Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The quiet folk get their due in this mix of business psychology and self-help that describes the power of introversion in business and daily life.

Susan Cain, a self-described introvert, discusses the results of her years of following the stories about these hard-to-know people. You may recognize them as the ones that avoid parties, prefer books or quiet nights at home with family, and who sometimes get left behind in fast-paced business meetings. I certainly define myself as an introvert, and recognized my own experiences in many of Quiet's vignettes. (Ah, finally, a business trend that will work in my favor!)

Moving from extroversion centers like Tony Robbins' self-help conventions, Rick Warren's evangelical Saddleback Church, and the Harvard Business School, Cain outlines the American cultural bias toward confident, energetic charmers who naturally gravitate toward people and are often seen as leaders. This bias weakens society by clouding our judgment of people and the true value of their ideas, she argues, and forces square pegs into round holes. Even our education system caters almost exclusively to one type of personality: the Extrovert Ideal.

Extroverts may make fine leaders, but there are certain jobs that introverts are best-suited for. Imagine life without important figures such as Rosa Parks, Steve Wozniak, Gandhi, or Eleanor Roosevelt, all of whom Cain drafts to the introvert cause. Cain argues for a balanced acceptance of different personality types, using scientific studies and anecdotes to back up her claims.

I'm generally skeptical of self-help and business books, but Cain purposefully avoids making sweeping scientific assertions. She presents intriguing facts and tries to argue for balance. Some of her suggestions may help soothe the anxiety many introverts feel about their need to withdraw and carve out time for reflection - needs that are sometimes painted as anti-social in our outgoing society.

That said, I am still hesitant to give too much credit to Myers-Briggs-type personality tests, which categorize people into neat pigeonholes with the same kind of confidence seen in phrenology or astrology. People are incredibly complex - we are only now starting to glimpse the interior workings of the human brain, and our understanding is far from perfect. I think Cain strikes the right tone here, offering her conclusions and the research results with the right amount of doubt.

Cain presents many of her ideas in this TED Talk, which I urge you to check out if you're interested in the subject.

Quotable:

"The way forward, I'm suggesting, is not to stop collaborating face-to-face, but to refine the way we do it. For one thing, we should actively seek out symbiotic introvert-extrovert relationships, in which leadership and other tasks are divided according to people's natural strengths and temperaments. ... We also need to create settings in which people are free to circulate in a shifting kaleidoscope of interactions, and to disappear into their private workspaces when they want to focus or simply be alone. Our schools should teach children the skills to work with others - cooperative learning can be effective when practiced well and in moderation - but also the time and training they need to deliberately practice on their own. It's also vital to recognize that many people - especially introverts like Steve Wozniak - need extra quiet and privacy in order to do their best work." - 93-94

"Once you understand introversion and extroversion as preferences for certain levels of stimulation, you can begin consciously trying to situate yourself in environments favorable to your own personality - neither overstimulating nor understimulating, neither boring nor anxiety-making." - 124

Ignorance

Ignorance: How it drives science by Stuart Firestein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a short essay with case studies by scientist Stuart Firestein about the power of ignorance in advancing scientific knowledge and inquiry. Firestein suggests that the right kind of ignorance is actually more important to scientists than factual knowledge. The facts may mislead us, or be themselves wrong: therefore being able to ask the right questions is essential.

Firestein discusses what he calls strategies of ignorance, which scientists use to help them decide where to start looking for new knowledge. He ends the book with four brief and fascinating case studies in very different fields that all indicate the new frontiers of ignorance that scientists are broaching. It's all written to illuminate the process of scientific inquiry to laypeople. For a taste of the book, check out his 2013 TED Talk "Celebrating Ignorance".

The first connection I made while reading was to a book I often think of: So Many Books by Gabriel Said. It's another small punch in the gut, giving me a powerful sense of the scale of my own ignorance of an area I know a lot about: literature and book publishing.

Reading Ignorance and So Many Books as a librarian whose job it is to "find the answers", was a helpful reminder about the vagaries of human knowledge. Highly trained scientists spend their entire careers working on problems that may or may not have solutions - but no one will know until someone is curious enough to look. In reference librarianship, the first thing you are taught is how to conduct a reference interview to get at the patron's real question, which is almost never the first thing they ask. (Finding the real question, in fact, often takes longer than finding the answer.)

Firestein points to a microhistory by Mary Poovey called A History of the Modern Fact, which is another good follow-up for those interested in how we came to our modern definition of knowledge.

