Quiet by Susan Cain

So, I know this book is the personal bible for a lot of people, especially introverts. Please excuse me if my “critique” offends your own appreciation for the book. The premise of the book is highly laudable, and I completely support the sentiment that “personality” should not be something to try to repress/alter or to feel ashamed of. However, I have reservation about Susan Cain’s apparent emphasis on the practical “rewards” of introversion such as success, wealth, influence, and power (this is also ironic because one of the arguments is that introverts are much less reward-oriented than extroverts). In a way, her stance goes from “Embrace your introverted side!” to “Use it to be successful, likable, competent, famous, and generally superior to extroverts!!!”. I’m exaggerating a bit here because clearly there wasn’t an attempt to outright describe introverts as superior, BUT I can’t help but cringe at the pragmatism (and hypocrisy) of her position, especially when she’s preaching a diversion from the cultural norm of the “extrovert ideal” while perpetuating (albeit subtly) a much more toxic norm of chasing wealth and influence. Honestly if I were to write about/discuss the “benefits” of introversion, I’d be more interested in the moral and emotional implications of these characteristics, internalized rather than externalized for social approval and admiration. And c’mon, we’re past the point of seeing the world (or individuals, let alone a whole “culture”) as black and white – I may be an introvert but that doesn’t have to sum up even half of what happens in my social interactions. And the correlations in many of the “research” findings cited in the book don’t necessarily hold up either because these “personality studies” are based on self-identified and self-reported data after all. So meh, it was a bit of a let down for how much hype I’d heard about this “scientifically-sound” and “evidence-based” book, but it was a nice and encouraging read for introverts like myself anyway. Just accept wherever u r on the spectrum and we’re good, that’s the main takeaway.
3/5