The Secret Lives of INTPs

by Anna Moss

A book about the INTP personality type.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Self Help

247 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Bene Gesserit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not only a fun read, but also, as a fellow INTP/NTPI, startlingly familiar as well. I nearly choked on my own saliva when I read another family aside from my own grew up being called the Aadam's Family. The joy... the joy it elicited!

The book is set up so if something isn't too relevant to your interests you can easily skip over it without missing out on some key information. I'd recommend this to any NT reader or person interested in personality type. It's a nice mixture of both scientific study references as well as personal anecdotes, so it lends a human touch to the hard analysis, which oftentimes leaves out the more humorous foibles of the human experience.

I must, however, point out that "odd appearance" can also be absolutely fabulous and can smell wonderfully, too.

[Cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely interesting!

The author tends to digress often. This can be both a bit distracting and immensely entertaining. :) I particularly enjoyed the sections analyzing the characteristics and actions of famous fictional characters and historical figures that are believed to be INTP. I didn't even realize that some of my favorite characters and people where INTP!

Some of the information was represented in a way that was a bit erratic but I understood the gist of it. Everything seemed relatively accurate and relatable for an INTP such as myself. It is all very theoretical but if you know INTPs, you know that we enjoy theory. I wish I could convince my family to read this so that they could perhaps understand me for once. ;)

(Umm... I was a bit off put by the authors casual references to religious ideas as if they were indisputable.)

[moven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Included too much subjective opinions and personal stories, which I don't personally care about.
A little too exaggerating at times and generally too much sugar coating with sophisticated words and phrases. You don't want to spend so much time to hear a constant over-rationalizing static voice, who keeps emphasizing on how wonderful, rare and unappreciated INTPs are. I'm categorized as an INTP myself, which was mostly the reason why I was drawn to this book and partly because of the stereotypical title (which I came to the conclusion it was mostly phrased in that particular way to sell), but I found the book quite dismaying. In the end I thought: "I don't want to hear another word about INTPs!"

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Anna Moss doesn't agree with the theory of cognitive functions, she still made some brilliant points that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. She also had plenty of amusing and relatable anecdotes that also made it a fun and easy read.

[Marwa]

Read this sometime in 2018. I think it was good?!
But I’m probably less intersted in MBTI than I was back then. Can’t rate it.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Secret Lives!

This was an excellent book on learning about the INTP personality type - my personality type.

I found this a great book to read during National AccessAbility Week.

Definitely check it out if you are or know an INTP.

4.4/5

[Jem · Rating 4 out of 5]

So instead of sleeping I decided to read this book from 3AM-6AM. I hate myself.

Anyways, if you’re an INTP, please read this. It’s so funny and relatable; my copy has so many highlighted notes. I loved how the narrative kept getting into randomly connected anecdotes and going off in a bunch of directions all at once - it’s a classic INTP move. If you’re not an INTP I don’t think you’ll enjoy it that much, but the author has written some other fun and interesting things on all the other types (including writings on how each type would behave during an apocalypse). Her comics are also hilarious. If you visit her website, oddlydevelopedtypes.com, you can download this book for free!!

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was probably 90% right about me; obviously, some variation must exist because we're all unique as human beings.

The only thing that really bothered me was the author's treatment of racism. The few times race was mentioned, it was...not handled that well. I'm used to a lot worse though, so I'm giving this book 4 stars because I was laughing in relief while I was reading a lot of it. Suddenly, a lot of things about other people (and the way they interact with me) make sense.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A minor, but personally pleasing, aspect of this book is the author's choice to include in some sections how female and male INTPs differ. In other works on this subject, there seems to be a trend towards gender blindness or an admission that female INTPs are probably different, but this difference doesn't matter since it is a deviation from the norm.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read, although there were some things i didnt agree with.

