
interested in this stuff. In a nutshell, it is too much of a
nonbook. The generalizations are sweeping. And the imitation
Net dialogue is pathetic. If you are interested in this topic,
skip this book, and start with Douglas Coupland's GENERATION
X.
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Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996
In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to
draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life
and thinking.
- When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and
Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's
classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's
descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on
the classic. What a great movie it would make!
- The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO
immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy.
I've read a number of translations over the years, but my
favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO;
PURGATORY;
PARADISE). The notes
are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading
her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE
INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
- I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY,
which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest
in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But
reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes
that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
- Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent
acquisition, the very handsome NIV
STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in
IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black
and brown
are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They
appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to
know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the
linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding
Scripture.
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