Admit it, did you read stories about Sherlock Holmes as a child? Did you admire his remarkable intelligence, unshakable logic and ability to find a solution even in the most difficult situation?
We are sure that any person can develop their brain and become at least as smart as the most famous detective of the 20th century. Books to help you achieve this you will find ... And now we publish several exercises from them.
We develop logical thinking
The brain is plastic, which means that the more you train it, the more capable it becomes for this or that activity. To develop logical thinking, it is necessary to solve riddles and puzzles, such as in the popular TV game “What? Where? When?". You will find similar tasks in the book"What to do in the evening with your family at the dacha without the Internet"... Here are some examples:
Answer:
The women in these figures showed the doctor exactly where they hurt. It was considered indecent to show on oneself.
Answer:
To combat the theft of finished products from factories.
Answer:
These are the underground passages of the anthill.
We answer non-standard questions
Mind games and logic puzzles- this is a very useful activity for training the brain. An equally effective way to become smarter is to answer non-standard questions. Such as in the book"Tricky question".
John Farndon says that applicants from Oxford and Cambridge in the entrance exams may be asked about something unusual, for example, "How small can a computer be?", "Why do people have two eyes?", "Can a sailing yacht go faster than the wind?" or "What happens if you drop an ant?"
According to the author, such questions are taught to reflect and analyze. What he offers to do. Farndon gives his answers, but this does not mean that only they are correct. You can think for yourself first, and only then read them.
For example, this is how a writer thinks about whether his bag will ever empty:
“Will the bag be empty when I remove all visible objects from it? Not at all. In addition to dust, crumbs, scraps of paper and millions of microorganisms, it is full of air, which takes up all the free space.
What happens if you throw the bag into outer space so that all the gas contained in it will fly out into interstellar space? It will not be empty anyway. Even in the most empty of empty spaces in space, there are several hydrogen atoms in every cubic meter. Therefore, most likely, a pair of atoms will still be found in the bag.
Airless space is not really such -
But if I were to suddenly figure out how to capture and extract these atoms, I would suddenly discover the futility of my efforts. According to the laws of physics, my perfectly empty bag is actually overflowing with the seething quantum energy that comes and goes from particles and waves. "
Train your memory
Sherlock didn't remember that the Earth revolved around the Sun, but not at all because of a bad memory. He deliberately cleared the brain of information that seemed unnecessary to him. At the same time, he could reproduce what is written in the third paragraph of the "Code on punishments of the British Empire", or talk about the peculiarities of ash from 140 different varieties of tobacco.
Can you boast of such a memory? If not, a practical guide will help you train her."Remember everything"... Uncommon advice from the book:
How to remember the name of the interlocutor
Imagine visiting a friend who loves to throw parties. You are immediately introduced to Roman, a man of average height in a narrowed light shirt. Roman smiles, says what is customary in such cases, and you respond by following the routine procedures.
In fact, remembering the name of a new acquaintance is not that difficult.
Trying to remember the name of a new acquaintance, you remember your old friend Roma. In the imagination, the following picture unfolds: an enraged Roma bursts into the room, sweeping away everything in its path, and with a swing hits your interlocutor Roman in the face, so that the latter loses his balance and knocks over the table. Glasses of red wine are splashing, the wine is soaking into his shirt ...
It will take four seconds to scroll in the mind of such a situation, and the echo of the last words of Roman - who suffered in the imagination, but continues the conversation in reality - will still sound. You will be able to continue the conversation.
Our short-term memory filters are not very good at distinguishing a real event from an imaginary one, so the situation you pictured in your mind will almost completely go into long-term memory.
Suppose now that you have not had time to move away from Roman, as you are introduced to Alevtina Denisovna. Let's say there is no Alevtina among your acquaintances, but there is Denis. You imagine how you call him at home, and this very Alevtina picks up the phone, and mentally you move to the place that you associate with Denis, and you see Alevtina there, saying “Ale!”.
