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    Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
    Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
    Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
    Audiobook10 hours

    Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

    Written by Maria Konnikova

    Narrated by Karen Saltus

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    No fictional character is more renowned for his powers of thought and observation than Sherlock Holmes. But is his extraordinary intellect merely a gift of fiction, or can we learn to cultivate these abilities ourselves, to improve our lives at work and at home?

    We can, says psychologist and journalist Maria Konnikova, and in Mastermind she shows us how. Beginning with the "brain attic"--Holmes's metaphor for how we store information and organize knowledge--Konnikova unpacks the mental strategies that lead to clearer thinking and deeper insights. Drawing on twenty-first-century neuroscience and psychology, Mastermind explores Holmes's unique methods of ever-present mindfulness, astute observation, and logical deduction.

    In doing so, it shows how each of us, with some self-awareness and a little practice, can employ these same methods to sharpen our perceptions, solve difficult problems, and enhance our creative powers. For Holmes aficionados and casual readers alike, Konnikova reveals how the world's most keen-eyed detective can serve as an unparalleled guide to upgrading the mind.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAscent Audio
    Release dateJan 3, 2013
    ISBN9781469086200
    Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
    Author

    Maria Konnikova

    Maria Konnikova is the author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game. She is a regular contributor for the New Yorker, and has written for the Atlantic, New York Times, Slate, New Republic, Paris Review, Wall Street Journal, Salon, WIRED, among many other publications. Her writing has won numerous awards, including the 2019 Excellence in Science Journalism Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology.

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    Reviews for Mastermind

    3/5

    132 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is a great title. Add to that I am an investigator and a long time fan of Sherlock Holmes and you would think the book would be very attractive.
      You know some books just flow. You are in tune with the writer's voice. One sentence flows to the next and hours later you realize you have been spellbound.
      This was not my experience with the book that seemed long winded, repetitive and not as clear as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's writing. Maybe the book would have made a better long magazine article or as a study book for aspiring investigators eager to learn the deductive method and an original insight into critical thinking and observation with a tutor making you read each chapter with discussion points after. Not a bad idea that. But I could not get excited about the book and just longed for the original texts.
      Still worth reading and absorbing the points the writer pounds away at.
      Meanwhile, how many steps to your front door?
    • 5/5
      This is a really great book! It teaches you about the human brain.
    • 2/5
      An attempt to capitalize on the Holmes mythos to convey a lot of standard behavioral psych stuff. I was underwhelmed by tidbits such as “Students who are motivated perform better on something as seemingly immutable as the IQ test—on average, as much as .064 standard deviations better.” First, IQ tests aren’t immutable; that’s well-known. Second: .064 standard deviations better? I don’t even know what that means, but it looks small as well as nonsensical. Supposedly her sources are on her website, but I couldn’t find them, so I couldn’t look up the underlying study. And she promises that by following Holmes’ methods (the brain attic is involved) you can learn to be like him “for your every thought,” except that’s the opposite of Holmes, who discards irrelevant information, and even she understands that we have to discard information to survive. I found it sloppy, is what I’m saying.
    • 4/5
      This book turned out to be an engaging, light read connecting the author's passion for the character of Sherlock Holmes with her deep subject matter knowledge. The result is a book that covers the basics of more weighty works on the subject, such as my favorite of the crop, _Thinking, Fast and Slow_, by Daniel Kahneman.


      The difference between the two books, though, is the accessibility of Dr. Konnikova's work. _Mastermind_ serves well as an introduction to the topic for the interested.


      I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Konnikova at the ScienceOnline conference in 2013. What immediately struck me was her ability to clearly discuss the subject of the book in clear, concise language. My personal experience has been that the ability to do so is a sign of great facility in the subject matter.


