Quiet
Authors: Susan Cain
MORE ADVANCE NOISE FOR QUIET
“An intriguing and potentially life-altering examination of the human psyche that is sure to benefit both introverts and extroverts alike.”
â
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)
“Gentle is powerful â¦Â Solitude is socially productive â¦Â These important counterintuitive ideas are among the many reasons to
take
Quiet
to a quiet corner and absorb its brilliant, thought-provoking message.”
âROSABETH MOSS KANTER, professor at Harvard Business School, author of
Confidence
and
SuperCorp
“An informative, well-researched book
on the power of quietness and the virtues of having a rich inner life. It dispels the myth that you have to be extroverted to be happy and successful.”
âJUDITH ORLOFF, M.D., author of
Emotional Freedom
“In this
engaging and beautifully written
book, Susan Cain makes a powerful case for the wisdom of introspection. She also warns us ably about the downside to our culture's noisiness, including all that it risks drowning out. Above the din,
Susan's own voice remains a compelling presenceâthoughtful, generous, calm, and eloquent
.
Quiet
deserves a very large readership.”
âCHRISTOPHER LANE, author of
Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness
“Susan Cain's quest to understand introversion,
a beautifully wrought journey from the lab bench to the motivational speaker's hall
, offers convincing evidence for valuing substance over style, steak over sizzle, and qualities that are, in America, often derided.
This book is brilliant, profound, full of feeling and brimming with insights.”
âSHERI FINK, M.D., author of
War Hospital
“Brilliant, illuminating, empowering!
Quiet
gives not only a voice, but a path to homecoming for so many who've walked through the better part of their lives thinking the way they engage with the world is something in need of fixing.”
âJONATHAN FIELDS, author of
Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance
“Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that gives us startling new insights
.
Quiet
is that book: it's part page-turner, part cutting-edge science. The implications for business are especially valuable:
Quiet
offers tips on how introverts can lead effectively, give winning speeches, avoid burnout, and choose the right roles.
This charming, gracefully written, thoroughly researched book is simply masterful.”
âADAM M. GRANT, P
H.D.
, associate professor of management, the Wharton School of Business
STILL MORE ADVANCE NOISE FOR QUIET
“Shatters misconceptions â¦Â Cain consistently holds the reader's interest by presenting individual profiles â¦Â and reporting on the latest studies.
Her diligence, research, and passion for this important topic has richly paid off.”
â
Publishers Weekly
“
Quiet
elevates the conversation about introverts in our outwardly oriented society to new heights.
I think that many introverts will discover that, even though they didn't know it, they have been waiting for this book all their lives.”
âADAM S. M
C
HUGH, author of
Introverts in the Church
“Susan Cain's
Quiet
is wonderfully informative about the culture of the extravert ideal and the psychology of a sensitive temperament, and she is helpfully perceptive about how introverts can make the most of their personality preferences in all aspects of life.
Society needs introverts, so everyone can benefit from the insights in this important book.”
âJONATHAN M. CHEEK, professor of psychology at Wellesley College, co-editor of
Shyness: Perspectives on Research and Treatment
“A brilliant, important, and personally affecting book
. Cain shows that, for all its virtue, America's Extrovert Ideal takes up way too much oxygen.
Cain herself is the perfect person to make this caseâwith winning grace and clarity she shows us what it looks like to think outside the group.”
âCHRISTINE KENNEALLY, author of
The First Word
“What Susan Cain understandsâand readers of this fascinating volume will soon appreciateâis something that psychology and our fast-moving and fast-talking society have been all too slow to realize:
Not only is there really nothing wrong with being quiet, reflective, shy, and introverted, but there are distinct advantages to being this way
.
âJAY BELSKY, Robert M. and Natalie Reid Dorn Professor, Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis
“Author Susan Cain exemplifies her own quiet power in this exquisitely written and highly readable page-turner
. She brings important research and the introvert experience.”
âJENNIFER B. KAHNWEILER, P
H
.D., author of
The Introverted Leader
“Several aspects of
Quiet
are remarkable. First, it is well informed by the research literature but not held captive by it. Second, it is
exceptionally well written, and âreader friendly.'
Third, it is insightful. I am sure many people wonder why brash, impulsive behavior seems to be rewarded, whereas reflective, thoughtful behavior is overlooked. This book goes beyond such superficial impressions to a more
penetrating analysis.”
âWILLIAM GRAZIANO, professor, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University
Copyright © 2012 by Susan Cain
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The BIS/BAS Scales on
this page
â
this page
copyright © 1994 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted with permission. From “Behavioral Inhibition, Behavioral Activation, and Affective Responses to Impending Reward and Punishment: The BIS/BAS Scales.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
67(2): 319â33. The use of APA information does not imply endorsement by APA.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cain, Susan.
  Quiet : the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking / Susan Cain.â1st ed.
    p.  cm.
  1. Introverts. 2. Introversion. 3. Extroversion. 4. Interpersonal relations. I. Title.
  BF698.35.I59C35 2012
  155.2â²32âdc22
  2010053204
eISBN: 978-0-307-45220-7
Jacket design by Laura Duffy
Jacket photography by Joe Ginsberg/Getty Images
v3.1
To my childhood family
A species in which everyone was General Patton would not succeed, any more than would a race in which everyone was Vincent van Gogh. I prefer to think that the planet needs athletes, philosophers, sex symbols, painters, scientists; it needs the warmhearted, the hardhearted, the coldhearted, and the weakhearted. It needs those who can devote their lives to studying how many droplets of water are secreted by the salivary glands of dogs under which circumstances, and it needs those who can capture the passing impression of cherry blossoms in a fourteen-syllable poem or devote twenty-five pages to the dissection of a small boy's feelings as he lies in bed in the dark waiting for his mother to kiss him goodnight.⦠Indeed the presence of outstanding strengths presupposes that energy needed in other areas has been channeled away from them
.
âA
LLEN
S
HAWN
            Â
ontents
uthor's
N
ote
I have been working on this book officially since 2005, and unofficially for my entire adult life. I have spoken and written to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people about the topics covered inside, and have read as many books, scholarly papers, magazine articles, chat-room discussions, and blog posts. Some of these I mention in the book; others informed almost every sentence I wrote.
Quiet
stands on many shoulders, especially the scholars and researchers whose work taught me so much. In a perfect world, I would have named every one of my sources, mentors, and interviewees. But for the sake of readability, some names appear only in the Notes or Acknowledgments.
For similar reasons, I did not use ellipses or brackets in certain quotations but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the speaker's or writer's meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, the citations directing you to the full quotations appear in the Notes.
I've changed the names and identifying details of some of the people whose stories I tell, and in the stories of my own work as a lawyer and consultant. To protect the privacy of the participants in Charles di Cagno's public speaking workshop, who did not plan to be included in a book when they signed up for the class, the story of my first evening in class is a composite based on several sessions; so is the story of Greg and Emily, which is based on many interviews with similar couples. Subject to the limitations of memory, all other stories are recounted as they happened or were told to me. I did not fact-check the stories people told me about themselves, but only included those I believed to be true.
The North and South of Temperament
Montgomery, Alabama. December 1, 1955. Early evening. A public bus pulls to a stop and a sensibly dressed woman in her forties gets on. She carries herself erectly, despite having spent the day bent over an ironing board in a dingy basement tailor shop at the Montgomery Fair department store. Her feet are swollen, her shoulders ache. She sits in the first row of the Colored section and watches quietly as the bus fills with riders. Until the driver orders her to give her seat to a white passenger.