In this case, we did the following. First, we remembered that her name includes the elements “Denis” and “Ale”. This will allow us to collect the full name whenever we want. Secondly, we tied the image to another location in case we have to meet someone else in this room.
Did it happen that several people were introduced to you at once? So, meet: Vladimir, Eugene, Sergey, Boris, Nastya and Angelica. In such a situation, the only option is to take the first associations that come across for each of them: Vladimir is the namesake of Vladimir Klitschko, Eugene is the protagonist of Eugene Onegin, Sergey is my friend with the same name, Boris - we imagine that he has several sweets in his mouth "Barberry", Nastya is the name of her niece, Angelica is a classmate.
That's it, the march is over. When you are introduced to six at once, leave leads for each. Then you can strengthen the associations, add places like in the examples above, and repeat all the names again.
Learning to be more attentive
In today's world, it is very difficult to be completely focused on one thing. Numerous distractions impair our ability to drop unnecessary detail, notice essential details, and analyze them. As you know, this skill was perfectly mastered by Sherlock Holmes. And if you want to be as smart as a great detective, then you have to take the time to train mindfulness. The book will help you to cope with this task."Maximum concentration"... Advice from her:
How to refuse people
We are afraid of rejecting others out of fear of missing an opportunity, guilt, or a habit of being nice. But the art of saying no must be learned. Here are some examples to get you started.
“I already have plans. Thank you for thinking of me. "
“Sorry, but I can't. I feel uncomfortable".
"I am already working on several projects and cannot take anything else yet."
“I'm running out of time now. Let's do it later?"
"My schedule is now scheduled by the minute!"
One of the most famous tricks is the “jammed record”. Its principle is as follows. Let's say someone comes to your office and insistently invites you to dinner.
Colleague: “Let's go have some coffee. Come back and get it done quickly. "
You: “No, I can't. I need to work now. "
Colleague: “Come on! You are not a slave. You deserve a break. "
You: “No, really. I want to work. "
Colleague: "Your eyes need a break from the screen."
You: “Thank you for your concern. I really need to work. "
The essence of this technique is that the less you say, the faster you get what you want. You do not sidetrack the conversation.
We are looking for non-standard solutions
A truly smart person is capable of not only thinking logically, but also being creative. It helps to break patterns, look at the problem from different angles, and find solutions even in situations that most people find hopeless. The book will teach you to think outside the box"Rice assault".
Now try to apply the method of Leonardo da Vinci, which is described by the author of the book.
Leonardo da Vinci's method
Leonardo da Vinci's method of generating ideas was as follows: he closed his eyes, completely relaxed and streaked a sheet of paper with arbitrary lines and scribbles. Then he opened his eyes and looked for images and nuances, objects and phenomena in the painted ones. Many of his inventions were born from such sketches.
Here's a plan for how you can use Leonardo da Vinci's method in your work:
Write the problem down on a piece of paper and ponder over it for a few minutes.
Relax. Let your intuition create images that reflect the current situation. You don't need to know what the drawing will look like before you draw it.
Give shape to your task by defining its boundaries. They can be of any size and shape as you wish.
Practice drawing unconsciously. Let the lines and scribbles dictate how you draw and position them.
If you are not satisfied with the result, take another sheet of paper and draw another drawing, and then as much as necessary.
Examine your drawing. Write the first word that comes to mind for each image, squiggle, line, or structure.
Tie all the words together by writing a short note. Now see how the writing relates to your task. Are there any new ideas?
Be attentive to the questions that arise in your mind. For example: "What is this?", "Where did it come from?" If you feel the need to find answers to specific questions, then you are on the right path leading to a solution to the problem.
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It’s worth starting with the hopeful one. Sherlock Holmes' abilities are absolutely real. And in general, the legendary character was written off by Conan Doyle from a living person - a professor at the University of Edinburgh, Joseph Bell. He was widely known for his ability to guess the character of a person, his past and profession by little things.
On the other hand, the existence of one real outstanding person does not guarantee success to everyone who tries to repeat his achievements. Mastering abilities comparable to those of Holmes is incredibly difficult. Otherwise, the Scotland Yard cops wouldn't run to Baker Street for clues, right?
