Quiet

The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

By: Susan Cain

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Experience the book that started the Quiet Movement and revolutionized how the world sees introverts—and how introverts see themselves—by offering validation, inclusion, and inspiration

“Superbly researched, deeply insightful, and a fascinating read, Quiet is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to understand the gifts of the introverted half of the population.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—People, O: The Oprah Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Inc., Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, impeccably researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

©2012 Susan Cain (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

2013, Carnegie Medal, Long-listed

2012, Goodreads.com Readers Choice Award for Best Debut Author and Best Nonfiction Book of the Year, Winner

“As an introvert often called upon to behave like an extrovert, I found the information in this book revealing and helpful. Drawing on neuroscientific research and many case reports, Susan Cain explains the advantages and potentials of introversion and of being quiet in a noisy world.” (Andrew Weil, author of Healthy Aging and Spontaneous Happiness)

“Susan Cain has done a superb job of sifting through decades of complex research on introversion, extroversion, and sensitivity—this book will be a boon for the many highly sensitive people who are also introverts.” (Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person)

Excellent read / listen

Loved this book. it was an eye opening experience and I especially loved the chapter illustrating the differences in Asian cultures to Western cultures.

Best book I have ever read and heard read!

Insightful and thought provoking. Wonder what that says about me? I am about to listen to it again. And I have already recommended this book to many people over there last week.

Flawlessly narrated, great book

great for introverts our anyone whohe deals with them. This was a real eye opener for me, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about the nature of being introverted. Luckily I stumbled across her TED Talk about introverts, that lead me to this book.

Someone finally understands

What did you love best about Quiet?

The methodical and thoughtful pace of the reading. It was perfectly suited to the rich content. I listened to the book over the course of several long walks. It takes too much concentration to listen to while multitasking.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The story about Ethan -- the introverted boy whose extroverted parents were determined to "fix" him -- could have been about my parents and me. It brought me nearly to tears.

Have you listened to any of Kathe Mazur’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never listened to any of her other performances but I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but it was so content-rich that I had to stop listening to it and think about what I had heard. Now that I have finished it, I might be able to listen to it all at once -- but I would need ten hours when I wasn't doing anything else.

Any additional comments?

I am glad to have heard about this book. After a lifetime of being criticized and punished in various ways for being quiet and preferring my own company, it is a great relief to know that I don't have a personality defect after all.

I learned that I'm an Ambivert...

I loved this book. Originally I picked it up to learn a little bit more about the introverts in my life, but I learned a lot about myself too. For starters, I learned that I'm not an extrovert, not at least in the pure sense. I learned that there is something called an Ambivert which is somewhere halfway between introvert and extrovert. That's what I am and it makes a lot of sense. I appreciated how Susan Cain shared techniques for working with introverted children and ways to improve communication with partners who have a different temperament than one's own. I found myself thinking about my own research in different ways and really appreciated the research that was presented in this book. If you want to better understand the introvert or extrovert in your life, I highly recommend it!

Great self-knowledge book!

Loved this book. I learned a lot about my introverded self and how to survive in a world that pushes people to act like extroverted individuals.

A MUST read for introverts & extroverts alike!

I'm not sure what I expected, but this far exceeded my expectations. I appreciated the many different aspects the author inspected...biology, work place implications, marital relationship, classroom considerations & ideas that, as a parent, I'm glad to have awareness of. She does a beautiful job holding that we not swing the pendulum from one school of thought to another, but that we hold up that there are benefits in both!!

Great insight into a world that isn't valued

Would you listen to Quiet again? Why?

Read this book for two reasons. First, if you feel that you are being forced to live outside of who you are, especially in groups. Second, if you lead a team of people, especially a team of creatives or problem solvers.

The strength of the book was the way she traced personality and the forces of nature and nurture. The section for parents and teachers as excellent.

The weakness is that she at times was that she seemed to make a straw man argument about certain things that as an introvert she doesn't value. For example, the chapter on Saddle back totally dismissed the small groups they do as well as one on one study time.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, way too long and I find the topic hard to concentrate on for too long without it all running together.

Insightful

our book club members couldn't stop talking about finding themselves in the book. great listen.

Excellent and thought provoking book.

I will reread this book many times. Every chapter is eye opening. As an introvert I am just beginning to understand that I don't have to apologize for being quiet!