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Monday, June 17, 2013

Susan Cain, QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN'T STOP TALKING

A really interesting, well-researched book, similar in tone and theme to a Malcolm Gladwell, maybe slightly more academic. Cain draws together research from across decades and disciplines to talk about how Western culture (particularly America) tends to value the extrovert and undervalue the introvert's skills. She situates this trend historically and then draws on all kinds of anecdotes to show that introverts actually tend to have better and smarter ideas but present them quietly, which means they are often not taken seriously. She is a self-confessed introvert, and sometimes the extroverts in this book come across as a bunch of carousing, quick-draw, results-oriented yahoos. (Early on, she describes going to a Tony Robbins seminar. I have to admit, I went to a TR seminar once for work, back when I was about 23, and I too was a little freaked out by these people jumping around cheering.) I am often wary of binary categories (maybe because I am exactly split Extrovert/Iintrovert on Meyers Briggs?) and I think most people I know believe that these things exist on a continuum. But Cain nuances the categories productively, in several different ways. She also has a chapter on helping your introverted child thrive, which I appreciated.
Has anyone else read this yet? Would love to hear how this book felt to someone who is a real extrovert or a real introvert ... being a fence-sitter myself ...

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