What he does is real. But what does he do?
Acts, demonstrates his arrogance, pride and ... remarkable mind. All this is justified by the ease with which he solves crimes. But how does he do it?
The deductive method becomes the main weapon of Sherlock Holmes. Logic backed by increased attention to detail and outstanding intelligence.
To this day, there is debate about what Holmes uses: deduction or induction. But, most likely, the truth is somewhere in between. Sherlock Holmes accumulates his reasoning, experience, keys to the most intricate cases, systematizes them, collecting them into a common base, which he then successfully uses, applying both deduction and induction. He does it brilliantly.
Most critics and researchers are inclined to believe that Conan Doyle did not make a mistake and Holmes really uses the deductive method. For simplicity of presentation, below we will talk about it.
What the mind of Sherlock Holmes is wielding
Deductive method
This is the main weapon of the detective, which, however, would not work without a number of additional components.
Attention
Sherlock Holmes captures even the smallest detail. If not for this skill, he simply would not have material for reasoning, evidence and clues.
Knowledge base
The detective himself said it best of all:
All crimes show great generic similarities. They (the agents of Scotland Yard) introduce me to the circumstances of this or that case. Knowing the details of a thousand cases, it would be strange not to solve the thousand and one.
The palaces of the mind
This is his excellent memory. This is the repository that he turns to almost every time he looks for a solution to a new riddle. These are knowledge, circumstances and facts accumulated by Holmes, a significant part of which cannot be obtained anywhere else.
Continuous analysis
Sherlock Holmes analyzes, reflects, asks and answers questions. Often he even resorts to double analysis, it is not in vain because the detective is constantly acting together with his partner Dr. Watson.
How to learn it
Pay attention to the little things
Build your ability to pay attention to detail to automatism. At the end of the day, only the details matter. They are the material for your reasoning and conclusions, they are the keys to solving and solving the problem. Learn to look. Look in order to see.
Develop memory
This is the only way to learn how to analyze, display your own statistics and form patterns. It will only save you at a difficult moment, when you don’t have any other sources of information. It is memory that will help to correctly analyze all those little things that captured your attention when you attack the trail.
Learn to formulate
Make out your guesses and conclusions, make a "dossier" on passers-by, write verbal portraits, build harmonious and clear logical chains. So you will not only gradually master the Sherlock method, but also make your thinking more precise and clear.
Go deeper into the area
One could say "broaden your horizons", but Holmes would not approve of this lengthy formulation. Try to deepen your knowledge in the chosen area, avoid useless knowledge. Try to grow inward, not in breadth, no matter how absurd it may sound.
Concentrate
Among other things, Holmes is a genius of concentration. He knows how to isolate himself from the world around him when he is busy with business, and does not allow distractions to tear himself away from what is important. He should not be distracted by Mrs. Hudson's chatter or the explosion in the neighboring house on Baker Street. Only a high level of concentration will allow you to think soberly and logically. This is a prerequisite for mastering the deduction method.
Learn body language
A source of information that many people forget about. Holmes never neglects him. He analyzes a person's movements, how he behaves and gestures, pays attention to facial expressions and fine motor skills. Sometimes a person betrays his hidden intentions or involuntarily signals his own lie. Use these tips.
Develop intuition
It was intuition that often suggested the right decision to the famous detective. Hordes of charlatans have badly damaged the reputation of the sixth sense, but this does not mean that they should be neglected. Deal with your intuition, learn to trust it and develop it.
Take notes
And of a different kind. It makes sense to keep a diary and write down what happened to you during the day. So you analyze everything that you have learned and noticed, summarize and draw a conclusion. The brain is actively working during this analysis. You can keep field notes, where you will note your observations of the world around you and people around you. This will help organize observations and deduce patterns. For some, a blog or an electronic diary is more suitable - everything is individual.
Ask questions
The more questions you ask, the better. Be critical of what is happening, look for reasons and explanations, sources of influence and impact. Build logical chains and cause and effect relationships. The ability to ask questions will gradually develop the skill of finding answers.
