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Christie too seems to have realized that she was writing in contradictory traits. She eliminated these<br />
out-of-character tendencies in subsequent books, demonstrating in the process an innate grasp of<br />
type.<br />
The Little Grey Cells in Old Age<br />
Hercule Poirot decided that when he reached a certain age, he would retire and work in his<br />
vegetable garden. Soon after this, he discovered that he was bored out of his mind and went back to<br />
work. This is an NT thing; every single one of the INTs I have typed continued their intellectual<br />
activities right up until they died. Elderly INTs, it seems, are not likely to spend their last days in<br />
front of the television. As Keirsey observed, for a Rational, idleness is the worst sort of<br />
punishment. 289<br />
As it turns out, there is a correlation between mentally stimulating life-time habits such as reading,<br />
writing, library usage, etc. and a person's likelihood of developing dementia in old age (read here,<br />
here). 290, 291 In fact, a study found that those who remained mentally active in late life had a 32%<br />
slower rate of mental decline than those who were least mentally active (they had a 48% faster rate<br />
of decline). INTJs, it seems, are likely to retain their cognitive faculties into their golden years.<br />
Nero Wolfe<br />
Evidence for INTJ<br />
• Preferred never to leave his house—ever (I)<br />
• Disliked strangers (I)<br />
• Disliked talking on the telephone (I)<br />
• Terse (I)<br />
• Tended to murmur or mutter (I)<br />
• Liked reading; devoted significant quantities of time to it (N) 292<br />
• Spoke in complicated, formal sentences (NT speech style)<br />
• Able to perform complicated mathematical operations in his head (NT math ability)<br />
• Was able give up drinking, bad eating habits, and sedentary lifestyle cold turkey (NT self<br />
control)<br />
• Seldom gave compliments (NT high standards)<br />
• Had tight self control (NT willpower)<br />
• Tended to consciously describe his own emotions aloud ("This situation angers me") without<br />
actually expressing the emotion through tone of voice and body language. (INT)<br />
• Blunt to the point of rudeness (T)<br />
• Not easily moved to pity (T)<br />
• Had a hard, uncompromising streak (T)<br />
• Maintained a very tight daily schedule that he followed religiously (J)<br />
289 Keirsey, 1998<br />
290 Szalavitz, 2013<br />
291 Sagon, 2013<br />
292 Hicks in Myers, McCaulley, Quenk & Hammer, 1998
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