      To be sure, this book is not an instruction manual, nor is it a deep nonfiction treatise - there are no footnotes to anything other than Conan Doyle's works. If you are searching for such a read, this isn't it. If, rather, you seek a pleasant introduction to the current best thinking on how humans learn and decide, you will be pleased.
    • 3/5
      The author uses Sherlock Holmes to illustrate ways to be more mindful, and insightful, in our thinking. That lesson and ways to improve our thinking came through well. The Sherlock Holmes link was fun, but it's been a long time since I read those stories so I may not have picked up on all the illustrations she provided. A bit repetitive. The writing could have been much tighter.
    • 2/5
      I love Sherlock Holmes. I wanted to love this book, too, and expected I would at least like it, based on the blurb and the subtitle. The author obviously loves Holmes, too, which saved this from being a one-star review, because I did enjoy the excerpts from Doyle’s stories. Regardless, I gave up about a third of the way through because the book was just so padded and I didn’t care enough about thinking like Sherlock Holmes to continue slogging through it.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful survey of thought processes and cognitive theories woven within a framework of how the characters Sherlock Holmes and John Watson might approach problem solving. I hope Ms. Konnikova continues to write, because she has a talent like Sagan for making science accessible.

      I found it less "how to" than the title suggests, rather "here are possibilities why you might think a certain way". I am particularly interested in the additional reading suggestions...the list grows longer with each of these books. And she picked at my own bias against meditation, which she offers as an excellent focusing mechanism; I'll have to investigate further if I think I might be able to take advantage of it.