Solve problems and puzzles
Anything: from ordinary tasks from school textbooks to complex puzzles for logic and lateral thinking. These exercises will keep your brain busy looking for solutions and answers. Just what is needed for the development of deductive thinking.
Come up with puzzles
Have you already learned how to solve them quickly? Try to compose your own. The task itself is unusual, so it won't be easy. But the result is worth it.
Read on. More. Better
Rather, it will not even matter what you read, but how you do it. To develop deductive thinking, you need to analyze what you read and pay attention to details. Compare information from different sources and draw parallels. Include the information received in the context of the knowledge you already have and replenish your card index.
Listen more, talk less
Holmes could not have unraveled matters so easily if he had not listened to every word of the client. Sometimes one word decides whether the case will hang in the air or will be unraveled, whether the legendary detective is interested in him or not. Think only of the huge hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles and one word that turned the girl's life in the second episode of the fourth season of the BBC series.
Love what you do
Only a strong interest and great desire will help you reach the end. Only in this way you will not deviate from the path of constant difficulties and seemingly insoluble problems. If Holmes did not love his work, he would not have become a legend.
Practice
I saved the most important point for the final. Practice is the key to mastering deductive thinking. The key to the Holmes method. Practice anytime, anywhere. Even if at first you are not sure of the correctness of your judgments. Even if at first you are more like Dr. Watson in your conclusions. Look at people on the subway, on the way to work, keep an eye on those around you at train stations and airports. Only a skill brought to automatism will become truly working.
Deductive thinking can come in handy anywhere, and the talents of the legendary detective, with constant practice, will stay with you for life. Holmes' method is interesting in itself and gives amazing results. So why not try to master it?
Surely every God Sherlock fan (necessarily with a capital letter) would like to think like the Great Genius of deduction. Well, how can you not be tempted and not try to know the same pleasure that Sherlock experiences when he applies deduction! Well isn't it?
So, you, dear Sherlock fan, sit down on a comfortable chair, turn on your computer / tablet / phone, where Benya or Livanov is on your desktop, and then: open Mozila, then your beloved Google and write in the search bar "How to become Sherlock Holmes?" or "How to think like Sherlock Holmes?", and further down the list.
Stumbled upon my article? To you at the address, my dear friend! Here I propose three basic "rules" or "criteria" that are necessary in order to become even a little bit like the Great Genius of Deduction. So, let's begin!
First
We all know that not a single detail escapes Sherlock Holmes' accurate gaze. The Great Genius can, seeing a person for the first time, tell about where he was, what he did, and then point by point. “How does He do it ?!”, you ask. Magic! Yes, He can also tell about some of the habits of a stranger. All this undoubtedly speaks of professionalism. It's not even professionalism, it's ... it's ... Gift! But, no matter how mystical it may look, He learned to work "automatically".
If you pay attention to detail, as did Sherlock Holmes, you can achieve great success! Training the eye for this kind of deduction will take time, but the more you do it, the faster you will get it done. This valuable quality will help you get closer to the ability to "think like Sherlock Holmes". You should try to tell something about a stranger on the bus, at the train station and in other public places.
Look at the sleeves, perhaps the style of clothing can also open the veil of secrecy for you. Pay attention to the watch if it is a man. Is he wearing the new Rolex? Or Swatch? Hmm ... pay attention to the general view. Could this person spend several thousand euros on such a watch? If not, then, of course, it is a fake! Next, you can pay attention to the shoes. Is it made from cheap dermantine or not? Is it real suede or not? This already tells a lot! Most of all about a person can tell ... hands! Yes! Look at the condition of your nails and fingers? Heavy smokers have yellowish skin on the inside of the upper phalanges of the index and middle fingers. By the way, this is how you can determine whether a person is right-handed or left-handed. The same can be determined by the hand on which a person wears the watch. Neat, clean nails indicate that a person either monitors his appearance, or he does not engage in heavy physical labor.
