Quiet, by Susan Cain

I recall Susan Cain’s Quiet changing the discourse around introversion when it came out in 2012. I hadn’t read the book, but got the gist from people who had. And, for the first time I was hearing people say things like “I’m an introvert because I need to recharge after socializing”.

I finally got around to reading Quiet. Cain’s paean to introversion consists of interesting scientific, historical, and cultural details. That being said, the core message of “don’t think of introversion as something that needs to be cured” needs little embellishment.

Quoting Cain quoting Ghandi:

I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts. A thoughtless word hardly ever escaped my tongue or pen. Experience has taught me that silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. We find so many people impatient to talk. All this talking hardly can be said to be of any benefit to the world. It is so much waste of time. My shyness has been in reality my shield and buckler. It has allowed me to grow. It has helped me in my discernment of truth.

— Mahatma Ghandi