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

5.0

Susan Cain waxes poetic about the values of existing in an extroverted Western culture. She uses a plethora of reseach, both from literature and from the personal experiences she subjects herself to for the sake of writing this book. It was interesting to see how many examples she came up with that seemed to suggest that introvers were more creative, they could be more effective leaders given the right environment, they had a stronger grip on delayed gratification and a lower "reward-sensitivity." They are called "high-reactives," or "highly-sensitive;" both of these terms seem to stem from the observation that those with the most active amygdalas were most likely to be introverted. She discussed in length an amazing amount of material concerning the neurochemistry/neurobiology behind the differences between the temperments. A notable example was the ARAS (ascending reticular activating system) that controls the level of stimulations we recieve by regulating how much sensory information we take in. How cool is that? Apparently, an introvert can act like an extrovert by virtue of the Fair Trait Agreement: one has the ability to act completely out of character, convincingly so, if ti supports one's "core personal projects." Again, how cool is that? Reading this book equipped me to live a life that is better suited to myself.

Some critical implementations from this book are taking time to think out responses/arguements; learn to balance my stimulation levels in ways that benefit my pace; and take more pleasure in the auto-didact in me by letting myself enter a state of flow and practicing "deliberate practice." This is the kind of progress you make by self-assessment and revision so that each attempt is better than the last. I also should take care to recognize that I, nor anyone else, need live by the Extrovert Ideal.