Pay more attention to little things, details. Often, and even always, the clue lies precisely in the details, to which we sometimes do not pay the slightest attention. And it should be! So, take note, dear Sherlock Fans.
Second
We all know that Sherlock's partner is Watson. He is his friend, mind you, the best and helper, partner. Whatever you do, it is good if you have a colleague. To you, my dear Sherlock fan, such cooperation will be very, very helpful.
How do you find such a partner? There are several options - it is either to drag your best friend into your apartment, tie, lock in a room and make you watch all three seasons of "Sherlock" several times! Then you will finish him / her and he / she will surrender. Option two is to find yourself an idiot-Sherlock-man like you in your city, meet him, and then show your superiority, and you're done - he / she is your slave and assistant!
Even the brilliant Sherlock Holmes needed someone nearby to discuss a new idea with. If you judge so, he also had "free ears", and therefore what we need.
Just a little correction: make sure that your partner does not run away from you, deciding that you are a psychopath. Although, you are, muahaha.
Sherlock Holmes has always used different approaches to solving the mystery.
Sometimes he reincarnated, and sometimes it was enough for him to use, no matter how disgusting it may sound, Watson in order to discover some link, which, in turn, would lead him to a solution. God! Not all of us are so good and nice, we can also use our partner! Ishishi.
And sometimes the Genius would sit all night in his chair and ponder the problem. No, I do not force you to look for an old armchair in the attic or in the mezzanine and sit in it all day, folding your hands in a "prayer gesture" and making an epic expression on your face. Also, I do not force you, my dear friend, to smoke a pipe or cigarettes, or to stick yourself a lot of nicotine patches, even though you do not smoke at all.
In other cases, the Great Genius of Deduction even indulged in deception in order to see the full picture of the crime. About this, I can only say that do not overdo it, and then, you see, thunder into the monkey house for 15 days. Do you need it? Phe, no, of course!
If the path leads to a dead end, do not stop, go the other way. No, no, again, I am not suggesting that you use certain approaches that Sherlock Holmes used! You must find your exits and loopholes of sorts. And if they turn out to be wrong, try to find more and more!
Remember, my dear friend - there are always several ways out.
So, in conclusion, I can say that from the practice of Sherlock Holmes there are many lessons that could help us. I have highlighted only a few of them. And, yes, the Great Genius of Deduction has many talents, but his main advantage in solving deeds and secrets is passion! Passion for work! So, if you are the owner of the same passion and attraction, you are guaranteed success!
Good luck, my dear Sherlock fans, I hope that I helped you a little, but still.
The answer is very simple. The first step is to ask yourself the question: "Do we need it?" And if necessary, then it is quite possible. Sherlock's mind is a perfect, but narrowly sharpened tool. If we recall the lists of what the main character had to give up, and this is stated in the first stories of Conan Doyle, it is clear that this is a man who has invested everything in the development of this tool and in its use for the benefit of mankind. But this does not guarantee that Sherlock would have excelled in another occupation, for example, in the game on the stock exchange, in medicine or in art.
The mind of Sherlock Holmes is adjusted for the investigation of crimes, and its owner amazes the interlocutor in the conversation with the knowledge of what he was doing the previous day. It is quite possible to develop oneself, one's mental abilities in general and the ability to perform logical operations of a certain kind, in particular deductive and inductive ones, as well as the ability to make inferences based on a number of key features, provided there is sufficient observation to detect and highlight the most significant ones. It has been proven that intelligence itself is due to heredity by about 60%. But a person who has less potential and makes more effort can easily bypass a person who makes less effort with more potential. That is, everything here depends on perseverance, work, correctness of attempts and a willingness to give up everything that is superfluous. If you stick with it, put your whole life on becoming a great detective like Sherlock Holmes, then it is quite possible that in 20 years you will succeed if you persistently train your observation, memory and logic, abandoning everything else. The same Holmes, according to the canon, did not read books that were not useful for investigating crimes.
