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by lightmyst
1369 days ago
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I don't really read books, but I've really enjoyed reading a lot of Sherlock Holmes lately. The stories themselves aren't that interesting but the way Holmes collects, processes and works with data assisted by his methodical and almost pedantic approach to draw relevant conclusions from said data using his extensive knowledge of previous cases is extremely engaging. Now that the 21st century is entirely data driven, I feel these books give a very amateurish but still relevant perspective as to all the things we could do with the knowledge available to us. |
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The stories have actually much to teach one. It was the first place where the power of reasoning starting from a set of data-points was laid out in such a intelligent way. It taught you the importance of thinking in a logical manner. Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired by his professor Joseph Bell from Edinburgh Medical University who used to deduce people's occupations just from observing key physical characteristics. The main idea is to identify the key data-points from the mass of irrelevant data and then draw inferences using logical chain reasoning. If people actually practiced this mode of thinking then the World would be a far better place i.e. understand inferential statistical thinking, less scams etc.
As a followup you should also read Edgar Allan Poe's four short stories; three of them featuring Auguste Dupin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Auguste_Dupin) and another named "The Gold Bug". They were an inspiration to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes and he mentions this in "A Study in Scarlet".