Mastermind:
How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (2013) by Maria Konnikova
Let me help you to grasp Konnikova’s big idea in a very
simple way. I try. Here it goes... Maria said that there are two types of brains
that we let control our thinking. There is a ‘Watson Brain’ (who is Holmes’ sidekick) and there is a ‘Holmes Brain.’ Now, when we fall under
rule of our Watson Brain, we usually think very emotionally, and we rely on
correlation (or association) instead of causation (or connection). When we
think something relates to something else we automatically think that one
causes the other, we are under the control of Watson Brain. Under Watson Brain,
we also fall victim to biases and fallacies. And Watson Brain is also fast. It runs
on stuff like fight-or-flight. Because it depends so much on emotion, Watson
Brain is also very subjective and greatly influence by feelings.
On the other hand, someone who think like Sherlock Holmes
is very logical and precise. They find causation. They find out which thing
causes the other thing instead of just standard correlation. Holmes Brain also
very deductive. One reason many people don’t think like Holmes, says Maria, is
because it is more cognitively costly (more brain power requires). It literally
takes more energy to think like this. Holmes Brain is also very objective. In
summary, Watson Brain are too dependence on emotions, correlation-thinking, influenced
by many biases and fallacies, and very subjective; Holmes Brain is tending to be
more logical, causation-thinking, deductive analyse, cognitively costly and
often objective. “You too can think like
Sherlock Holmes,” writes Maria, “you
just have to train your brain.” You can train your brain through deliberate thinking and mindfulness. This come with time and
practice.
Let me explain three important things that Maria mentions
in this book. #1 Biases and
fallacies. A bias is a conclusion or automatic thought that our
brain has. Most of the time it’s even the stuff that we are unaware of, so you must
try to avoid it. And then there is a fallacy, a flaw in logical thinking (I recommend
you read The Art of Thinking Clearly
by Rolf Dobelli if you want to know more about our everyday biases/fallacies); #2 Mindfulness. What is it? In
short, mindfulness is keeping your attention focus on what you’re doing right
now and on your environments. Maria mentions that mind’s natural tendency is to
wonder (or “mind-wonder”). She said that it takes (extra) energy to not let
your mind wonder. You must use your focus and will-power to stay mindful. When it
come to making deduction, mindfulness is very important; and #3 Always Learning. Sherlock
Holmes might appear ignorance of Copernican heliocentrism, but his reply to Watson
is actually the key: “I consider that a
man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it
with such furniture as you choose.” You choose what you put in your brain. So,
chose wisely. Always stimulate your brain, always learning. Maria says it is easier
to stay mindful if you do something interesting (for you), and so Holmes loves
to play violin and smoking tobacco. In this way, he stimulates his brain, process
information in a peaceful way, able to think in ‘a distant’, and is ready to
learn new things again.
So (this might be too simple for a great thought-full
book, sorry Konnikova), here are how to think like Sherlock:
1) Don’t let your mind fall victim to biases and fallacies.
2) Try to be as mindful as you can & pay close
attention to what you’re doing and the environment that you’re in.
3) Never stop learning. Life can be more interesting if
you’re always learning.
In this book, Maria unpacked the mental strategies that
lead to clearer thinking and deeper insights. She draws on 21st century
neuroscience and psychology to “illuminate
Holmes’ most fascinating cases.” She writes at length on scientific method
of the mind, the brain attic, the art of observation, imagination, deduction
and the important of self-knowledge. There are more that she said in the book
that I didn’t put my summary above (Again, sorry Konnikova). For me, this book
is not easy to read (I didn’t read this book thru like most of my other books. I
paused for about 3 months) but since my fascinated for Sherlock Holmes, frictional
character created by Author Conan Doyle, is greater than the task of finishing
this book, I finally did it. I read The
Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and some parts of Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow before and I found
these books are almost similar with ‘Mastermind’ (or ‘Mastermind’ is actually similar
with these other books). Some readers fairly commented that this book would be
much better if she used a real character instead of frictional character. I agree
and disagree. I refuse to comment further. So, if you don’t know either you
want to buy or just read summary of this book, I suggest you watch Maria
Konnikova’s talks first on YouTube and book reviews online.
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
