It's as is extroverts are seeing "what is" while their introverted peers are asking "what if".

I know I'm an introvert. I understand how I handle situations and how I prefer to spend my free time. Still, Quiet proved incredibly insightful and allowed me to appreciate the nuances that come with introversion.

Must we learn to stage-manage our voices, gestures, and body language until we can tell - sell - any story we want?

The book is not a self help but more of a self reflection. There were techniques or theories mentioned in the book that I practiced only through trial and error. If I had this powerful insight to how I operated in my 20's I would have been better for it. Awkward encounters or stressful situations could have been mitigated once I knew why I felt that way.

I had similar experiences that Susan Cain described for those shy and quiet kids. Having my personality, behavior and motivations explained so thoroughly felt a little like a personal attack. "How dare you Susan? You don't know me!" but she does and you could say she knows me better than I do.

He prefers to contribute only when he believes he has something insightful to add, or honest-to-God disagrees with someone.

There it is. This one sentence defines who I am. I have spent the majority of my life reconciling why I prefer to be quiet and pick opportunities to speak but Susan Cain cut straight to my core and has laid my soul to bare. While the book operated as a checklist for who I am it would be balanced with ways of managing those traits in a professional or personal situation.

How did we go from Character to Personality without realizing that we had sacrifices something meaningful along the way?

Even though I was enjoying the book I considered abandoning it multiple times. The material was, at times, borderline dry but also fascinating. The amount of effort Susan Cain put in to research was impressive.

The theme of each chapter was precise, the case studies, history and interviewees helped provide immense support. With each chapter offering a deep dive on a particular figure, event or significant movement and explores how introverts triggered that action, reacted to it or were influenced by it. This did lead to some topics being more engaging than others, but they all helped drive Cain's point about the power of introverts.