The Millennials by Thom S. Rainer & Jess W. Rainer (audiobook)
The Millennial Generation – the group of people born from 1980 to 2000 – is the largest generation in America’s history, a title previously held by the Baby Boomer Generation of 1946 to 1964. This generation promises to make a tremendous impact on the US and the world due to both its sheer size and its approach to life. Thom Rainer and Jess Rainer, a father-and-son team, set out to find what defines this generation. They and a team of researchers conducted a study of 1,200 adult Millennials and found both great diversity and many characteristics that unite Millennials. They published the results of the study in their book entitled, appropriately enough, The Millennials.
I listened to the audiobook edition, read by Ray Porter, and found it fascinating. The information that the researchers revealed about the generation that I and Jess Rainer share is truly remarkable. The book includes many personal stories of the research subjects as well as statistics on everything from religion to family relations to media to money and work ethic. The authors look at not only the raw statistics but also the “why.” Millennials, for the most part, have closer relationships with their parents than adults in earlier generations and they explore possible reasons for this. Millennials are not satisfied with getting high-paying jobs and buying “stuff” – they want to make an impact and the authors offer some insight into this statistic as well.
Although one could argue that members of other generations might find this book more beneficial than I would, I came away from it with a better understanding of my approach to life and the differences between my generation and other generations. This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.
Regarding the audio recording, I found it exceptional. The narrator did an excellent job and the quality of the recording was also excellent. I will be looking for other books read by Ray Porter.
The book is available as an audiobook from christianaudio. It is also available in print and e-book editions through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, iTunes, and others. As of the writing of this review, the e-book editions available through those four retailers are available for free for a limited time.