      For those expecting an academic treatise, look elsewhere...and more power to you. For me, this was an enjoyable read that sparked follow on reading and thinking.
    • 4/5
      Der Titel lässt auf Großes hoffen. Wird man nach dem Lesen wirklich so brillant sein wie Holmes? Kann derjenige, der dieses Buch in die Hand nimmt, hinterher eine Karriere als Detektiv starten. Vielleicht sogar der Polizei beim Kampf gegen das Verbrechen zur Seite stehen? Oder durch das hier Gelernte glänzende Erfolge im Beruf erringen? Werden die Kollegen im Büro demnächst vor Ehrfurcht erstarren, wenn man den Mund aufmacht? Wird man seine Bekannten mit brillanten Schlussfolgerungen und scharfsinnigen Beobachtungen verblüffen können?Ich enttäusche Sie nur ungern, meine Damen und Herren, aber wenn Sie diesbezügliche Hoffnungen hegen, sollten Sie lieber die Finger von dem Buch lassen. Ich glaube kaum, dass es ihr Leben grundlegend verändern wird.Es ist ein ganz normaler Ratgeber, der sich einzig dadurch vom Gros ähnlicher Publikationen unterscheidet, dass er die Figur Sherlock Holmes' als Ausgangspunkt für seine lehrreichen Betracthungen nimmt.Maria Konnikova ist Psychologin und seit ihrer Kindheit ein Fan des Meisterdetektivs. Sie hat sich gefragt, was Normalmenschen von Holmes lernen können. Die Autorin analysiert also Holmes' Methoden und versucht daraus allgemeine Ratschläge für den Alltagsgebrauch zu destillieren. Konkret sieht das so aus, dass Konnikova Passagen aus dem Holmes-Kanon zitiert und dann minütiös untersucht wie genau Sherlock Holmes im jeweiligen Fall zum Erfolg gelangt ist. Außerdem bedient sie sich der Erkenntnisse der modernen Neurowissenschaft und natürlich der allgemeinen Psychologie.Gleich am Anfang etabliert sie ihre Theorie, nach der wir alle über ein System: Watson und ein System: Holmes in unserem Gehirn verfügen. Watson ist der konservative, mechanische Teil unseres Gedankenapparats, der keine Risiken eingehen möchte und höchsten Wert auf Sicherheit legt, während Holmes offen für ungewöhnliche Lösungen und neue Ideen ist. Wir müssen also versuchen, das System: Watson zum Schweigen zu bringen und öfter den Teil Holmes zu gebrauchen. Konzentrations- und Meditationsübungen können dabei behilflich sein.Das ist alles ganz amüsanz, aber wenn man schon den einen oder anderen Ratgeber dieser Art gelesen hat, wird man hier wenig Neues finden. Es ist im Grunde nur alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen, der hier dargeboten wird. Wer Sherlock mag, wird der Lektüre sicher trotzdem einige Freude abgewinnen können.Sehr schön finde ich allerdings das Cover dieser britischen Penguin-Ausgabe, mit der Silhouette von Benedict Cumberbatch vor dem Hintergrund des modernen London.Insgesamt vergebe ich fünf Sterne für die Idee, drei Sterne für die Umsetzung.
    • 3/5
      Irony of ironies - - this is a book about being more attentive and observant, like Sherlock Holmes, and I picked it up thinking it was a book written in the style of Sherlock Holmes. I completely missed the point, in other words. But I don't regret it, much, because this was a very engaging book. Did I put 100% of my attention to reading it so that I internalized all of its nuanced messages? Of course not. I mostly read it on the elliptical machine so my mind was wandering - Watson-like - the usual amount. But it was surprisingly captivating, and it did have some interesting insights into our unconscious information processing biases and how they influence our perceptions. I am definitely going to try to be more conscious in my thinking after having read this book. Although I doubt I will achieve true Holmesian thinking, perhaps I can be Watson+.
    • 5/5
      Quite addictive and a must reread in order to properly instill this superb mode of thought into the brain.
    • 4/5
      An entertaining way to present cognitive science but too often repetitive.
    • 3/5
      As usual, I received this book for nothing from a GoodReads giveaway but despite that kindness I give it my candid opinion below.Our author's submission is one of those that tries to be two things at once, cross-selling you on a bit of neuroscience in the context of Sherlock Holmes as favorite fictional genius. The basic format boils down to something like this:* Quote from a Sherlock Holmes story* Here's what Holmes did that was so genius* Here's what Watson, mental midget, did. [explanation of psychological foible or misapprehension Watson succombed too]* Don't be like Watson; here's how you can think more like HolmesAs a pattern, it's not bad. Assuming the reader is a fan of Holmes, it's a fairly good gateway to the headier topics of Neuroscience and Psychology. Personally, I found the whole thing rather cloying. I've read a dozen books on this topic so the slow and easy introduction to the science was rather annoying and ponderous. I found myself skimming over the quotes and introductory banter to find the real meat of what she was trying to get at.So in summary, a good introduction to the topic if you're a fan of Holmes. If you're past the introductory stage though, best to look elsewhere. There really is a lot of noise and at the end of it the material covered is done more incisively in other popular works on the topic.
    • 4/5
      Can you learn to think like Sherlock Holmes? Drawing on both anecdotes from Holmes stories and exciting studies in psychology, author Maria Konnikova suggests ways in which you can. She’s clearly familiar with and enthusiastic about both her topics – Homes and the psychology behind his way of thinking – and she does a great job making you feel her enthusiasm too. As someone who understands loving a good book, she had me from her description of her first experience with Holmes. She also integrated real-world, relatable examples with her Holmes/Conan Doyle anecdotes and the psychology studies in a way that constantly piqued my interest.The book mostly flowed very well and I always enjoyed reading it. However, the book sometimes got a little wordy, particularly where there were long descriptions of a list of items. To help me always see where the author was going with her descriptions, a road map in the intro would have been useful. A summary of her most important pieces of advice would also have made the book more usable. Despite occasional problems figuring out how each piece fit together, I do feel like I came away from this book with some valuable advice, particularly the author’s emphasis on mindfulness. As the author acknowledges, mindfulness is a pretty common theme in self-help these days, but the way she presents it is unusually fun and appealing.In fact, while this isn’t the most usable as a self-help book, it’s exciting and enjoyable in a different way. The author does a spectacular job explaining psychology concepts in clear way and her real world examples make me want to take action on her suggestions even though they aren’t spelled out in a self-help sort of way. And any bibliophile will appreciate her love of Holmes and the excitement of possibly being able to replicate his way of thinking. What I mostly took away from the book was the need to be more mindful, particularly of your own thought-process, plus a new appreciation for Sherlock Holmes. So, of course, I would highly recommend this to any Sherlock Holmes fans. But I would also recommend it to any one who wants to be more aware of the world around them and to any one who needs to make logical decisions at work, especially other scientists.