Quotable:

"Knowledge is a big subject. Ignorance is bigger. And it is more interesting." - 10

"Curiously, as our collective knowledge grows, our ignorance does not seem to shrink. Rather, we know an ever smaller amount of the total, and our individual ignorance, as a ratio of the knowledge base, grows." - 13

"Libraries are both awe inspiring and depressing. The cultural effort they represent, to record over generations what we know and think about the world and ourselves, is unquestionably majestic, but the impossibility of reading even a small fraction of the books inside them can be personally dispiriting." - 14

"The universe is not deterministic; it is probabilistic, and the future can't be predicted with certainty." - 36

"This is an example of why the brain is so poor an instrument for understanding how it works - at least through introspection. You can think about it all you want, and you will never get access to what your brain is doing computationally at any given moment. You only have access to a result, a behavior or perception, that could have been reached in numerous indistinguishable ways." - 147

"We often use the word ignorance to denote a primitive or foolish set of beliefs. In fact, I would say that 'explanation' is often primitive or foolish, and the recognition of ignorance is the beginning of scientific discourse. When we admit that something is unknown and inexplicable, then we admit that it is worthy of investigation." - 167

How Books Can Open Your Mind

This is a lovely and passionate TED Talk from Lisa Bu, who lost her childhood dream but grew into the rich life of an active reader. She's a charismatic speaker, and I of course love her message, too.

UPDATE: "A Boot Stamping on a Human Face"

Considering the disturbing threats coming out of North Korea lately, I though that this incredible TED Talk by North Korean refugee Hyeonseo Lee is especially timely and moving:

Her account accords perfectly with the story told in Demick's book, which I reviewed last month.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A journalist recounts the stories of defectors from North Korea in an attempt to understand what is happening in one of the most oppressive and regressive societies in the world.

The North Korean government stifles every aspect of its people's lives and the result is famine, death, and distrust between neighbors and family members. The Worker's Party rules over every human interaction with a brutal regime of brain-washing (I use the term intentionally), intimidation, and absurd demands that citizens demonstrate unconditional love for their dynasty of Dear Leaders and the communist ideals they claim to uphold. Going into North Korea is like traveling back in time, observers say.

In spite of this, people find a way to survive and connect with each other, and though it seems cliched the stories are a testament to the resilience of human beings. My favorite story--one with a bittersweet ending--is of two young lovers who secretly meet in nights made dark by constant power outages; who send letters through the tortuous mail system; who sneak train rides without travel permits to see each other for a few short hours.

Demick makes it clear that leaving North Korea is not necessarily the happy ending we might take it for. Defectors find that in spite of the wealth and plenty of South Korea, life is still a struggle as they learn to adapt and overcome the damage done to them by their totalitarian homeland. Many still have family members left behind in North Korea, and the grief of separation is difficult to imagine.

More than anything, Demick's final description of North Korea reminds me of the famous quote from 1984: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever." How long will forever be, in this case? And if eventually the North Korea government does fall (as it has been predicted to for the past twenty years), how will a country as deeply impoverished as North Korea ever catch up to the rest of the world, even with the aid of their neighbors?

Demick leaves us with these questions, but I believe that the answers lie in the survival stories of the defectors she interviews: the strong family ties, willingness to work hard, and the ability to adapt to difficult circumstances will be the greatest assets North Koreans have once they are allowed to make their long march back into the present.

Update:

Demick's book ends before the death of Kim Jong Il and the rise of his son Kim Jong Un. Here is a recent article she wrote for the Los Angeles Times, detailing the continued insanity of this brutal dynasty.

Library P0rn

If I was dreaming of the perfect library, it would probably look like this one. It's the Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination in New England, and the lofty space is stuffed with amazing artifacts: a book of Audubon prints, a copy of the Declaration of Independence, illuminated manuscripts, a globe of the moon signed by Apollo astronauts, historical maps, anatomy books and models, a sweet telescope, vintage electronics, and of course, Sputnik. Yes, the Sputnik. (One of only seven originals, and as sleekly beautiful as a gazing ball in a garden.)

The YouTube video above gives you a swooping look at many of the treasures, but these articles go into more detail about the library and its contents:

This is Walker's website, which has some basic information and the video linked above. It also has a photo gallery in the links on the left.

Wired's article has more great images, plus some information on some important objects.

TED features a talk about the library by its creator, Jay Walker.

Chip Kidd

I love me a good TED Talk, and this one by book art designer Chip Kidd is a lot of fun. Not content-heavy, but he has a dramatic presentation style and makes me want to hear more from the people who design those iconic book jackets, which often wordlessly communicate more about the book than the best-written blurb.

From TED.com.

For more on Kidd's work, visit this Time Magazine slideshow.

Robot Dreams

I'm a big fan of Ted talks, and  this one is especially amazing. DARPA has some incredible (and uncanny) new robot designs, including one demonstrated by Regina Dugan.