Why am I passionate about this?
A bookworm and word lover from the get-go, I always pushed back a bit on society’s expectations that we all act like extroverts. I studied philosophy at school, taught it for a few years, but quit academic life to become a freelance writer and then a marketing expert. When I took a personality test sometime around 2008 and realized I was an introvert – and a fairly extreme one at that – I began seeing more and more ways in which our culture misunderstands and disparages introverts. Now retired from marketing, I explore prejudices against introverts and introverts’ special talents in my weekly newsletter, Introvert UpThink.
Marcia's book list on overlooked stories about introverts
Why did Marcia love this book?
A brilliant book that debunks damaging myths about people who enjoy being off by themselves. It contains a devastating takedown of the misconception that mass killers are usually discontented introverts. Instead, people like the Unabomber and school shooters wish they fit in better with society and do not resemble those who are loners by choice. Anneli Rufus argues that true loners like Isaac Newton, Michelangelo, Haruki Murakami, and Rene Descartes have contributed immeasurably to our civilization.
1 author picked Party of One as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
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…
- Coming soon!