Society has long been obsessed with extroverted personalities. Speaking up, and sounding confident, was once seen as key to getting on in the world of business. Now a book championing quiet, unassuming introverts is turning that thinking on its head.

The extrovert/introvert ideal is based on legendary psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung’s, Personality Theory. Introverts are drawn to thought and feeling, he said, while extroverts prefer people and activities. Our environment and experiences also impact our nature. It’s thought a third of us are introverts, although even Jung didn’t subscribe to the concept fully, saying: “There is no such thing as a pure extrovert or pure introvert. Such a man would be in a lunatic asylum”.