• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[NT] The ultimate NT books

Helios

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
273
MBTI Type
INTP
All opinions, of course.

List what book you think best represents your personality type and its view of the world. While many of these can be your favorite book, they don't all have to be. Personally, I see this list skewing more toward the fiction side, but I'm having trouble seeing how it could be anything but a scientific treatise for an INTP. To start:

Recently, my favourite book has been What is History?, by Edward Hallett Carr. I'm unsure whether this "best represents my personality type", however.

Amazon.com: What is History?: Edward Hallett Carr, etc.: Books
 

INA

now! in shell form
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
3,195
MBTI Type
intp
It would be nice if the listings were broken down by age group.

Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World may tickle a 12-15 y.o. INTP teen's fancy.
 

mortabunt

Permabanned
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Messages
963
MBTI Type
type
Enneagram
5
The most NT books i can tink of have to be by Ayn Rand.
 

Nyx

New member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
444
Yes, Ayn Rand is very NT...but she is kind of insane...you might say NT to a fault

the graphic novel V for Vendetta is sweet

i'm not so sure about fiction for NTs, but as for nonfiction:

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

C.G. Jung is great: Modern Man in Search of a Soul and Man and His Symbols

Alan Watts is amazing for philosophy as well so anything written by him, I am certain he was an INTP as well as Jung

anything that intensely analyzes the human condition
 

dorcus0

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
40
MBTI Type
INTP
For science fiction you can't really beat Isaac Asimov or Orson Scott Card. There's a relatively new author named Alastair Reynolds, he writes hard sci-fi that's greatly detailed AND internally consistent.

For fantasy, I can't believe no one's written down Lord of the Rings. That series is just epic. Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned is probably the best Anne Rice book out there, and that's saying something.


I'm a 17-year old guy, just to show you my perspective.
 

Katsuni

Priestess Of Syrinx
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
1,238
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
3w4?
Finding a book that totally matches my view of the world AS A WHOLE is very difficult to do... characters? Sure, there's lots of characters I agree with, but I'm not sure I've ever found a book that had a theme or message to it related to my total mindset fully.

The closest one I could think of as a whole would probably be Angelmass, wherein the message is heavily weighing upon the rejection of the concept of "good" and "evil", attempting to define emotions through quantitative evidence, the concept of intelligent life being able to exist other than humans, and that it doesn't have to be even remotely similar to how we understand it (a black hole gains sentience and total paranoia, going insane), and has a very strong emphasis towards logical reasoning, refusing to go along with tradition simply because it's tradition, refusing to accept things that're 'too good to be true', actively WANTING to 'look a gift horse in the mouth' and several other themes related to intelligently and attempting to objectively assess situations, regardless of how strong public opinion of them may be, in favour for, or against.

Several of the characters I identified with in different ways, and overall, I think it's the closest book to truly match my mindset I've yet read so far.
 

brilliantwomble

New member
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
48
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w4
Freakanomics: A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything. Incredible book. Love the correlations. Probably one of the best non-fiction I have read in a while.

As for Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, like them both. Never finished anything by Pratchett, but what I did read, I liked. Adams was way more detached in his story plots, especially in the Dirk Gently novels, but part of what made reading Adams fun was his random tangents, they made reading every page unexpected.

As for Ender's Game and that whole series, read a few of them and liked them. I read the first book after a recommendation from a Physics professor. Prefer the likes of Adams, but Orson Scott Card is much more serious, so I guess it really just depends on my mood.
 

Particle

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
15
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
The first non-fiction book that comes to mind is Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter, I might add some more later.
As for fiction I like Tolkien, Gaiman, Lukianenko, Lem, Lovecraft, Poe...oh and both, Pratchett and Adams.
 

alpaca

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
57
MBTI Type
INTP
David Foster Wallace is most likely an NT, though he also seems deeply sensitive about the state of the world (my guess though is that he's INTP). His writing is some of the densest, most intelligent I've ever read. He doesn't miss a thing.

And I liked Unbearable Lightness of Being as a book about love. It was beautiful and sad and effortlessly philosophical and reflective.
 

Argus

New member
Joined
Jun 11, 2008
Messages
658
MBTI Type
ENTP
I compiled all these books into an amazon shopping cart.

I would recommend "The Great Divorce" by CS Lewis.
 

Sarcasticus

Circus Maximus
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
1,037
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
5w4
David Foster Wallace is most likely an NT, though he also seems deeply sensitive about the state of the world (my guess though is that he's INTP). His writing is some of the densest, most intelligent I've ever read. He doesn't miss a thing.

Seems more like an INFP to me. But I agree with what you said about his writing. He's one of my favorite authors.
 

SerengetiBetty

New member
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
230
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
7w8
You all have mentioned some good stuff so far.. Here's a few more

Metamorphoses by Apuleius: it seems fluffy but really there's some deeper things at work. Sounds like an ENTP to me

Dune by Frank Herbert - just because it's awesome

Pretty much anything by Denis Diderot. Considering that he said that everything should be objectively analyzed and debated ignoring feelings and traditions the guy has to be pretty interesting to NTs

Heinlein - everything, yes even Number of the Beast
Asimov - everything

In you're into dark humor, read Darkly Dreaming Dexter and the sequel Dearly Devoted Dexterbut skip the third one which was as best as entertaining as warm garbage on a hot day.
 

Kangol

New member
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
126
MBTI Type
INTP
I also enjoyed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Each chapter had to be digested individually, as each had something to ruminate upon and revealed a layer closer to the core of quality.

It then inspired me to learn more about Zen Buddhism, and really enjoyed Zen Flesh Zen Bones. Unlike other books on Zen that would teach the reader about Zen, ZFZB is a collection of Zen stories which the reader can then make their own conclusions about, actively engaging the reader in the process of enlightenment.

Zero, a biography of a dangerous idea, was very interesting to read as well, about the history of 0 and its relevance through major cultural periods including contemporary theoretical physics. I also read The Elegant Universe and Fabric of the Cosmos, and while they are more in-depth and concentrated on fascinating concepts, I far more enjoyed Seife's writing style then Greene's.

My favorite fiction book of all time is Flowers for Algernon, which in high school got me thinking about the relationship of intelligence, philosophy, and love, things I am still fascinated about today and are now reflected in cognitive neuroscience. Perhaps the story will come true!
 
Last edited:

Timmy

New member
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
127
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
9w8
I devour most Heinlein. But of late I've been on a post-apocalyptic binge, reading "Alas, Babylon", "On the Beach", "World War Z", "Year Zero", "One Second After", "The Road" (my fave so far...and by far the darkest, though On the Beach really made me depressed).
 

SolitaryWalker

Tenured roisterer
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
3,504
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
Principia Mathematica-Bertrand Russell
Common Sense of Exact Sciences- W.K Clifford
An Investigation into the Laws of Thought-George Boole
Mathematical Analysis of Logic- George Boole
Groundwork of Arithmetic-Gottlob Frege
Critique of Pure Reason-Immanuel Kant
 

WordGeek

New member
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
24
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
1
Asimov.

Also liked "When Nietzche wept" by Irvin D. Yalom
 
Top