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The New York Times bestselling guide to thinking like literature's greatest detective. "Steven Pinker meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" (Boston Globe), by the author of The Confidence Game.
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.
- Sales Rank: #36243 in Books
- Brand: Penguin Books
- Published on: 2013-12-31
- Released on: 2013-12-31
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.40" h x .70" w x 5.50" l, .53 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
- Penguin Books
Review
“Steven Pinker meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in this entertaining, insightful look at how the fictional London crime-solver used sophisticated mental strategies to solve complex problems of logic and deduction… practical and enjoyable.”
—Boston Globe
“An entertaining blend of Holmesiana and modern-day neuroscience.”
—New York Times
“A clearly written guide to the mysteries of logical deduction.”
—Dallas Morning News
“The book is part literary analysis and part self-help guide, teaching readers how to sharpen the ways they observe the world, store and retrieve memories, and make decisions.”
—Scientific American
“Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes is fascinating from cover to cover — highly recommended.”
—Brain Pickings
“Your favorite mental short-cuts and slip-ups are all here. But Ms. Konnikova finds an ingenious delivery system. Holmes and Watson, she shows, respectively personify our rational and intuitive modes of thought. In story after story, taking the time to think carefully allows Holmes to school his slack-jawed sidekick.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“The book is part literary analysis and part self-help guide, teaching readers how to sharpen the ways they observe the world, store and retrieve memories, and make decisions.”
—Scientific American
“The fast-paced, high-tech world we inhabit may be more complex than Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street, but we can still leverage the mental strategies of the renowned reasoner…Forcing the mind to observe, imagine and deduce can make the brain more precise—important for solving cases or simply staying sharp as we age.”
—Psychology Today
“Devotees of Arthur Conan Doyle’s conundrum-cracker will be thrilled by this portmanteau of strategies for sharpening cognitive ability... A few hours in Konnikova’s company and, along with Holmes, you might intone, ‘give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere’ (The Sign of Four, 1890).”
—Nature
“Have you ever thought about how your mind organizes information? Have you ever wished you could access that data more quickly? Could recollect it easier? Or have you simply wanted to think more clearly at key moments?... This book is an absolute must if you're in the market for training yourself to think more like Sherlock Holmes.”
—SheKnows.com
“A bright and entertaining how-to aimed at helping readers engage in the awareness described by psychologists from William James to Ellen Langer.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Not for Baker Street Irregulars alone, this fascinating look at how the mind works—replete with real-life case studies and engaging thought experiments—will be an eye-opening education for many.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“A delightful tour of the science of memory, creativity, and reasoning, illustrated with the help of history’s most famous reasoner, Sherlock Holmes himself. Maria Konnikova is an engaging and insightful guide to this fascinating material, which will help you master your own mind.”
—Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and The Stuff of Thought
“Far from elementary, Maria Konnikova’s new book is a challenging and insightful study of the human mind, illustrated with cases from the career of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes himself would have been proud to author this fine work!”
—Leslie S. Klinger, New York Times-best-selling author/editor of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
“Maria Konnikova’s bright and brilliant new book is nothing less than a primer on how be awake, a manual on how to work ourselves free of our unconscious biases, our habitual distractions, and the muddle of our everyday minds. Holmes fan or not, the reader will find Mastermind to be bracing, fascinating, and above all — and most important — hopeful.”
—Daniel Smith, author of Monkey Mind
“Since my earliest days as a reader I dreamt of being more like Sherlock Holmes and failed miserably whenever I tried. Needless to say, MASTERMIND is the book I didn't realize I was waiting for. Maria Konnikova has crafted a surprising and ingenious book that lets us all come closer to Holmes's genius, giving a gift to all readers interested in Conan Doyle, mysteries and scientific thinking as well as those who simply want to be more self-aware about the inner workings of our minds.”
—Matthew Pearl, New York Times-bestselling author of The Dante Club
“‘You know my methods,’ Sherlock Holmes once said to Dr. Watson. ‘Apply them!’ Science writer Maria Konnikova has made those instructions the inspiration for what turns out to be a delightfully intelligent book. Using Holmes and Watson as both muse and metaphor, she shows us some of modern psychology’s most important lessons for using our minds well. I probably won’t be able to solve murders after having read Mastermind, but I will have much to reflect on.”