[Б. Ариука · Rating 5 out of 5]

must read for INTP

[Mihai Cristian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that felt too "entitled" for my pleasure. It was clearly written in a very INTP manner. Funnily enough, I believe that in the second part, the book got much better, as if the author started developing writing skills :)

The Intipiland/Mabtiland fantasy world was pretty nice. Lots of references, but also a lot of anecdotal ones, as if trying to convince us that we can get general conclusions from studies with hundreds or tens of participants.

[YL · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is full of humour and interesting observes. I give it five stars because it is one of the rare MBTI books which I read from the beginning to the end. There are parts that make me feel very relatable. I particular like the analyses of fictional characters. I remember when I was a kid reading The Three Musketeers, I like Aramis the most out of the four musketeers, but i did not really pay attention as to why. Now think about it... maybe I want to become someone like him😉

[Jeanette Holmlund-Hampf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny! Loved some parts.

[Fumiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spell " Excellent " .

[Keravnos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book surprisingly very well written, fun to read, and highly informative book.

[nuulic]

start reading this on 5th april, extra (guard duty) day in bunk. just finished it.
interesting insights into intps, as fun as it is educational.
rueful. reticent. abstruse. erudite!

[Maymoona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an insightful read.

[Domas Markevicius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I assume that most of the people reading this book will be INTP/Js themselves. If that is the case, the book should be quite easy and fun read, kind of mental masturbation. The are lots of statistics about how much more un/likely INTPs are to say/do this or that compared to other MBTI types, but a lot of the studies are small and shouldn't be taken too seriously (e.g. out of the 4 relationships (read: there were grand total 4 such couples in the study) in which one partner was a female INTP, only one had both partners satisfied). Information abound, but what to do with it is mostly left up to the reader.

[Joon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an INTP, it was a pretty masturbatory read. Realized how much of my worldview is composed of rationalizing my inclinations as good.

I agree with her view that many psychological disorders are really just normal extremes of the human continuum.

Despite all the "we're all one people" spiel at the end, the preceding persecution complex was irritating as balls.

[Iffa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of INTP before, but this book gave me more insight and detailed explanation about INTP and it was fun to read. I'm glad that this book really made me know more about myself, and so I could anticipate it, what to do when I acting up. Some kind of cheat sheet to my personality. This makes me wanna read the INTJ book as well.

[Omnia]

A structured and sober-minded description of the INTP type and the difficulties INTPs have to deal with due to their rather "awkward" habits.
It serves as a guide for both INTPs that feel as misunderstood as they usually do and people who are confronted with INTPs in their daily lives and are rather unfamiliar with such behavior.
Also, it is quick and compact. Dear fellow INTPs, read this book!

[Msanthropy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So friggin accurate on so many parts that I can't see how anyone can dispute the relevance and accuracy of MBTI.
Haven't completely finish the book. But I loved the way it was broken down to be digestible in whatever order you wanted.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book ever written about me. I feel honored to have someone pen a biography about every tiny, exact detail of my existence. (Not joking, this book is like looking in a mirror.)

[michiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for INTPs. I smiled like crazy when reading this books. Now I have learned the way of not trying to become a Judger, but content to improve my Perceiver trait.

[Raissa Fedora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greaaat book~ but not my type. similar, but not the same

[Titi Georgiev · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most accurate and amusing reading about INTPs that I have ever read! I strongly recommend it! Much better than any webpage!

[Rafał Grzesiakowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ważna dla mnie ^^

[Ma Oussa]

is mazing

[Leah Markum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Secret Lives of INTPs and its INTJ counterpart. The books share several of the same statistics, studies, and generalities so I have a similar review for both.

Anna Moss compiled a lot of research for this book. Roughly half of the book that doesn't deal with individual profiles is qualitative interpretation similar to what you will read on typology websites but with a narrower, topical focus instead of generalities that border stereotyping. Narrower topics include explanations of INTPs in relation to Asperger Syndrome, females and contradicting societal gender expectations, crime, habits in school, childhood behavior, relations to other types, political ideology, and comparisons to INTJs--yes, this is a small sample of the topics. The other half of the book that doesn't deal with individual profiles describes the same topics but mingles as statistics and case studies among the qualitative prose.

