The Happy Introvert: A Wild and Crazy Guide to Celebrating Your True Self

—John Weber

The other day, I heard a news anchor on a major TV network disdainfully refer to a bad guy who’s been in the news a lot recently as “a recluse and an introverted nut case.” The juxtaposition of the words “introverted” and “nut case” really pushed my buttons since I’m an introvert myself. The first time I felt sensitive about this was as a teenager having a discussion with my mother. When I casually and proudly referred to myself as an introvert, she shot back angrily, “You are not! You’re a nice girl!”

It wasn’t long before I realized there were others besides my mother for whom “introvert” had a negative meaning. A headline in a popular magazine, for example, erroneously claimed that the most important ingredient for happiness is to not be an introvert. I strongly disagree.

The rich inner lives we introverts lead enable us to

feel comfortable with ourselves and to be interesting to our friends. Some of the most brilliant, creative, and productive humans in history (Einstein, Jane Austen, Beethoven, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, and Howard Hughes, for example) were introverts.