Very informative book about introverts and why they behave as they do. It is beneficial to both introverts and extroverts alike. Information in this book will help one relate better to coworkers, friends, and spouses.

As a high school library-assistant, I\\\'m constantly enforcing the QUIET rule. During my five years working in a high school library, I\\\'ve come to realize that our \\\"library nerds\\\" are typically introverts who relish their quiet time alone. It\\\'s also no surprise that most of them are members of the National Honor Society, the school band or orchestra as well as various art or drama clubs.

Since reading \\\"Quiet\\\" I\\\'ve come to appreciate those tendencies in my own personality that dictate my need for solitude. Oftentimes in our modern world time alone comes at a premium. We are forced to congregate and socialize in spite of the fact that it\\\'s aganist the nature of most introverts.

Susan Cain is all over YouTube explaining her theory , but I think her book does it best! An individual does not need to be gregarious to be successful and Ms. Cain brings up several introverts throughout history who attribute their accomplishments to their time alone.

Susan Cain has made me aware that being an Introvert is NOT something to be ashamed of, nor is it a reason to think I don\\\'t care about others.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, particularly if they are introverted themselves or if they\\\'ve ever told an introverted friend or relative, \\\"you should get out more often.\\\"

There should be no stigma for wanting to spend time alone. Solitary thinkers are responsible for many great things and we should encourage quiet time alone for all students.

Many in our book club were surprised to find that we were a combination of introverts and extroverts in a society that only values extroverts. It actually changed the way we ran our meetings; absolutely worth the read if you know, are married to or have a child with some introverted tendencies!

The American culture lives by what Susan Cain terms the Extrovert Ideal, where we are expected to brainstorm, work in open office plans, and collaborate with peers on school projects. For the third to half of the population that are introverts, however, these scenarios can be difficult. Cain uses both personal stories and scientific studies to argue that introverts are simply wired differently and can bring a unique set of strengths if given the ability to work in their own way.

Susan Cain is a disillusioned Wall Street lawyer, now author, promoting her book. Publishing is an industry dominated by liberal thinkers. Is it small wonder that a book that demonizes Wall Street and other aggressive type industries/corporations would be championed by those same liberal devotees, thereby providing the book with wildly positive reviews, making it a best seller, while appealing to those of like minds? Susan Cain interviewed many introverts and did an enormous amount of research in preparation for the book, but most of us know that statistics can pretty well be manipulated to prove anything the researcher wishes. She shows her political stripes with the mention of three particular persons in her book, quoting them or acknowledging their superiority in some way, i.e., former Vice President Al Gore, Former President Bill Clinton and present President Barack Obama. I think I can reasonably draw the conclusion that since she chose to only use representatives from the Democrats, that she falls very comfortably into the category of those in the publishing industry who rarely, or barely, tolerate views from the right. Surely, there must be someone on the right side of the government who has said or done something she appreciated as much and could have included and quoted positively, but she chose not to do so.
Cain analyzed those in relationships with introverts, parents of an introvert, those who work with introverts, those married to introverts, Asians vs Americans, essentially, those whose own personalities were in conflict with the people with whom they were interacting. She also interviewed and drew conclusions about those married to or involved with someone with the same personality proclivity, introvert to introvert, extrovert to extrovert, etc. She chose anecdotal references to prove her specific points. The audio’s reader spoke in a confident, authoritative voice, making the listener believe the explanations offered were credible, although after exploring the comments from other introverts, some of their feelings would belie her results. It felt like even as she was apologizing and attempting to present extroverts and introverts equally, she seemed to be indicting extroverts as bullies and extolling introverts as compromisers contributing to the world more meaningfully. Extroverts were risk taking and warlike while introverts were peace-loving and docile. As she wrote, introverts were interested in substance and extroverts were interested in style. I am not sure that is a positive statement for both sides of the spectrum. It feels like a left-handed compliment. In my opinion, according to her theories, the introverts are the thinkers and everyone else is simply a noisemaker.
The book was not what I expected. I thought it would be more about the achievements of both introverts and extroverts rather than an explanation of how one betters the other, most of the time. I thought it would be about the appreciation of silence, at times, of living in a world without the silent scream of the social media scene, in which everyone is capable of excessively sharing! Basically, Cain, who is a person who prefers individuality and privacy, explored the workings of our world today which is governed by group think, open workspace and online sharing of all aspects of our lives. She cited many influential people, from all walks of life, past and present, as examples of introvert and extrovert behavior. Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Tony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, Alfred Adler, Malcolm Gladwell, Pastor Rick Warren, Steve Wozniak, Warren Buffett, Ted Turner are only some of those mentioned.
Does she have the proper credentials to write a book offering and supporting theories that can’t really be proven? I had the feeling that she chose a premise before putting pen to paper, and then, she set about to prove it. Admittedly, she declares herself an introvert, so she might have put a thumb on the scale on her own behalf, since I thought that introverts came off far more positively, in the book, than extroverts, who were accused of being only the stimulus for innovations, while the introverts were the ones who thought more deliberately and made wiser, more thoughtful, and more often, correct decisions to carry out those innovations.
From the comments I read from other readers, who declared themselves introverts, I was not alone in my wariness about the book. Most people are all over the spectrum, with few being a pure introvert, extrovert or ambivert. The author declares that she is using the everyday spelling of extrovert, rather than the scientific, extravert, but then proceeds to present the book in a very cerebral way. Some of the studies she cites seem to be conclusive, but I feel certain there are others that declare the exact opposite and are also conclusive, but are not included. She infers that the old brain spurs us on, often to act foolishly, and it resides in the Limbic system and governs the extrovert. The new brain is in the Cortex and it is responsible for our sensible decisions; it governs the introvert. She talks about the amygdala and the frontal lobe and the cerebellum. These terms are not on the tips of most people’s tongues. She declares that there may be a genetic connection between dopamine and serotonin with dopamine leading to risk taking and serotonin to risk avoidance. Some of her theories seemed to simply be her own conjectures, some felt like they were made up out of whole cloth.
The book offers pat explanations about the difference between extroverts, introverts and everything in between. I felt that her conclusions were basically “one size might fit all”. Because the audio’s reader was excellent, the book was tolerable. Otherwise, I would have closed it and left it unread which is something I rarely do. However, the reader used just the right amount of expression and tone to make it a manageable experience and keep me involved until the end.

I did not think this book presented much new material to me. I did learn from the study on babies and how deeplyis in some people.

A wonderful new portrait of what introverts are & why as well as how they can be valuable in and to the world.

It helped me to understand people's personalities better. As well as my own as I have gradually adjusted from being introverted to becoming more extroverted over my life in order to deal with certain life situations as they came up. I believe I am an ambivert. The book helped put this into perspective.

Interesting for introverts and extroverts alike. Amazing to view our world and how we value and encourage characteristics differently.

I unexpectedly learned so much about myself and my myriad interactions in a variety of work and social settings through this book club pick. Everyone will gain insight and it was a fantastic discussion!