Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Crown (January 24, 2012) 336 pages

My Rating: 4/5 stars

My Thoughts:

I'm going to tell you right up front that I did a bit of skimming in this book. If my memory is correct, the last book I skimmed through was from Waterbrook, too. Honestly, I don't skim many books, though. I'm just not a skimmer. This one has been simply been waiting too long for me to finish, so I had to get it done. From my skimming, you can conclude that it's not exactly a page-turning kind of read. It is a slower kind of read(for me), although it is interesting!

I haven't always realized that being shy and an introvert doesn't always go hand in hand. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking gives the example of Barbara Streisand as a shy extrovert(page 12). My mind just can't comprehend the two going together! I'm an introvert, and shy, and "highly sensitive"(page 14), and a sufferer of social phobia. Sounds pretty sad, huh?! Reading Quiet did make me feel better about who I am, though. I'm different, and that's okay! :)

There's tons of examples of both introverts and extroverts throughout the pages of Quiet. I was actually surprised by some of them.

Even the considerably more cheerful Theodor Geisel(otherwise known as Dr. Seuss) spent his workdays ensconced in his private studio, the walls lined with sketches and drawings, in a bell-tower outside his La Jolla, California, house. Geisel was a much more quiet man than his jocular rhymes suggest. He rarely ventured out in public to meet his young readership, fretting that kids would expect a merry, outspoken, Cat in the Hat-like figure, and would be disappointed with his reserved personality. "In mass, [children] terrify me," he admitted.
(page 86)

My favorite example of an introvert has always been Moses, which Cain mentions on pages 60-61.

I think Quiet is a great book for both personalities to read. For introverts, I think it will help you accept your personality a little better. For extroverts, I think it might help you understand the introverts of the world a little better.

Content:

Remember that I did do some skimming, but a** is used once. I won't say for sure that it was the only profanity used.

*Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for my review copy in exchange for my honest opinion!