3 Answers

  1. Well, as Sherlock Holmes himself said (original, bookish, not from the TV series), his skill consists of three parts: knowledge, observation and the ability to draw conclusions.�

    1. Knowledge. Sherlock Holmes has a professional knowledge of several scientific disciplines necessary in his profession: chemistry, physics, biology, criminology, psychology, knows many techniques and methods used by law enforcement agencies, as well as excellent knowledge of the legislation of their country. You can learn all this – at the university, in special courses, or on your own.�

    Holmes constantly holds such a huge amount of information in his head that it must be carefully systematized. To do this, different “incarnations” of Holmes used different methods. “Bookish” Holmes perfectly mastered the ability to selectively forget information: he did not remember anything that was not necessary for him to work, even the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun: “It seems to me that the human brain is like a small empty attic, which you can arrange as you want. A fool will drag in all the junk that comes to hand, and there will be no place to put useful, necessary things, or at best you will not get to them in all this clutter. And a smart person carefully selects what he will put in his brain attic. He will take only the tools he needs for his work, but there will be plenty of them, and he will arrange everything in perfect order. In vain do people think that this small room has elastic walls and can be stretched as much as you want. I assure you, there will come a time when, when you acquire new things, you will forget some of the old ones. Therefore, it is extremely important that unnecessary information does not displace the necessary ones.”�

    Sherlock from the BBC series uses the “memory palace” technique, also called the “Loki method”, when an imaginary space is created in which visual signs are placed-triggers that help to remember information. This technique really exists, and there are a lot of guides on how to master it on the web.�

    1. Observation skills. Sherlock Holmes is able to notice details that others do not notice. Observation skills can be developed through exercises. For example, go into a room with your eyes closed, open them for a couple of seconds, close them again, and try to describe what you saw in as much detail as possible. Try to pay attention to small details that you usually ignore (how many steps are there on the stairs in your entrance?), and note everything that is out of order. Track patterns in the behavior of people around you: who moves how, speaks, and gestures. Try to use all your five senses. �

    I remind you that Sherlock Holmes has always warned against drawing conclusions based on incomplete data: before proceeding to conclusions, you should make sure that all available information is collected.

    1. The” art of drawing conclusions”, that is, the” deductive method ” itself, is primarily logic. I recommend starting with a good textbook on logic, such as Bocharov-Markin. There are three types of elementary reasoning: deduction, induction, and abduction. Sherlock Holmes actually uses them all. Basically, he uses hypothetical reasoning, i.e. creates a list of possible versions of what happened, and then in turn excludes those that do not agree with the available facts: “Exclude everything that is impossible, and the truth remains.”

    In general, there is a book by Maria Konnikova ” Outstanding mind. Think like Sherlock Holmes.”

  2. The brain is the same muscle, it's no secret to anyone. I agree with the answers above, you need to constantly develop your thinking. Reading, writing, and learning foreign languages are very good tools for this task.

    You can subscribe to the analysis of Sherlock Holmes episodes http://skyeng.ru/go/sherq completely free and one small step towards becoming as smart as Sherlock Holmes will already be done;)

  3. Sherlock Holmes, first of all, has encyclopedic knowledge, but he also knows how to compare facts and draw correct conclusions based on them.

    No one will put knowledge into your head. To do this, you need to read relevant literature, watch movies, take courses and do everything that will increase your knowledge of the subject.

    But as for comparing facts and finding unexpected solutions, I can recommend TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving). Often, the TRIZ problem is a practical problem, sometimes of a technical nature, and the solver is asked to find an unexpected approach to its solution.

    Task for example: utility workers have unearthed a section of pipe through which cold water flows, and they need to determine which way the water actually flows. There is no plan, you need to find a solution quickly. I'll tell you that this is a real problem (as its authors claim), and a girl helped find the solution – that is, it's not complicated technical calculations.

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