For the most part, Generations by Jean Twenge worked as an audiobook. For each generation, the author did make a long list of famous people and that didn’t work so well, but I’d say everything else did. Still, my feelings on this book are a big meh. It certainly wasn’t bad, but I didn’t find it particularly useful or informative.
One of the biggest issues is that separating people into generations only leads to some very rough stereotypes. Sure, some attitudes are indeed trending in pretty reliable directions, but I feel like those change even within a generation. An early Millennial is not the same as a late Millennial. An early Millennial is likely a lot closer in attitudes to a late Gen Xer than a late Millennial. It’s really much more like a gradient than solid cutoffs and so the whole categorizing of people into generations starts off on shaky ground.
Then we get the issue that it still is very much a generalization. Just because Boomers on average think one way does not mean that the Boomer you interact with thinks that way. So learning a generalization about Boomers may totally throw you off rather than inform you about that person. Again, the book is on shaky ground by basically teaching stereotypes based on how old someone is.
However, the book did have an interesting main thesis. The main thesis is that technology more than distinct events shape generations. 9/11 was less impactful on Millennials and Gen Z than the smart phone. The book makes some arguments for its case and I think does a pretty good job of supporting the thesis. I can certainly believe it, although I’m sure major events also have an impact, just not as much as the day to day interactions people have in their lives.
If you recognize that the book is merely pointing out generally correct stereotypes based on age and that age really is more of a gradient than distinct groupings, then the book can be useful in understanding people. It points out many tendencies of the different generations and where and why they may have friction. It also had some interesting oddity facts that I found amusing. For example, Want Ads in the newspaper used to have separate listings for Women and Men. I never knew that before. Times really have changed.
Overall, I don’t think listening to this book was a total waste of time. However, I only found it mildly interesting and only informative if you keep in mind a few caveats. So, if you’ve got a lot of time to fill, it’s not a terrible choice, but it certainly wouldn’t be my first one either.