quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-cant-stop-talking-susan-cain

voice to come out louder than a whisper
(on the tape recording of our conversation,
Kagan’s voice sounds booming
and declamatory, mine much
quieter). I’m aware that I’m holding my
torso tensely, one of the telltale signs of
the high-reactive. It feels strange to
know that Kagan must be observing
this too—he says as much, nodding at
me as he notes that many high-reactives
become writers or pick other intellectual
vocations where “you’re in
charge: you close the door, pull down
the shades and do your work. You’re
protected from encountering unexpected
things.” (Those from less educated
backgrounds tend to become file clerks
and truck drivers, he says, for the same
reasons.)
I mention a little girl I know who is
“slow to warm up.” She studies new
people rather than greeting them; her
312/929