—Carl Zimmer, author of Soul Made Flesh and Parasite Rex
From the Back Cover
"A delightful tour of the science of memory, creativity, and reasoning, illustrated with the help of history's most famous reasoner, Sherlock Holmes himself. Maria Konnikova is an engaging and insightful guide to this fascinating material, which will help you master your own mind." (Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and The Stuff of Thought)
"Far from elementary, Maria Konnikova's new book is a challenging and insightful study of the human mind, illustrated with cases from the career of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes himself would have been proud to author this fine work!" (Leslie S. Klinger, New York Times-best-selling author/editor of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes)
"Maria Konnikova's bright and brilliant new book is nothing less than a primer on how be awake, a manual on how to work ourselves free of our unconscious biases, our habitual distractions, and the muddle of our everyday minds. Holmes fan or not, the reader will find Mastermind to be bracing, fascinating, and above all -- and most important -- hopeful." (Daniel Smith, author of Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety)
"'You know my methods,' Sherlock Holmes once said to Dr. Watson. 'Apply them!' Science writer Maria Konnikova has made those instructions the inspiration for what turns out to be a delightfully intelligent book. Using Holmes and Watson as both muse and metaphor, she shows us some of modern psychology's most important lessons for using our minds well. I probably won't be able to solve murders after having read Mastermind, but I will have much to reflect on." (Carl Zimmer, author of Soul Made Flesh and Parasite Rex)
About the Author
Maria Konnikova is the author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game. She is a regular contributing writer for The New Yorker, and has written for the Atlantic, the New York Times, Slate, the New Republic, the Paris Review, the Wall Street Journal, Salon, the Boston Globe, the Scientific American MIND, WIRED, and Smithsonian. Maria graduated from Harvard University and received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University.
Most helpful customer reviews
449 of 467 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent title, but slightly disappointing content
By Michael S.
The first thing that strikes you as you read through the book is that it feels like a collection of essays and articles stretched into a book more than a fluid book itself. Indeed, Mastermind was based on a series of articles that the author wrote for two different web sites: Big Think and Scientific American.
Another issue with the book is that it isn't quite sure if it wants to be a psychology book, explaining key cognitive concepts through the framework of Sherlock Holmes, or a pop culture book, looking at what Sherlock Holmes can tell us about cognition and psychology. As a result, it fails to really be either. The book alternates between analyzing the deductive prowess of Sherlock Holmes and explaining current research in cognitive psychology, but the switch between the two is sometimes jarring. There isn't a fluid amalgamation of the two. Furthermore, it struggles to be an elaborate analysis of Holmes' deductive reasoning, with latter chapters reframing concepts from earlier ones. The book takes a very long time to explain too few concepts that require less detail than what is actually given.
The book ultimately might be mistitled. One would expect a book subtitled "How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes" to actually have instructive steps and exercises, but it does not. The only clear recommendation is to maintain a journal. Other elements are analyzed, but no actual instructions are given on how to successfully implement them in daily life. For example, after reading extensively about mindfulness, you really only come away with the idea that you have to be more mindful, and very little on how exactly to set up a successful regimen to train yourself to be more mindful.
Most of the book can be summed up with the idea of simply being mindful of your surroundings and your thinking methodology - essentially meta-thinking - yet the book only approaches a few key elements of critical thinking, and there is not enough of an examination of the actual process of deductive reasoning. It talks about imagination and knowing your own weaknesses, but fails to cover any significant ground on memory techniques to improve recall. Holmes wasn't just a great deductive logician, but also had a keen memory.
Lastly, much of the final chapter seems like it was tacked on for good measure, but it was wholly unnecessary. In fact, the final chapter is mostly an examination of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's spiritualism and foray into a faerie investigation. Konnikova seems almost apologetic for Doyle's folly, asking us to remember to see things through the context of Doyle's life and surroundings. It seemed vastly out of place.
Mastermind is an excellent choice for those who are fans of Sherlock Holmes and want to see how his abilities relate to cognitive psychology, but if you've taken a college level course on memory and learning, you'll already be familiar with the concepts presented in this book. If you're looking for instructions on how to actually think like Sherlock Holmes, you'll come away with about four or five ideas to ponder as you think about your own thought processes, but ultimately you'll want to examine reasoning and critical thinking topics in other books for more details.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
How to be more observant and less prone to drawing faulty conclusions
By Bernie Gourley
This is a book about how to be more observant while avoiding the pitfalls of drawing faulty conclusions based on unsound reasoning, tainted memory, or faulty assumptions. Examples from the canon of Sherlock Holmes (i.e. the 4 novels and 56 short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) are prevalent throughout the book, but Konnikova also discusses Doyle’s limited real life investigations as well as those of the men who influenced the writer. Doyle lived at time when science and reason were making great strides in overcoming superstitious and spurious ways of thinking, and so the Sherlock Holmes works were cutting edge for their time.
