A Few Lessons from Sherlock Holmes

“You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible to me,” I remarked. “Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to look, and so you missed all that was important.” (Holmes; A Case of Identity) Yes indeed you see, we all see, but often you do not observe. (Joseph Bell, Dr. Joe Bell) “You see, but you do not obse

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

To choose a road, to stop habitually and to ask whether you have not gone astray, that is the true method.

It is easy to be wise after the event, but very difficult to be wiser It is easy to be wise after the event. (Holmes; Thor Bridge) “How absurdly simple”, I cried. “Quite so...Every problem becomes very childish when once it is explained to you.” (Holmes; The Dancing Men)

The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes Well, now, let us put ourselves in the place of Jonathan Small. Let us look at it from his point of view...Now what could Jonathan Small do? (Holmes; The Sign of the Four)

He [Doyle] created a shrewd, quick-sighted, inquisitive man...with plenty of spare time, a retentive memory, and perhaps with the best gift of all - the power of unloading the mind of all burden of trying to remember unnecessary details.

But don’t try to over-simplify complex matters - especially when we deal with systems with complicated interactions It is rarely permissible to base a diagnosis upon a single sign.

I knew that seclusion and solitude were very necessary for my friend in those hours of intense mental concentration during which he weighed every particle of evidence, constructed alternative theories, balanced one against the other, and made up his mind as to which points were essential and which immaterial. (Dr. Watson; The Hound of the Baskervil