Rating: 4.5/5
Having had Quiet by Susan Cain on my GoodReads Want To Read for only a few weeks, I was lucky enough to receive a copy for my birthday back in May.
One thing I will say about this book that is nothing to do with the book itself is that it seemed to get dirty very easily! I wiped it a lot to try and keep it nice and fresh (aside from the fact I am a spine breaker and a dog earer so how fresh would it ever really be) but in the end I gave up. So I apologise for my copy looking a little grubby!
My main reason for reading this book, as I imagine is the same for many people, is that I am introverted. I would much rather spend my Saturday evening reading or playing Animal Crossing than going to meet a group of friends. One on one meetings are much more suited to me as they don't cause me as many worries. This book helped me understand myself a little bit more.. why I act a certain way in some interactions.. and why some situations make me feel I want to be sick but others seem to handle it fine (and vice versa)!
The chapter I found most insightful in this book is the chapter (The Communication Gap) that explored relationships (both romantic and not) between introverts and extroverts. I was able to relate lots of this chapter to previous, specific moments in my life and had I read this book back then, I definitely would have had smoother arguments and understood the other party(s) a lot better.
I actually had no idea that this book was published back in 2012. The first time I heard of it was when it popped up on my GoodReads a couple of months ago and I added it to my Want To Read list. I worried that with it being published a while ago, maybe it would be less relevant to me now considering how the world is changing so rapidly and so quickly but this wasn't the case. There were mentions of social media changing people's behaviour as they get older, but I bet it this impact would be significantly bigger now.
The only thing stopping me from giving this book a 5 star review is the fact it was a bit too study heavy for me, personally. I found a lot of the studies and their results really fascinating but my brain struggled to keep switched on with there being so many of them. I really enjoyed reading it and I learned a lot from it, there are many pages adorned with a Lilo & Stitch sticky notes so I can go back and find bits to read again later. However, due to the number of academic studies it went over, I didn't find myself wanting to pick the book up all of the time. I had to make myself want to read it and get through it.
I would definitely recommend this book to my fellow introverted friends and readers. If you are a curious extrovert, maybe this would suit you too. However, unless you really are keen to understand the introverted, I doubt you would find it an easy book to get through and would maybe add it to your DNF pile. I usually like to give books away once I have read them but I have decided this is one of the books I am going to keep as I think it will be useful to refer back to from time to time and there are some really cool facts in it. Did you know introverts are more likely to produce high amounts of saliva when lemon drops are dropped on to their tongue compared to extroverts?!
I would love to know if you have read this book, so comment below if you have. And, if you can think of any books to recommend me based on this review, I would love for you to comment those as well.
Disclaimer: despite reading the majority of this book in the garden in the sun.. I still have no sign of a tan.
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