How to list recent yum updates

This should do it.

rpm -qa --qf '%{INSTALLTIME} %-40{NAME} %{INSTALLTIME:date}\n' | sort -n | cut -d' ' -f2-

That queries all your installed RPM packages (rpm -qa) and prints them using a format (--qf) with the time of installation first in seconds since the epoch(%{INSTALLTIME}), then the name of the package in a 40 character field, left justified (%-40{NAME}), then the installation time as a date and time (%{INSTALLTIME:date}). The result is sorted by the first time field, then that time field is removed.

Just this should show you plenty (show last 30):

rpm -qa --last | head -30