books 2008 continued

Urban Tribes - finished reading it. A fine read really - especially considering the point of my life - I too am a 'never married' turning 30 this year. This book throws some insight into why we choose the never-married lifestyle, how to endure your family's tireless questioning about why we aren't married - and how these never-marrieds are indeed changing an entire generation. Our focus, goals, dreams, careers, everything that defined our grandparents and parents generations, (many traditions) are less and less common among those in my generation. Not to say they dont exist - but the rules are changing, the terms are changing, and the syntax is changing. The author explores our innate desire to belong to community - and how we do that on different terms than traditional civic groups. We choose strong ties to a close group of friends *a tribe* and through each friend we find weak ties to other tribes.  Originally this was a 'homework assignment' from work about building community, and how the context and the players are more different now than they were 30 years ago... and it runs a little deeper than that. I'd say pick it up - it's a quick and interesting read about the younger generation worldwide...