Placeholder text only cut and paste from the NYTimes Reader: In “Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World” (McGraw-Hill), Don Tapscott tries to shatter the negative stereotypes of the so-called Net Geners, who currently range in age from 11 to 31. His book gives parents from the baby boom generation — like me — reason for optimism.

“As the first global generation ever, the Net Geners are smarter, quicker and more tolerant of diversity than their predecessors,” he writes. “They care strongly about justice and the problems faced by their society and are typically engaged in some kind of civic activity at school, at work or in their communities.”

Mr. Tapscott, an adjunct professor of management at the University of Toronto, is the author or co-author of 11 books, including, from 1997, “Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation.” Its sequel, his new book, is based on interviews with nearly 10,000 people conducted as part of a $4 million project financed by large corporations under the auspices of his research and consulting firm, nGenera Innovation Network.

Mr. Tapscott says the Net Generation, also known as the millennials, is the biggest in history. He notes that more than 81 million people in the United States were born from 1977 to 1997, and that they now make up 27 percent of the population. By comparison, the baby boomers, born 1946 to 1964, were 77 million strong and are now 23 percent of the population.