But, I like how she puts it across in a manner that layman could easily understand. Plus the author treats Holmes as if he is not a fictional character but an actual detective from history and as if Conan Doyle did not manipulate both the manuscript and the readers to be fascinated by Holmes' powers of deduction. But Ms. Konnikova finds an ingenious delivery system. In the end, it is really a matter of being ever mindful and careful in our thinking, and this is something that we could all certainly do more of. Put differently, it’s like our brains initially see the world as a true/false exam where the default answer is always true. I would much rather read the original works themselves to extract wisdom, and I suggest you do the same. If you want to take your thinking to the next level, Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes will help you do just that. I am both a zealous Sherlock Holmes fan and familiar with Konnikova's work for the New Yorker, which, while not especially well-written or scientifically rigorous, at least attempts to discuss new research findings in contemporary neuroscience. Think of the Watson system as our naïve selves, operating by the lazy thought habits – the ones that come most naturally, the so-called path of least resistance – that we’ve spent our whole lives acquiring. And one third part of some psychology thesis, not interesting at all. Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes (A Review) A centerpiece of Mastermind is that the brain operates using two contrasting systems, which Konnikova terms System Holmes and … It’s called motivated encoding.”. What’s more, the more we employ this second mode of thought, the more habitual and the less effortful it becomes. “Daniel Kahneman argues repeatedly that System 1 – our Watson system – is hard to train. We admire Holmes for cutting through the errors of thought that are so common to us in our daily lives (and that are reflected in Holmes’ sidekick, Watson). Book Summary: Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes, My Best-Seller in Productivity and Time Management, Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes, Delayed Gratification: Make It a Better Pill to Swallow, Book Summary: The Courage Map: 13 Principles to Living Boldly, 101 of the Greatest Insights for Work and Life, Trends for 2013: The Rise of the Entrepreneur, Chapter 1 – The Scientific Method of the Mind. Deductive is more linear. “Motivated subjects always outperform. If you're an avid Sherlock Holmes fan like me, then most likely you have already come across the examples and quotations explored in this book. It can change its mode of retrieval (How do I recover information I’ve stored?). The Holmes side of it being mindful, aware of surroundings, careful of prejudice - whereas the "Watson system" is unware, lazy and quick to draw incorrect conclusions. It can expand, albeit not indefinitely, or it can contract, depending on how we use it (in other words, our memory and processing can become more or less effective). Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. One system is fast, intuitive, reactionary – a kind of constant fight-or-flight vigilance of the mind. Anyway, hope that helps. One third examples from Sherlock Holmes mysteries, kind of interesting but very chopped up and you never get the entire story. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova (Viking Adult; January 3, 2013), PART I: AN INTRODUCTION TO HOLMESIAN THINKING, 1. (I had read the book before). Now, our minds naturally work at these things as a matter of course. 198). Those steps are called retrieval and reconsolidation, respectively.”. To disbelieve something, we first have to believe it’s true. I’m a fan of making space for both.

Where is the specific study that Konnikova is referencing? Our selective capacity is a blessing and a bane, and it applies across the senses. We understand and believe in the same instant.”. Make System 2 – Holmes – do the work by taking System 1 forcibly out of the equation. “It’s important to keep one thing in mind: we know only what we can remember at any given point. “The attic’s contents, on the other hand, are those things that we’ve taken in from the world and that we’ve experienced in our lives. It wasn’t nearly as important at the time as it was in retrospect – and where motivation matters most is at the moment we are storing memories in our attic to begin with, and not afterward. In other words, while all of us are equipped with both modes of thinking, one or the other will dominate in each of us; and it is up to us to decide which one it will be. When you need to recall a specific memory that has been stored, your mind goes to the proper file and pulls it out.

To begin with, Holmes keeps an extensive and well-organized knowledge base to help him solve new cases. Use it or lose it. 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. The marketing MBAs did a great job with the branding to reel us in, but Konnikova devalues not only our time and money, but also our intelligence as an audience, with this drivel. Hey Gabriel. For instance Holmes’ dictum that, ‘when what is possible has been eliminated what remains must be the truth’ doesn’t leave much room for imagination. At least it gets the mental gears turning in fresh directions. The level of isolation he provided his thoughts with was so extraordinary that resulted in him accurately deducing each case. Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. Second, Holmes uses careful, mindful, and unbiased observation to glean what is important about the various characters and circumstances of each case. I found this book engaging, interesting and useful, both as a Sherlock Holmes fan and as someone who is interested in self-help books about self-awareness and how to hone our critical thinking and problem-solving strategies in our everyday life. What’s stored is organized according to some associative system – your brain decides where a given memory might fit – but if you think you’ll be retrieving an exact replica of what you’ve stored, you’re wrong. Konnikova helps us rise above and avoid the pitfalls of the Watson mind through proven practices so we can free ourselves from our unconscious biases and our habitual distractions. He termed the concept selective looking.”. Finally, Holmes uses his acute powers of reasoning to cut away the scenarios that just don’t hold up, until ultimately there is but one scenario left: the only one that is possible, however improbable. We have to force ourselves out of Watson mode and retrain our brains to think like Holmes using checklists, formulas, and structured procedures. And regardless, Konnikova insists that what holds for Holmes and Watson (fictional though they may be) holds for us as well. Motivation plays a key role in what we remember, and how we remember it. “The attic can be broken down , roughly speaking, into two components: structure and contents.

“Any time we get the urge to take it easy, we’d do well to bring to mind the image of the rusted razor blade from The Valley of Fear: ‘A long series of sterile weeks lay behind us, and here at last was a fitting object for those remarkable powers which, like all special gifts, become irksome to their owner when they are not in use. That was very interesting. A chess player often holds hundreds of games, with all of their moves, in his head, ready for swift access.

How does he think?

Thank you very much; your website is an extremely informative “sneak-peek” at many books before I actually read them….it helps to make my decision whether I should get them. In fact, Maria Konnikova calls the two-system theory "Holmes" and "Watson". In fact, the author argues that we would do well to spend all of our time (or as much as possible) with mode two firmly in the ‘on’ position. That was very interesting.

The good news is that Mastermind includes a lot of focus on creativity, imagination, and creative synthesis. They are windows into whether your attention and effort are waxing or waning. Write a checklist of steps to follow when making a diagnosis of a problem, be it a sick patient, a broken car, writer’s block, or whatever it is you face in your daily life, instead of trying to do it by so-called instinct. As the author explains, “just like a muscle that you never knew you had—one that suddenly begins to ache, then develop and bulk up as you begin to use it more and more in a new series of exercises—with practice your mind will see that the constant observation and never-ending scrutiny will become easier… It will become… second nature.

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