Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jenibo 's review for:
I first found out about this book when I listened to a TED talk by the author, recounting her shock when she left her introverted family, into which she fitted so well, and dived into the world outside, only to find that the virtues valued by her own family - qualities such as bookishness and intelligence and sensitivity, were seen as quirks at best, and impediments to success more often, by those out there.
Cain's book is a cry of the heart for introverts - she investigates the insidious effects of our ways of organising people, from schools, where group work is a current learning method of choice, to open plan offices. Introverts report feeling uncomfortable in group collaborative settings, and are known to have trouble getting traction for their ideas as they do not produce them as quickly or as confidently as do extroverts. Open plan offices have been shown to be less productive, and less preferred by all personality types than petitioned spaces, and collaboration seems mainly to be effective only when done at a certain point in the development of ideas - (brainstorming is a known waste of time) -and only when done asynchronously as in over the internet, where everyone can develop their ideas and express themselves to the group without the requirement for slick presentation skills.
Cain takes us on a fascinating journey through a lot of labs and psychological and neuroscientific research, to Harvard Business School, from which a disproportionate number of the US' political and business leaders spring, and where they seek extroverts to groom as leaders, and introverts feel alienated and ashamed, learning to disguise what is seen as a disability.
But Cain's message can be summed up as the need for us to accept the diversity of forms in which human personality comes, and appreciate the strengths of all along the spectrum from Introvert to Extrovert. She offers valuable advice in how extroverted parents can seek to accept and understand their introverted children, but best of all, she helps us to understand ourselves and our society better.
Cain's book is a cry of the heart for introverts - she investigates the insidious effects of our ways of organising people, from schools, where group work is a current learning method of choice, to open plan offices. Introverts report feeling uncomfortable in group collaborative settings, and are known to have trouble getting traction for their ideas as they do not produce them as quickly or as confidently as do extroverts. Open plan offices have been shown to be less productive, and less preferred by all personality types than petitioned spaces, and collaboration seems mainly to be effective only when done at a certain point in the development of ideas - (brainstorming is a known waste of time) -and only when done asynchronously as in over the internet, where everyone can develop their ideas and express themselves to the group without the requirement for slick presentation skills.
Cain takes us on a fascinating journey through a lot of labs and psychological and neuroscientific research, to Harvard Business School, from which a disproportionate number of the US' political and business leaders spring, and where they seek extroverts to groom as leaders, and introverts feel alienated and ashamed, learning to disguise what is seen as a disability.
But Cain's message can be summed up as the need for us to accept the diversity of forms in which human personality comes, and appreciate the strengths of all along the spectrum from Introvert to Extrovert. She offers valuable advice in how extroverted parents can seek to accept and understand their introverted children, but best of all, she helps us to understand ourselves and our society better.