I wish I had finished this book the year I bought it, when I was a teenager/young adult, because at that time I felt seen, represented, and validated. To me it was so interesting to find myself described in those pages, and to have my very presence in the world studied and affirmed. Now, however, it doesn’t hit quite the same- As I have grown and realized more things about myself and though I still identify as an introvert, I’m not keeping myself caged in that box. 

As I was growing up I started to “breakout if my shell” more and more and at times even considered identifying as an ambivert, but found my soul refusing that title as every single individual is an ambivert to an extent. I’ve come to see that the intro/extrovert dichotomy is actually more of a spectrum. So it didn’t sit right with me the clinical way “quiets” or “shy people” were examined and observed in the book. It almost felt like their introversion was being treated as an illness, and them as mental patients. 

I did like some observations and the book definitely brought up some interesting ideas to light. One thing that stuck to my mind is how classrooms do not represent “the real world” and how we are astonished when the quiet nerd makes it out after graduating when in fact s/he did not change but their environment did. I liked that bit and it made me think