The book is neatly organized into four parts with two chapters each. The first part is entitled “Understanding Yourself” and it unpacks what we have to work with in the human brain. One learns how one’s brain works and how it sometimes leads one astray. It also introduces how the scientific method can provide a framework to harness the brain’s strengths and avoid the hazards of its weaknesses.
Part II investigates how one can become more skilled at investigation, as well as the role played by creativity and imagination. We learn how our attention is much more limited than we feel it to be.
The third part reflects upon the building one’s powers of reasoning as well as the importance of knowledge-building in the process. Konnikova describes “deductive reasoning” using Holmes’s favorite term. [She doesn’t really get into the whole muddle of—as many have pointed out—the fact that Holmes more often uses induction than deduction, i.e. going from very specific observations to draw broader conclusions.] The second chapter considers the importance of being knowledgeable and broadly educated. Holmes’s conclusions often hinge on fairly arcane knowledge about a range of issues: animal, vegetable, and mineral. However, a large part of the discussion is about the idea of degree of confidence. It’s also pointed out that knowledge can be double-edged sword—an impediment as well as a tool. Extraneous knowledge may lead one down the wrong path.
The final part suitably closes the book with one chapter on practical advice for how to put all of the knowledge discussed in the book to work and another on the recognition that even the best minds can go astray. The first chapter summarizes as it offers pragmatic advice. The second of these chapters discusses a fascinating investigation of a supernatural phenomenon (i.e. the existence of fairies from photographic evidence) upon which even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mind led him astray.
The use of the Sherlock Holmes character is beneficial as many readers have consumed the entire Holmsian canon, or will do so, because it’s short and readable even today. Even those who haven’t read it will at least be familiar with the lead character and his proclivities as well as the other essential characters, such as Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty, and Irene Adler. There are too many television shows, movies, and pop culture references to not be aware of these characters. One needn’t have read all Doyle’s Holmes to benefit, as Konnikova offers the essential background. However, one might find it a bit more intriguing if one has read the canon. At the end of each chapter, Konnikova offers a set of references that point to the sections in the Sherlock Holmes canon relating to that chapter’s discussion. Konnikova uses quotes and stories that aren’t attributable to Doyle to good effect throughout this book as well.
Graphics are used sparsely and only as absolutely necessary. There is a “Further Reading” section at the end of the book in addition to the end of chapter pointers. Besides a list of the Sherlock Holmes books, there are chapter by chapter prose suggestions of relevant key readings.
I found this book interesting and informative. While it may be most useful for someone who wants to become more attentive, less prone to biases, and more effective in drawing conclusions, it could also be enjoyed by Sherlock Holmes fans as a way to drill down into stories a bit further.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
great psychological insights
By Michael George
The book Mastermind is an expression of a deep appreciation of the Sherlock Holmes stories, which were evidently read to the author as a young girl, and inspired her. Her psychological viewpoint on the main characters, Watson and Holmes, is interesting, and has motivated me to read the Arthur Conan Doyle tales of Sherlock Holmes. We can see Watson and Holmes, quite often, as we read Dr. Konnikova’s book, as personifications of different ways of reacting to events: A fast, efficient, possibly easily erroneous approach (the Watson approach), and a more disciplined, possibly quite inefficient, but thoughtful, sometimes counterintuitive approach (the Holmes approach). This is somewhat stereotypical, and also draws on fairly familiar psychological schemes, but, when mixed all together, and personalized in this way, it is actually quite interesting. By showing this as stereotypes, we see how to think like Watson (our more common mode of thinking) and how to think like Holmes (in a more thoughtful and mindful way). In addition, we see the interactions between Watson and Holmes, and that the success of Holmes often depends to some extent on first making some quick (Watson), incorrect assessments, so that one (the Mastermind) is thrown to focus on certain important observations. The idea that the Mastermind is, to a certain extent, a combination or amalgam, an interaction between Watson and Holmes, and not Holmes, himself, that prepares Holmes to deal with the subtle deceptions and deviousness of the criminal mind, is a powerful picture. However, if we see this person emerging, say, as the author of the tales (Arthur Conan Doyle), we must still bear in mind that even the Mastermind is only human, and a product of his or her times and points of view. This is emphasized in the last chapter of the book, where we see Arthur Conan Doyle’s judgment at fault in an amusing, but deceptive situation, which we look at with modern eyes, from a very different culture and a very different viewpoint. I recommend this book strongly as the Dr. Konnikova truly communicates her love for the Sherlock Holmes tales, and also illuminates the Mastermind for us.
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