There is a huge amount of exercises for training the mind, here are game computer simulators, and recently they published a nice book on the development of memory according to the methods of special services. Much there is associated not only with memory, but also with the extraction of the necessary information and the development of observation. No one has canceled for the first century the existing logical problems that are customarily solved with children and which adults refuse in vain at their leisure. In this case, the mind must work in tandem with the feelings. In solving complex mental problems, for example, in chess, emotions help - not violent emotional outbursts, but subtle emotions that guide the search, that intellectual feeling that suggests that the solution is close. Sherlock Holmes is the quintessence of a certain mindset, which can be conventionally called analytical. I do not know if there are exactly such people in life, I have not met such people, but this does not mean that they do not exist.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an English writer, hardly foresaw that the hero of his works would gain such wild popularity. Sherlock Holmes - a private detective from London - to this day excites the minds of readers around the world. New adaptations are being made: many remember the wonderful Soviet film with Vasily Livanov in the title role, Guy Ritchie's detective film "Sherlock Holmes" and the modern British TV series "Sherlock". What is it about this character that attracts readers and viewers so much? Of course, a sharp mind, fantastic observation, the ability to solve the most difficult problems. If you seriously want to be like Sherlock Holmes, then you have to work hard. It's not enough to get the pipe and make a serious face. We need daily training: the development of logical thinking, memory, observation, practice of solving various problems, broadening one's horizons, etc. Let's figure out together how to be like Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes - what is he?
Holmes is an outstanding personality. He is well versed in various fields: chemistry and biochemistry, forensic science, anatomy, knows English laws well. He tries to gain knowledge in such specific areas as soil science or typography, although he may not know basic things, since they will not help him in his investigations. Holmes plays the violin during his contemplation. He has a talent for reincarnation, often uses makeup if the case requires it. He is in good physical shape: he fences with swords and espadrons, boxes, shoots well. He is quite unsociable: his only friend is Dr. Watson, Holmes's faithful companion and assistant. However, Sherlock investigates crimes almost independently, without resorting to anyone's help (formally maintains contact with Scotland Yard). To be like Sherlock Holmes, you need to know and be able to do a lot.
Deduction and induction methods
Everyone knows that Sherlock Holmes used the method of deduction. But it is less often remembered that he also used the method of induction. What is the point of these methods? Deduction is a logical method that allows you to move from the general to the particular. For example: “All Africans have dark skin. The offender is African, so he has dark skin. " The induction method, on the other hand, allows you to move from the particular to the general. For example: "Every summer that I lived was warm, which means it is always warm in summer." In most cases, Sherlock used a deductive method, that is, he went from specific evidence to drawing up a whole picture of the crime.
Now you know the basic method of Sherlock Holmes. Let's move on to specific tips to help you be like Sherlock.
The brain, like any other organ, can be trained. You need to start with short and light workouts, gradually increasing the load. Gradually, your thinking apparatus will develop and will be able to click complex tasks like nuts, and your eye will learn to catch the smallest details.
- Refresh your school knowledge in algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry. Think of all the sciences that require problem solving. You will train your brain and broaden your horizons.
- Logic games. You can download a huge number of logic games to your computer or tablet. It can be puzzles, puzzles, math games, quizzes, etc. Do not forget about the good old checkers and chess, poker and other card games.
- Arbitrary attention is necessary for the future detective to notice all the smallest details. Usually, a person can focus on one object for 20 minutes. Arbitrary attention can be trained using special tables on which the numbers from 1 to 90 are scattered in random order. You need to find numbers in ascending or descending order. Each time the exercise needs to be done faster.
- Observation. Make it a habit to watch strangers on the subway, on the street, in a cafe. By the details of their appearance, try to guess where they work, whether they have a family, what kind of character they have, etc. Try to come up with several possible answers.
- Motivation. The main secret of Holmes' fantastic observation is strong interest. Thanks to him, every case for the detective had a high emotional value. And this fact allowed him to make discoveries. As you study various subjects, try to be genuinely interested in them, this will push you towards deeper study.
- Avoid formulaic thinking. Even in standard situations, try to find a different solution by looking at events from a different point of view.
