science

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes rather than just read about it. In short: Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, released January 3, 2013, is a book written by Maria Konnikova. This book explores ways to improve mindfulness, logical thinking and observation using Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional character Sherlock Holmes as an exemplar.

Key takeaways

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, released January 3, 2013, is a book written by Maria Konnikova. This book explores ways to improve mindfulness, logical thinking and observation using Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional character Sherlock Holmes as an exemplar. Konnikova intertwines her analysis of Holmes's "habits of mind" with findings from the modern-day fields of neuroscience and psychology and offers advice on how to become a more rational thinker.

Overview In Mastermind, Konnikova uses what she refers to as the Watson System and the Holmes System to categorize and discuss people's habits of mind; their mindfulness and decision-making processes. The Watson System, according to Konnikova, is the more natural of the two: rapid, intuitive, reactionary, and credulous. The Holmes System is slow, methodical, logical, and comprehensive. Konnikova helps the reader conceptualize acts of memory formation, retention and retrieval by borrowing Holmes's problem-solving metaphor: the brain attic. If the brain is an attic, with finite space, then each bit of information placed there needs to be chosen carefully, organized and stored in a way that is both useful and accessible. "When we are forced to do multiple things at once," Konnikova says, "not only do we perform worse on all of them but our memory decreases and our general well-being suffers a palpable hit." Konnikova recommends developing "a healthy dose of skepticism", along with inquisitiveness, mindfulness, restraint, and a desire to "look for evidence that both confirms and disconfirms" closely held beliefs. She provides readers with a number of research-based suggestions for increasing self-awareness and emphasizes the need for life-long learning to cultivate "Holmes-style creativity:" practise mental and physical distancing when working out problems (i.e., go for a walk), reduce distractions (i.e., turn off the phone when eating dinner), challenge one's own "built-in reactions and first impressions" to reduce the Watson-like habit of reaching conclusions before all the evidence is in or becoming distracted by superfluous details.

Reception Konnikova received praise for what one reviewer called the "ingenious delivery system" of using Holmes and Watson to "personify rational and intuitive modes of thought." Reviewers noted that the book uses Holmes-related narratives to illustrate cognitive psychology concepts, and that it includes examples aimed at readers familiar with the Sherlock Holmes stories. Some reviewers point out that, because Holmes is fictional, his problem-solving abilities came from Conan Doyle's construct. It is Holmes, not Watson (who is, largely, portrayed in Mastermind as "unthinking"), that is the key problem solver in the stories, making his "amazing feats of insight," according to one reviewer, a "little too opportunistic." Reviewers found the book to be based in science, though more of a self-help book than an in-depth exploration of the concepts held within it.

References

External links Maria Konnikova website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

In research: Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2013 English-language non-fiction books, 2013 non-fiction books, American non-fiction books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes in simple terms?

Why does Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.