Do other people's moods affect you? Are you a perfectionist? Do you startle easily at sudden noises? Do you have vivid dreams? Do you find conflict distressing? Are you deeply moved by art and beauty?

The authors claim that if you relate to any of these points, and many others in a checklist they provide in the book, then you may well be one among a fifth of the population who can be described as being a 'highly sensitive person'.

As such, you will present qualities such as empathy, creativity and kindness but might also feel emotions very deeply and easily, and may be overcome by too much stimulus in terms of noise or activity.

Modern life isn't always comfortable for highly sensitive people. In fact we are all built for only so much mental energy, according to a sociologist working over 100 years ago. Georg Simmel believed that we can all keep up with the pace of life in terms of work and achievement, but have little left in our spiritual and emotional side. People have learned to suppress their feelings as a result, he claimed, to treat one another transactionally, to care less. And to be sensitive today is often expressed as a weakness.

In this book, though, the authors describe how sensitive people can help make the world a better place - they can be inspirational leaders, careful and considerate decision-makers and powerful artists. 

This is very readable, relatable and intriguing and has been described as a 'follow up' to the groundbreaking exploration of introverts and extroverts by Susan Cain in 'Quiet'. I'll be referring to this book time and again, I'm sure.