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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can ... - WordPress.com

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No one would choose this sort <strong>of</strong>pa<strong>in</strong>ful adolescence, but the fact is thatthe solitude <strong>of</strong> Woz’s teens, and thes<strong>in</strong>gle-m<strong>in</strong>ded focus on what wouldturn out to be a lifelong passion, is typicalfor highly creative people. Accord<strong>in</strong>gto the psychologist MihalyCsikszentmihalyi, who between 1990and 1995 studied the lives <strong>of</strong> n<strong>in</strong>etyoneexceptionally creative people <strong>in</strong> thearts, sciences, bus<strong>in</strong>ess, and government,many <strong>of</strong> his subjects were on thesocial marg<strong>in</strong>s dur<strong>in</strong>g adolescence,partly because “<strong>in</strong>tense curiosity or focused<strong>in</strong>terest seems odd to theirpeers.” Teens who are too gregarious tospend time alone <strong>of</strong>ten fail to cultivatetheir talents “because practic<strong>in</strong>g musicor study<strong>in</strong>g math requires a solitudethey dread.” Madele<strong>in</strong>e L’Engle, the author<strong>of</strong> the classic young adult novel AWr<strong>in</strong>kle <strong>in</strong> Time and more than sixty247/929

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