Science and Inquiry discussion

For July 2021 we will be reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

awesome. I bought this book the last time it was one of the nominations. I'm so glad it got picked this time.

I read this book in 2017 and enjoyed it, but I don't remember much of what she said specifically. And I doubt I will read it again any time soon. Here is my very brief review from that time.

I haven't participated in awhile but happy to start again with this book. I'm a huge introvert and my mom has been recommending this to me for ages.

I read this book back in 2012. I really enjoyed it! (I am an introvert, most definitely.) Here is my review.

just started, i found it at the library and picked up by chance

I just joined this group and I am reading Quiet. I'm only through chapter 1 where she goes through a short history on the rise of extroversion and I find this slogan from 1950 chilling... "A healthy personality for every child". Are we not still doing that today but with medication? Handing out things like zoloft and adderall to create the perfect personality for every student is scary stuff!

I'm fascinated. Just read the part about the experiments where confidence-exuding actors were planted in groups and so easily swayed group decisions to the wrong conclusion. Using brain scans they determined that the people weren't simply deciding to go along with the group because of self doubt or avoiding conflict--they actually BELIEVED in the wrong conclusion because of strong peer influences. Which could explain some of the weird social phenomena that people have gone along with throughout history. Scary.

I got a lot out of this book. I'm an introvert, but I'm a teacher and the part about how people act like extroverts for certain situations is exactly me. I was also very interested in the parts about highly sensitive children and how they are likely to be introverts. I think both of my kids are highly sensitive but in different ways, so it gave me some ideas on how to support them as they grow up.

The section about Asia being more introverted was interesting to me because I live in China, and I've also lived in Japan. I think a lot of it is more cultural and the pressure put on kids by parents and society to study, but I don't think that is the same thing as introversion as an internal characteristic. I teach high school here, and have also taught kindergarten and elementary school, and while especially in high school, maybe more of the population seems to skew towards introversion, there are still plenty of extroverts in my classes, and in the younger grades I think there were fewer quiet kids still. So I'm curious how much is just pressure to get high grades that increases as kids get older. This book also made me rethink a little about how to support the introverts in my classes. We use Canadian curriculum and there is a push towards group work and collaboration, but I do remember hating that as a student because I was shy and introverted, so I try to have balance in my classes. Actually I think the last year, with the move to more online components, like discussion posts, has been helpful for my introverted students to share their ideas without feeling on the spot like in a class discussion.

I really liked the parts describing the Asian students and attitudes vs the North American and Europeans. I'm finding the multiple case studies about introverted children and how best to deal with them getting a bit long and wearisome; most of this seems just common sense to me.

This was a long overdue read for me and I wrote a short review for it on my GR account:
"As an introvert who grew up under the pressure of a very extroverted Indian society which largely looks down on being quiet and reserved as a kid (as an adult woman, it's a must have trait, of course) and is constantly forcing you to get out of your shell - this book and its theme really connected with me. Cain does a great job of defining the two personality types, drawing out their strengths and weaknesses and describing how the world largely is biased towards extroverts which need not be so. I especially enjoyed the chapter on cultural differences and the very insightful final chapter on how to deal with personality types in younger children.
The book is peppered generously with anecdotes, so much that at times I felt it maybe could have been just a long form article - but I guess that's inevitable with a theme on social behaviour. Great and perceptive read, recommended for all personality types."