A review by skerhawx
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
3.0
I had a real love-hate relationship with this book. There's quite a bit of pop psychology (the author concludes on broad populations based on small, single studies of 61 male students, or anecdotal evidence), and that drove me a bit nuts.
But getting past that, Cain paints a beautiful picture of the power of Introverts, the way in which we tend to view the world differently, and to solve problems in a thoughtful way. She also helps paint ways in which the world (particularly the US) designs systems and institutions that cater to extroverts (schools, businesses). In doing so, introverts tend to have to "fake" extroversion in order to fit in and be recognized. I wonder, as she does in the book, what might happen if we more purposefully recognized the power of solitude and deep thinking, even at early ages, in solving deep problems.
But getting past that, Cain paints a beautiful picture of the power of Introverts, the way in which we tend to view the world differently, and to solve problems in a thoughtful way. She also helps paint ways in which the world (particularly the US) designs systems and institutions that cater to extroverts (schools, businesses). In doing so, introverts tend to have to "fake" extroversion in order to fit in and be recognized. I wonder, as she does in the book, what might happen if we more purposefully recognized the power of solitude and deep thinking, even at early ages, in solving deep problems.