Person
Susan Cain books: every book Susan Cain wrote and recommended
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Susan Cain appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Susan Cain
Susan Cain’s most recommended books
- The Odyssey by Homer
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Art Is the Highest Form of Hope & Other Quotes by Artists by Phaidon Editors
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
- The descent of man by Charles Darwin
Susan Horowitz Cain is an American writer and lecturer. Cain discussed Charles Darwin's book The Descent of Man on EconTalk, noting his observations regarding empathetic impulses and the strong reactions animals have to the suffering of others. On The Daily Stoic, she reflected on her own book Quiet to explain how introversion is frequently misunderstood as a weakness rather than a strength, and mentioned Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities alongside Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings while sharing the biographical story of Angelou finding solace and impact in literature after a traumatic childhood. In various podcast appearances on Modern Wisdom and The Rich Roll Podcast, Cain referenced Homer's epic poem The Odyssey to illustrate the themes of longing, home, and adventure, and discussed Robert James Waller's The Bridges of Madison County to examine how longing functions in human relationships. Furthermore, she mentioned gifting a Phaidon collection of artist quotes titled Art Is the Highest Form of Hope & Other Quotes by Artists to Tim Ferriss.
Books recommended by Susan Cain
-
The Odyssey
Homer's epic poem The Odyssey recounts the arduous ten-year journey of the Greek hero Odysseus as he strives to return home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, facing mythical monsters, divine wrath, and profound personal trials along the way.
Discussed“So with the Odyssey Homer, that whole adventure, it starts with Homer, who's on a beach weeping for his homeland”
Where to get it
-
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a sweeping historical novel set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution, centered around themes of social upheaval, resurrection, and sacrifice.
Discussed“she introduced her to a tale of two cities the book um but she also like spoke the words of the book out loud”
Where to get it
-
Art Is the Highest Form of Hope & Other Quotes by Artists
Discussed“it was like art is the highest form of hope”
Where to get it
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is a powerful autobiographical memoir detailing the author's early life experiences with trauma, racism, and resilience.
Discussed“i know why a caged bird sings um another woman reads it thinking oh i was exactly this little girl too”
Where to get it
-
Quiet
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain explores the misunderstood strengths of introversion and how modern society disproportionately favors extroverts.
Discussed“and and uh the idea i mean obviously this is sort of the idea of quiet which is that this thing that you think is unusual or insufficiency is in fact uh a strength”
Where to get it
-
The Bridges of Madison County
The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller is a poignant bestselling novel and subsequent film adaptation that explores a brief, intense extramarital affair in Iowa, touching on themes of deep longing, adult choice, and regular family life.
Discussed“So with love part of the lesson here There's a reason in the book I I I tell at some length the story of The Bridges of Madison County which was this blockbuster book and movie about this”
Where to get it
-
The descent of man
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin is an 1871 scientific work that expands on evolutionary theory by focusing heavily on sexual selection, human ancestry, and the development of social and moral faculties.
Discussed“Darwin also noticed this and he actually called this the strongest I I don't remember the exact words but it's in his book The Descent of Man he calls it the the strongest impulse in animals is to react in this way to noticing the suffering of other animals”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (20: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Or I think of of someone who I talked about um or who I quoted really in Bittersweet.”
“There's there's a a Japanese Buddhist poet who I I talk about in Bittersweet.”
“I don't know where this comes from in me, but I would say when I wrote "Quiet" and when I wrote "Bittersweet," I thought that I was writing two really different books.”
“I don't know where this comes from in me, but I would say when I wrote "Quiet" and when I wrote "Bittersweet," I thought that I was writing two really different books.”
“And then I started researching "Quiet."”
“like to endure loss in your own family. Yeah, that was an interesting thing because people assume that I wrote "Bittersweet,"”
“I wrote most of "Quiet" in this cafe called Doma in Greenwich village”
“The letters that I'm getting from people who have read "Bittersweet" are so similar to the letters I've gotten all these years from "Quiet" readers.”
“The letters that I'm getting from people who have read "Bittersweet" are so similar to the letters I've gotten all these years from "Quiet" readers.”
“Well, it's very interesting in that I thought that talking about sorrow and longing in this book Bittersweet, I I thought when I started this project that it was a pretty big departure from what I had done in the past.”
“And it is, but what I'm finding is that so much of the way people are reacting to it is it's very similar to what I heard with Quiet in that so many people saying, "Oh, yeah, you know, this is who I really am."”
“and the book Bittersweet is anywhere you usually buy your books.”
“bittersweet i have been feeling for my entire life”
“and in the book you can't really explore this idea of bittersweetness without then talking also about sorrow and longing and grief and everything that you were just getting at”
“like i in every culture you find it and i i talk about a lot of them in the book”
“one of the studies i talk about in my book was done by two people named jason kanoff and laura madden”
“because originally it was just because i went to this seminar for bereavement counselors because i was just curious to learn more about that and what i found was we were each asked to tell a story of loss that i ended up devoting a whole chapter of the book to it”
“and i think i even quoted this one in bittersweet”
“anything come to mind with quiet the book i wrote about the power of introverts”
“seven years of time to write quiet”