Quiet, A

Homeri Ulysses. - Demacatus Plutarchi. - Ulysses, in Homer, is made a long-thinking man before he speaks; and Epaminondas is celebrated by Pindar to be a man that, though he knew much, yet he spoke but little.  Demacatus, when on the bench he was long silent and said nothing, one asking him if it were folly in him, or want of language, he answered, “A fool could never hold his peace.” {31c}  For too much talking is ever the index of a fool.

--Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries

I've been on fire with the book reading recently . . . Just finished a social history of the Early Modern period, and Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables (which I really enjoyed).  I have now turned my attention to a book on "common prayer" in the 16th Century in England; a translation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso; and Susan Cain's Quiet--a book on introverts and introversion.  In the informal assessment she places in her introduction, I scored an 18/20, answering "True" to statements like:

• I often let the phone ring through to voice mail.
• I express myself better in writing.
• I would rather have a weekend with nothing to do than a weekend overly full of activities.

I make myself laugh.  Not sure what I'm expecting to learn from this book--I'm at peace with my nature, though I do wish I were a bit more aggressive in the self-promotion department.  It's part of a conscious attempt on my part to read more popular non-fiction in addition to the loads of fiction and scholarly monographs I consume along with whatever I'm teaching.  Also, I am not bragging about the reading--it's just the way I spend most of my time.

I'm a slow starter, not much of a ready talker, an internal processor, and not very quick on my feet.  But at least I'm no fool--or at least not much of the time.

Trying to come to a clearer self-assessment.