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dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
Fri Feb 24, 2012, 10:45 AM Feb 2012

A book for loners, perhaps...

From a review of a new book about introverts:Why it's OK to be an introvert.

"According to the informal test found early in the pages of “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking” I am an introvert:
I’d rather talk to single good friend than several acquaintances;
I wish all of my communication was in writing;
I’m not driven by ideas of wealth and fame;
and I don’t like small talk.
Sometimes, I even prefer books to people.

This does not bode well for me. According to Susan Cain, author of “Quiet” we live in a time when introversion is “somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology.”
Anyone who has been to a public school in the past twenty years (if not more) will probably agree.
The ideal person in our culture is extroverted; comfortable in front of crowds, and gregarious. Any deviation from extroversion is a sickness, and we should make it our life’s project to eradicate these traits from ourselves.

But Cain offers a reprieve to all oppressed introverts: not only is it OK to be introverted, sometimes it’s even advantageous.
Many of the most important cultural and technological advances in our culture have come from introverted people, from Newton’s theories to stories of E.M. Forster.
Introverts are more careful; they have concentration necessary to develop expertise in a subject and they are more creative than extroverts.

Pure extroversion, on the other hand, is not necessarily an unmitigated good.
The financial crisis is an example of what can happen when the risk taking extroverts take control. For years traders who took the biggest risks and who were more adept at selling themselves and their ideas prevailed until finally the worst fears of the cautious introverts came to be. Extroverted behavior can be dangerous and even at times downright dishonest."

http://www.metro.us/newyork/life/article/1096823--why-it-s-ok-to-be-an-introvert



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A book for loners, perhaps... (Original Post) dixiegrrrrl Feb 2012 OP
To me, the extreme end of extroversion is brutality. BlueIris Mar 2012 #1
Wonder what the extreme end of introversion is...? dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #2
Coma. nt BlueIris Mar 2012 #6
*snort* !! dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #8
LOL !!! n/t RKP5637 Mar 2012 #12
This is my next read catchnrelease Mar 2012 #3
I just got the book. Also there is the book "Going Solo: the Extraordinary Rise and applegrove Mar 2012 #4
Looking forward to hearing about it. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #5
Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto bemildred Mar 2012 #7
Aha!!!!! dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #9
I think being a loner is becoming a fad ... bemildred Mar 2012 #10
Crazier the Regressive get, the more alone I want to be. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #11
Thanks! I've been looking for this. nt BlueIris Mar 2012 #13
This book was excellent. Myrina Feb 2013 #14

BlueIris

(29,135 posts)
1. To me, the extreme end of extroversion is brutality.
Sun Mar 11, 2012, 08:58 PM
Mar 2012

I think of extroverted behavior as essentially aggressive. Carried out to its most extreme variation, it winds up being violent. There are lots of advantages to having the kind of personality that resists all that.

catchnrelease

(2,014 posts)
3. This is my next read
Mon Mar 12, 2012, 06:29 PM
Mar 2012

I have had it for a couple weeks, holding off until I finish what I'm currently reading. I keep glancing at the cover, wanting to dive in, but I should get to it by this next weekend. It looks good.

applegrove

(123,295 posts)
4. I just got the book. Also there is the book "Going Solo: the Extraordinary Rise and
Wed Mar 14, 2012, 04:50 PM
Mar 2012

Surprising Appeal of Living Alone" by Eric Klinenberg. Both books were in the 'books with a buzz' section of the bookstore. I haven't started either book but will let you guys know how good they are.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
7. Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto
Sat Mar 17, 2012, 08:28 AM
Mar 2012
Another one ...

http://www.amazon.com/Party-One-Manifesto-Anneli-Rufus/dp/1569245134


The Buddha. Rene Descartes. Emily Dickinson. Greta Garbo. Bobby Fischer. J. D. Salinger: Loners, all—along with as many as 25 percent of the world's population. Loners keep to themselves, and like it that way. Yet in the press, in films, in folklore, and nearly everywhere one looks, loners are tagged as losers and psychopaths, perverts and pity cases, ogres and mad bombers, elitists and wicked witches. Too often, loners buy into those messages and strive to change, making themselves miserable in the process by hiding their true nature—and hiding from it. Loners as a group deserve to be reassessed—to claim their rightful place, rather than be perceived as damaged goods that need to be "fixed." In Party of One Anneli Rufus -- a prize-winning, critically acclaimed writer with talent to burn -- has crafted a morally urgent, historically compelling tour de force—a long-overdue argument in defense of the loner, then and now. Marshalling a polymath's easy erudition to make her case, assembling evidence from every conceivable arena of culture as well as interviews with experts and loners worldwide and her own acutely calibrated analysis, Rufus rebuts the prevailing notion that aloneness is indistinguishable from loneliness, the fallacy that all of those who are alone don't want to be, and wouldn't be, if only they knew how.
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