Something I certainly didn't expect when I started reading this book was the level of character analysis. Many of these people, some fictional and some real, I don't know, but I am impressed how deeply Moss investigates them and argues why they are INTP. Each person has a list of traits and in parentheses an indication of which dichotomies most likely explain those traits--I? NT? NP? A shorter list comprises of traits that argue against the character being INTP--E? NJ? After all, probably no one is 100 percent on the letter traits.

I read both Moss's INTJ book and INTP book because I'm INTJ but I found the INTP book first. I was two days into it before I realized there was an INTJ version. So why not read both? Behaviorally I fit the INTP description better so I figured I would still relate to and gain from the INTP book.

As an INTP, Moss included her own life as an example. How do three children, ENTP and two INTPs, prepare for Christmas? All is lost until ESTJ mother comes home. This is a lot like my mom and me: I like holidays, I just can't be bothered to dress up the house and do all the other festivities. My favorite quote by Moss is from her mom and about dealing with an INTP husband, INTP daughter, and ENTP and INTP sons, "It's like living with lawyers!" XNTP personality types are all about precision and they kept finding loop holes around Mom's rules.

One major short coming is Moss doesn't grasp the cognitive functions. She purposefully leaves them out other than for one section where she addresses why she ignores them. Her list of reasons mainly reword that there is no evidence of cognitive functions.

The thing is, there's no evidence that anything with MBTI is objectively true. It's not taken seriously by psychologists. MBTI and the cognitive functions are essentially an internal system of logic that has utilitarian value: it gives you skeletal notes for understanding how people process information. As someone who can't "read" people, cognitive functions have been key to improving my reading ability. The E/I, N/S, F/T, and J/P dichotomies is just swimming in the surface of the pool and cognitive functions are what you see when you dive. You can avoid more overgeneralizing, stereotyping, and confusing behavior for personality if you know where it all comes from--even if it's just a logical construct and not physical evidence.

"INTP" tends to be presentation: reserved (I), innovative and thinks well into the future (N), logical (T), and spontaneous (P). If you're slightly organized--as people often want to view themselves and will mistype because of it--you'll think you're INTJ. But we can learn to be social and assume that means extroverted--after all, it's another prized trait in our society, and F types can be logical. But if you look at the underlying mental process, you have Ti-Ne-Si-Fe: Ne absorbs potential realities and patterns in the environment, Si downloads the memories of Ne's observations, Fe acts--well known INTPs perform to improve society, and Ti both motivates and aggregates everything into an internally relevant and constant logical framework. The world has to make sense to an INTP.

There is much more to the theory and how the functions interact, but even the basic look at the functions actually tell you where a person is coming from when they say and do certain things. It's rich, it forces you to evaluate others more actively and critically, and it's fun if you like puzzles.

Another part mentioned is that a bunch of MBTI experts recorded adjectives they associated with different functions. This was a huge error. I'm not sure what researches conducted this. As I mentioned, cognitive functions and MBTI has an intricate logical framework--everything has a distinct meaning. Like how each of the 16 personality types come with stereotypes, this study asked experts to stereotype and apply generic associations to the functions. They redefined the functions in their own eyes and didn't incorporate the functions original definitions. Essentially, the results have no bearing.

Stripes are lines by definition. Let's talk about black stripes and gather some professionals to describe that stripes can be zebras, bar codes, on shirts, on cats, and evoke the feeling of anger. These attributes can be relevant in certain contexts, but they don't define that a stripe is a line and black is the absorption or absence of all colors depending on if it's made of paint or by blocking light.

Frankly, despite my affinity for the cognitive functions and Moss's lack of support for the argument that the functions don't matter, I didn't miss them. There was plenty more information to gobble up and the rest was reasonable and cited by interesting studies that did make sense.