From an Amazon review of Susan Cain's book, "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking":
"Without introverts, the world would be devoid of
the theory of
gravity
the theory of relativity
W.B. Yeats's 'The Second
Coming'
Chopin's nocturnes
Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time'
Peter
Pan
Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm'
The Cat in the Hat
Charlie
Brown
'Schindler's List,' 'E.T.,' and 'Close Encounters of the Third
Kind'
Google
Harry Potter"
I am tempted to go through all of the subjects covered in this book and give a
summary, but better than that is the list of thoughts from Susan Cain's blog,
which will give an idea of the thrust of the book:
1. There's a word for
"people who are in their heads too much": thinkers.
2. Our culture
rightly admires risk-takers, but we need our "heed-takers" more than
ever.
3. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.
4. Texting is
popular because in an overly extroverted society, everyone craves asynchronyous,
non-F2F communication.
5. We teach kids in group classrooms not because
this is the best way to learn but because it's cost-efficient, and what else
would we do with the children while all the grown-ups are at work? If your child
prefers to work autonomously and socialize one-on-one, there's nothing wrong
with her; she just happens not to fit the model.
6. The next generation
of quiet kids can and should be raised to know their own strength.
7.
Sometimes it helps to be a pretend-extrovert. There's always time to be quiet
later.
8. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is the
key to finding work you love and work that matters.
9. Everyone shines,
given the right lighting. For some, it's a Broadway spotlight, for others, a
lamplit desk.
10. Rule of thumb for networking events: one genuine new
relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.
11. It's OK to cross
the street to avoid making small talk.
12. "Quiet leadership" is not an
oxymoron.
13. The universal longing for heaven is not about immortality
so much as the wish for a world in which everyone is always kind.
14. If
the task of the first half of life is to put yourself out there, the task of the
second half is to make sense of where you've been.
15. Love is essential,
gregariousness is optional.
16."In a gentle way, you can shake the
world." - Gandhi
