The mood of bittersweetness is defined by a sharp sense of time passing, as well as sentiments of melancholy, desire, and excitement at the universe’s beauty. Quiet by Susan Cain delves into this idea, asking our society to acknowledge the undervalued introverts. Cain explores the hidden possibilities of bittersweetness in life via a blend of research, storytelling, and memoir.
She contends that creativity, connection, and transcendence can result from embracing this bittersweetness. If we don’t deal with our own grief, she thinks, we could hurt other people. In times of great disagreement and personal worry, however, we may come together by recognising that everyone has suffered loss and sadness.
Read about Quiet – Susan Cain with this detailed guide!
About the Author
Susan Cain is the author of BITTERSWEET: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole and QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, both of which are #1 New York Times bestsellers. The quiet, the sensitive, the contemplative, and the bittersweet are the facets of human nature that she has spent the previous two decades studying.
This manner of being may lead to a deeper and more profound sort of happiness, as she and her millions of readers have always believed. Over 50 million people have watched Susan’s record-breaking TED lectures on YouTube and TED combined, and her books have been translated into other languages.
The QUIET LIFE online community, A Quiet Life in Seven Steps, and the Audible series are all hosted by Susan. Follow her on TheQuietLife.net’s Substack.
Review
A careful analysis of the depressed mood… a distinctive fusion of pop culture, psychology, biography, spirituality, and musical allusions.” The concept of turning suffering into creativity, transcendence, and love is powerful one for people who are grieving or experiencing a loss.
Cain does a fantastic job of supporting her claims with case studies, data, and anecdotes. It is a distinctive viewpoint in a society that more often medicates than embraces intense emotions.—The Journal of Wall Street
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One of the most exquisitely written and distinctly human books I’ve read in a long time is Bittersweet. Its compelling argument will change the way you view both yourself and the people you care about.
Long after you’ve turned the last page, its breathtaking beauty will continue to captivate you. — When, Drive, and A Whole New Mind, written by Daniel H. Pink, the #1 New York Times bestselling author
Susan Cain succeeds once more! The world’s perception of introverts was altered by her creation of the global phenomenon Quiet. She has now penned a book that will alter the way that people see grief and desire.
For anybody who has ever truly lived, loved, or lost, this book is a complete triumph. — Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times bestsellers Essentialism and Effortless, and presenter of the What’s Essential podcast
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Bittersweet by Susan Cain captivates you and holds on to you. Since finishing the book, I’ve been reflecting daily on the richness and elegance of Cain’s research and narrative. I’ll always be appreciative of how Quiet and Bittersweet have improved my understanding of who I am and how I interact with the outside world. Brené Brown, Ph.D., author of Atlas of the Heart, the #1 New York Times bestseller
I ended up inside Quiet ten years ago. Susan Cain has once again described and confirmed my existence with Bittersweet! Her latest book serves as a reminder that artists, healers, and anybody else who pays close attention are all able to share my aching, ongoing knowledge of life’s brutiful.
I’ll give Bittersweet to all of my lovely, aching, and sentimental buddies. Glennon Doyle, founder and president of Together Rising and author of the #1 New York Times novel Untamed
This is one of the few books that not only opens your eyes but also sings to your spirit and touches your heart. After giving introverts a voice, Susan Cain now expertly depicts our worst feelings in a way that has long been lacking.
Bittersweet is a glittering tribute to the beauty of the human experience and the ideal remedy for poisonous positivism. Think Again author Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling
Summary
The book opens with a preface in which Cain gives a brief history of the renowned Sarajevo cellist Vedran Smailović, who performed Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor for 22 nights in a row as a memorial to the composer in reaction to the murder of innocent civilians during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
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The Prelude sets out Cain’s motive for creating the book and serves as a catalyst for its introduction. She claims that she has always been drawn to depressing music for as long as she can remember. She also mentions that the late Leonard Cohen, whose work is renowned for its melancholy overtones, is her all-time favourite musician.
Cain also feels obligated to note that, despite her attraction to melancholic music, she sometimes enjoys more lively music, which she finds odd.
She then talks on how some cultural beliefs, particularly the American fixation on positivity, lead to the belief that expressing one’s preference for melancholic music in public requires a counterargument similar to the one she makes regarding cheerful music.
Along with serving as the book’s main research questions and the headings for each part, the introduction also includes a long list of questions that Cain poses to herself. She also outlines the main ideas of the book, such as how individuals should react to suffering and how one approach to deal with it is to transform it into a creative contribution.
A quiz created by Cain with assistance from cognitive scientist Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and research scientist Dr. David Yaden, a professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine, rounds out the introduction (27). The purpose of the quiz is to assist readers in determining whether they have a melancholy temperament.