Quiet by Susan Cain (Book Review)

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain

266 pages
Crown Publishing Group, 2012
success, management, psychology, self-help
Finished in 10 days
Another Review...

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com / BN.com

  

"Montgomery, Alabama. December 1, 1955."

Review: I normally don't read "self-help" books. Probably because the introvert in me feels I don't need any help with anything. I've known I was an introvert practically my whole life. I've always stayed to myself. I rather be alone reading a book than out in any public setting. Odd that I live in New York City...

It wasn't until reading this book that I start to see the upside to my quiet side. I honestly never gave much thought to the many role models I should've had growing up who were just as quiet if not quieter, yet very powerful, than I am. People like Rosa Parks moved a nation to be better and do better. If she could do what many thought to be impossible then why can't I?

In the end, I think that is what I came away with in this book; feeling empowered. I always saw my deep emotions, crying whenever I talk about something I feel very passionately about, or agitation at crowds and extroverted people as weaknesses. But now, with the helpful points and stories I can (and will) flip what I beat myself up about into positives that I can utilize to succeed in anything I want to do.

This book is not like any "self-help" book I ever thought would be. While it does have several case studies to back up her claim for why being an introvert might actually be better than being an extrovert, what makes it an easy and enjoyable read are the personal stories she tells alongside the facts. I was immediately pulled in from chapter one where she tells the simple yet moving account of a woman who refused to give up her seat in the back of a bus.

I encourage everyone to read it. Especially employers today who may not realize why work-flow isn't as productive as it used to be? Probably because their ideas of everyone working together might actually be a terrible idea. I know first hand.

The Quiet Manifesto by Susan Cain

1. There’s a word for “people who are in their heads too much”: thinkers.

2. Our culture rightly admires risk-takers, but we need our “heed-takers” more than ever.

3. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation.

4. Texting is popular because in an overly extroverted society, everyone craves asynchronyous, non-F2F communication.

5. We teach kids in group classrooms not because this is the best way to learn but because it’s cost-efficient, and what else would we do with the children while all the grown-ups are at work? If your child prefers to work autonomously and socialize one-on-one, there’s nothing wrong with her; she just happens not to fit the model.

6. The next generation of quiet kids can and should be raised to know their own strength.

7. Sometimes it helps to be a pretend-extrovert. There’s always time to be quiet later.

8. But in the long run, staying true to your temperament is the key to finding work you love and work that matters.

9. Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.

10. Rule of thumb for networking events: one genuine new relationship is worth a fistful of business cards.

11. It’s OK to cross the street to avoid making small talk.

12. “Quiet leadership” is not an oxymoron.

13. The universal longing for heaven is not about immortality so much as the wish for a world in which everyone is always kind.

14. If the task of the first half of life is to put yourself out there, the task of the second half is to make sense of where you’ve been.

15. Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.

16. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Gandhi

Summary: The book that started the Quiet Revolution

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, superbly 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.

To learn more about Susan Cain and her Quiet Revolution visit this site.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Book Review)

Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury

179 pages
Ballantine Books, 1953
dystopian novel
Finished in 1 day
Another Review...

My Rating: ★★★★

Amazon.com / BN.com

"It was a pleasure to burn."

Review: I'm almost ashamed to say this was my first time reading this book. I say almost because I'm glad I'm reading it an age where I feel I'm truly able to understand it and appreciate the message Ray Bradbury, I think, was trying to convey. I'm also amazed it was written in 1953 because so much of what he warns against is parallel to what is happening in our freedom loving society today.

I wanted to quote this book but found I wanted to quote every word. But there are some amazing  moments in the book that I feel attention must be paid to. Now, if you're like me and have never read this book let me tell you briefly what it's about. This takes place, surprisingly, around the time of the 2020's. Not too far into the future today, but in the 1950's I can see how it would work. This book is told from the point of view of a fireman whose occupation it is to start fires, not put them out. Montag doesn't just start fires any where he pleases. His job is to burn any and all books, including the house where those books are discovered. Why the firemen go from starting them instead of putting them out I'll leave for you to discover on your own.

Don't worry, the book is only about 170 pages and if all you seek is the answer to some basic questions, you will find them in the first part of the book . What I found most profound was when Captain Beatty (Montag's boss) explained to Montag why it is they do what they do. In a matter of what was probably a ten minute conversation he explains history and why the world changed as rapidly as it did. The Captain feels compelled to share this history with Montag because he's concerned that he might quit due to what took place the night before, causing Montag to question things more than just his job.

I would probably go insane, like most people did in this story, if I couldn't read books anymore. I'd hoard them best I could and be a recluse in my house with the windows always closed and covered, inviting no one inside, fearing they'd smell the mounds of books I had hidden throughout my house. There's something about the feel, smell, and togetherness of a book I could never part with nor do I ever get from the new technology of e-readers.

I hope I have peeked your interest a little bit to seek out and read this book? I tried not to reveal any spoilers. I hope I did that some justice. And because I felt a few quotes NEEDED to be put in my review, below is one to wet you whistle and I'm SURE will make you want to read and learn more...

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”

Summary: Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

First published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451 is a classic novel set in the future when books forbidden by a totalitarian regime are burned. The hero, a book burner, suddenly discovers that books are flesh and blood ideas that cry out silently when put to the torch.

To learn more about Ray Bradbury visit his website.