Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

A few years ago, I read Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series. These were one of the most compelling stories I have ever read. The adventures of eccentric Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. Watson, were always exciting and acted like windows into the genius detective's fascinating mind. Once I saw "Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes," a very insightful book written by a psychologist and journalist Maria Konnikova, I was very intrigued.

As a person who is interested in books about self-improvement and detectives, the title piqued my interest. Maria Konnikova, the author of the book, is also a captivating person in real life: at about four years of age, her family immigrated to the US from Russia. Maria studied as a psychologist at Harvard and Columbia Universities. She wrote her Ph.D. dissertation about poker and the psychology behind it, and right now, she is killing it in the poker world! After hearing such facts about her life, I decided to give this book a try.

"Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes" turned out to be a pretty exciting and thought-provoking read. This nonfiction talks about the functioning and the hidden elements behind the mind of the most well-known detective of all time in fiction literature. Konnikova contrasts two systems of thought - "System Watson" and "System Holmes." The former overlooks details and jumps to conclusions based on what seems most likely at the time. The latter is a reflective and disciplined person who takes everything into account and consideration before actually making conclusions.

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"Mastermind" can be boiled down into a few pieces of advice for those who want to enter into a more Holmes-like state of mind and thought. Although these pieces of advice are pretty challenging to follow for beginners, with practice, everything becomes more manageable. It's essential to stay motivated about that! The first and, probably, the most critical step is to become mindful, which is easier said than done in the modern world of multitasking. Multitasking has always been a bad thing, the results of which don't pay off. There are very few people who can multitask without affecting the quality of work. To achieve this mindfulness, Konnikova notes that we must improve our natural attentional abilities by being objective, selective, inclusive, and engaged.

We must also always consider every scenario, another piece of advice, and all evidence, no matter how improbably it may seem. As Holmes repeatedly says: "The improbable is not necessarily impossible." Imagination and creativity are vital in your daily life! These qualities make you smarter and help you come up with better solutions to various problems.

Overall, "Mastermind" is a stimulating book. It distinguishes a static mind, like Watson's, and a dynamic mind, like Holmes', and gives us instructions on how to have the latter. Konnikova's book is not a light read, as evidenced by multiple sources listed at the end of each chapter and its end. When you read it, you get a slight feeling that you are reading a textbook. The book also uses some intricate vocabulary. With the frequent use of such scientific and psychological terms as "reward prediction error," "affect heuristic," and "declarative memory," for example, this book is aimed at an audience who knows the technical details of the mind on some level. Readers are not required to have a full arsenal of knowledge regarding the cases of Sherlock Holmes, of course, but this would, quite obviously, enhance the experience. Maria Konnikova gives many scenarios from Sir Conan Doyle's stories as examples. The extensive research and background material—including notes for further reading after each chapter and a cumulative index—make an impressive venture into the most remarkable detective's mind in fiction.

Rating

My rating of the book is five out of five. It's pretty awesome, gives a good insight into the mind of one of the most legendary characters of all time, and gives everything it promises to provide.