Well, no one ignored my first topic, so I thought I'd venture another.

What Self-Help/Nonfiction/Psychology/(Auto)Biography books have you read that have given you insight to yourself? Not to imply that you don't know who you are intrinsically, but sometimes we find books that make us say, "Aha!" or really strike a chord with something we see in ourselves.

For example, I thought something was wrong with me when I was about 19 because I never wanted to hang out with friends. I felt guilty for always turning them down, and struggled to understand myself. I went to the bookstore and made my first foray into the Self-Help section, where I found a book called Intimacy and Solitude: Balance, Closeness, and Independence (Dowrick). It's a fairly redundant book, but it was the first book to illustrate to me the difference between loneliness and solitude, and that there's nothing wrong with enjoying one's own company. We live in a society that places very little value on time alone. It was just what I needed at the time, and I remember feeling all that guilt melt away. But I was a silly girl and forgot the lesson, and spent several more years letting myself get swept along in a very social world before I finally dug in my heels. Ironically it was my now ex-husband who introduced me to the idea of introverts and extroverts, and here's the book list I developed (in order of quality):


The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World (Laney)
Living Introverted: Learning To Embrace The Quiet Life Without Guilt (Lambert)
Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength (Helgoe)
The Happy Introvert: A Wild and Crazy Guide for Celebrating Your True Self (Wagele)
The Introvert & Extrovert in Love: Making It Work When Opposites Attract (Laney)

I think I've tapped all there is on the subject, and they've become mostly redundant now. I need more than a pat on the head telling me it's ok to be an introvert; I hope to do some extended solitary sessions, so I'm starting on books for recluses, hermits, and solitary sabbaticals:

Celebrating Time Alone (Fisher)
The Call Of Solitude: Alonetime In A World Of Attachment (Buchholz)
Solitude: A Return to the Self (Storr)

Not to put anyone to sleep with my dry topic! Well chime in if you've read some great Self-Help/Nonfiction/Biography books.

I've read parts of "Introvert advantage" and "The happy introvert". I recognised myself in the descriptions but unlike the authors and patients I've never felt bad for being different. I've always accepted myself for who I am and never apologised for it nor felt shame. The only bad thing is the constant having to tell annoying surroundings that "yes, I really do feel this way" and "no,I don't deep down feel like you and/or wanna be like you". And they say people with ASDs lack ToM. Yeah, sorry, just a little rant there.


I think "Party of one" by Anneli Rufus is pretty good.

I haven't actually read this one, but Sula Wolff's "Loner" in which she compares ASDs and schizoid/schizotypal personality disorder, seems interesting.

I just read the recently published "Lonely: A Memoir" by Emily White. I could really identify with the author having to lie about having so little social life and feeling so lonely. As well as the author's own experiences it also has a lot of interesting research on loneliness, for example the impact it can have on life expectancy.

Prometheus Rising

I would recommend:

- ALL the works/collections by/of Erich Fromm. This is simply a MUST.

- the MBTI personality typing system (explained in Keirsey, "Please Understand Me: 2", and many other books)

- the essays by Dr. Luigi Anepeta (for Italian readers only) on introversion and human sciences