Shhhhhh

 
 
 
Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a world that won’t stop talking by Susan Cain

Quiet is an informational book that attempts to explain introverts. Cain provides a lot of evidence to show how introverts contribute much to our society as a whole. She claims American society has shifted to promoting and encouraging extroverts and not enough is being done to support introverts.  This book has a lot of anecdotes to illustrate these ideas and research studies about it.

I really connected with this book, being an introvert myself. I appreciate that the author tries to define something that can be hard to define. When I mention to people that I’m reading this book they respond wither with, “You’re not an introvert” or “I’m and introvert too”. One thing this book taught me is that it is sometimes hard to judge who is introverted or not. It is more than just wanting to be alone (which I find that a lot of my friends with kids want more of, no matter whether they are introverted or extroverted). We all need time to ourselves and we all need time with people and the author does make a point to mention that none of us are completely on one side or the other. She also mentions that shyness is not always an indicator either.

A couple points I wish she explored further were self-esteem issues and other aspects of personality. She does make many references to the fact that being an introvert or not is complicated. I also wish there was more discussion on whether a person can change. She did have a chapter on nurture versus nature but not much on whether people can change from being one to the other.

I got very frustrated in the second half of the book. It turned into more of a self-help book. She even gives her insights into how teachers can help introverted kids (eye roll inserted here). As some who teaches and took plenty of educational psychology classes among a lot of others I found her tips redundant. Any teacher already knows about her “tips”.  Her tips on helping children who are introverted just sounded preachy to me. Maybe people who are not teachers and don’t know a lot about children would find it helpful but I found the classes I took almost 15 years ago sufficient.

All in all it was an interesting book. I have never highlighted a non-textbook so much in my life. It was interesting to read a book that seemed to be talking about me. Anyone who thinks they are introverted would find this interesting. If you’re an extrovert you should probably just talk to someone about it.

3 out of 5 stars

Bomb: The Race to Build-and steal- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

I really enjoyed reading this book. My only knowledge of the atomic bomb was the effects of dropping it. In history class we would learn about how the bomb affected the people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We would learn about the lasting effects this had with our relations with the Soviet Union. I remember stories from my grandfather who was drafted in 1945 at the young age of 18 and preparing for the invasion of Japan. In his eyes he would have died, instead he went for part of the occupat...more   Bomb by Steve Sheinkin  Blurb: In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb. Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. My only knowledge of the atomic bomb was the effects of dropping it. In history class we would learn about how the bomb affected the people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We would learn about the lasting effects this had with our relations with the Soviet Union. I remember stories from my grandfather who was drafted in 1945 at the young age of 18 and preparing for the invasion of Japan. In his eyes he would have died, instead he went for part of the occupation. Regardless of what people think of the bomb or how they interpret the decision to drop them, this book starts at the beginning, with physicists around the globe who were playing around with atoms. The author told the story of how scientists came up with these ideas and how they went about testing them in a way that young adults (and adults who got a D in physics) could comprehend. There is a large cast of characters that are talked about in this book. There are some pictures in between each of the fours parts of the book with a short description of who they are. Even thought the author did a good job of reminding us who everyone was when it was needed I would have liked a biography page or two that had all of the people mentioned with a little more information about them. Since this is a book written for middle and high school readers this would be helpful. I really appreciated the short chapters, it helped contribute to the movement of the story. The chapters kept shifting our focus to the scientists and then to the spies and added to the excitement. You almost forget that what they are creating will change the world forever. 4/5 stars!