I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Einstein's Daughter

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"I guess you are the daughter" [STUD] </h4>
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<o:p> </o:p>Do you ever read a book that makes you want to read more? I
don't mean like the way you can only eat just one potato chip, or the way a
book leaves you with a cliffhanger so you can't wait for the next in the series
to come out. When I finished reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1780925727/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1780925727&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20" target="_blank"><i>Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery ofEinstein's Daughter</i></a>, by Tim Symond, I found that it had sparked a desire to
read more about Einstein and to go back and reread the cannon.</div>
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<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/12/my-sherlockian-holiday-reading-list.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">I mentioned before</a> that I have this (questionably) bad habit of buying more books than I can read.
One such book was the biography of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743264746/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0743264746&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20" target="_blank">Albert Einstein by Walter Isaacson</a>.
It has sat on my book self staring at me in accusation for well over five
years. (I don't guilt easily.) I had an increased urge to finally read <i>Einstein
</i>after reading this latest pastiche because, as the title suggests, Einstein's real life (and a rather mysterious part of it) is a key plot point in the story. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Einstein and his first wife, who was a brilliant mathematician
in her own right, had a child out of wedlock. Nothing is known about that child
and what ever became of her. It's a mystery that (apparently) still baffles
many modern day historians. But would it baffle the great Sherlock Holmes? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Additionally I wanted to go back and reread the Canon because I realized I've read so many pastiches that the Canonical facts were
starting to get blurry from the pastiche versions. Doyle often made references
to previous stories by having Watson mention old cases in his writing.
This is a very popular practice among pastiche writers. It's a way for writers
to contextually place their stories in the Sherlock world, but it's also a way
(and I think it's the real reason most writers do it) to wink knowingly at the
Sherlockian scholars among the readers. Symonds also does this but he also puts
a reference guide in the back for the stories that he references (seven, in
case you were wondering), and I found this very helpful. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Tim Symond has written several Sherlock Holmes pastiches,
but I wasn't aware of them until he reached out to us late last year. The
fist thing that struck me about his work was how well researched it is.
The details of both the regions they travel, and the political climate are very vivid. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In this story, a much older Holmes and Watson decide to travel back to Reichenbach Falls (why and how Watson gets Holmes to go is pretty entertaining). In order to travel safely, they are
forced to contrive an elaborate scheme to avoid the pursuits and vengeance of
Professor Moriarty's henchman, Colonel Sebastian Moran. Upon their arrival, they are asked to investigate the past of Albert Einstein, by the Dean of a Swiss university, as a kind of background check before they admit the promising
physicist into their school. The investigation takes them all across Eastern
Europe and into some very interesting settings and situations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This pastiche is told from a stronger Watson viewpoint than
most Sherlock Holmes stories are. I liked the strong portrayal of Watson but personally
felt like Holmes was almost a supporting cast member instead of a lead or co-lead.
Also, without giving anything away, there are several character conflicts you
expect to encounter in the book, based on the setup, that don't happen.
They seem to be setup to happen in later books (?) or maybe this is a theme
carried over from Symond's previous books, I'm not sure, but I found this just a little frustrating. (BTW I don't think being frustrated by a book's ending is necessarily a bad thing, the author should finish the story the way he intended to tell it, not the way the reader expects it to happen.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p>I enjoyed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1780925727/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1780925727&linkCode=as2&tag=theconblo04-20" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Einstein's Daughter</a>; it </o:p>isn’t long, it was a quick read, and the details are very engrossing. Plus, in my opinion, any book that makes me want to read and learn more is a good
book.<br />
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Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Einstein's Daughter

"I guess you are the daughter" [STUD] Do you ever read a book that makes you want to read more? I don't mean like th...

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by Tac Anderson

That Was No Lady

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"Fairly took me in, he did." [MAZA] </h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTaHUrlOOnZGp-Uhrf54gk43mZDmY14sb4SvErQ13O-c2xjhoL0-5DSOmyI-NyI4SsdWlWkQoxeAjHaQZpcQIwIuG_LluUiDtqyrkiVg55ib_z9Sk2b6V6XCbBPh9YzOa2vSQE0McWtYb0/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+in+drag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sherlock Holmes in drag" border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTaHUrlOOnZGp-Uhrf54gk43mZDmY14sb4SvErQ13O-c2xjhoL0-5DSOmyI-NyI4SsdWlWkQoxeAjHaQZpcQIwIuG_LluUiDtqyrkiVg55ib_z9Sk2b6V6XCbBPh9YzOa2vSQE0McWtYb0/s1600/Sherlock+Holmes+in+drag.jpg" title="That was no lady!" width="640" /></a></div>
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In a recent post, we were treated to an old bit of Irregular "scholarship" in which Rex Stout, BSI ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery") supposedly proved that <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/02/watson-actually-was-woman.html#.UwWLIvmwJcQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Watson Was a Woman</a>.<br />
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In Profile By Gaslight, Edgar Smith opened with the following introduction to "Watson Was a Woman" by Rex Stout:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are watchwords with Americans, and there can be no faltering in our determination to stand with Voltaire in defending to the last breath the right of our opponents to be as subversive as they please. Yet when our most cherished institutions are under bold and ruthless attack, we can be forgiven if we search our hearts in an effort to sift tolerance from folly. Mr. Rex Stout, who has otherwise and elsewhere exhibited every evidence of soundness of mind and reverence of soul, here launches a heterodox doctrine that challenges the very foundation of our faith. We are torn between an embittered urge to burn him at the stake and a generous compulsion to let him have his say. Calm in the knowledge that our faith is strong, we choose to let him have his say.</i></blockquote>
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And have his say he did, using questionable chronology, numbers seemingly picked out of a hat for his convenience, and an acrostic concluding that Watson was IRENE WATSON. Stout himself admitted, "All this is very sketchy."<br />
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Very sketchy indeed. But it was Dr. Julian Wolff, BSI ("The Red-Headed League") who came to Watson's defense in a responsive essay, using another acrostic - Stout's own weapon of choice - to eviscerate him and his argument:<br />
<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;"><b>N</b></span>aval Treaty<br />
     M<span style="font-size: large;"><b>U</b></span>sgrave Ritual<br />
     Re<span style="font-size: large;"><b>T</b></span>ired Colourman<br />
     Mis<span style="font-size: large;"><b>S</b></span>ing Three-Quarter<br />
     Soli <span style="font-size: large;"><b>T</b></span>ary Cyclist<br />
     Shosc<span style="font-size: large;"><b>O</b></span>mbe Old Place<br />
     Blue Ca<span style="font-size: large;"><b>R</b></span>buncle<br />
     Copper B<span style="font-size: large;"><b>E</b></span>eches<br />
     The Susse <span style="font-size: large;"><b>X</b></span> Vampire<br />
     The  Gloria  <span style="font-size: large;"><b>S</b></span>cott<br />
     Case of Iden<span style="font-size: large;"><b>T</b></span>ity<br />
     Nobel Bachel<span style="font-size: large;"><b>O</b></span>r<br />
     The  I l l ustrio <span style="font-size: large;"><b>U</b></span> s Client<br />
     The Resident Pa<span style="font-size: large;"><b>T</b></span>ient<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRaf6IE7aGGhEau4MCoLBJmX6_D-Hy95LM-IZCDuOB22WHUeI2Lt89byeMRuJtD99IiRH0kZ0j57kA2KJS_qzkd4gE4lzK_MSt8qGUqQnAcze-zDssomdEfvHR1IhLsK3kAZKfTDjJ25D0/s1600/Nuts+to+Rex+Stout.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nuts to Rex Stout" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRaf6IE7aGGhEau4MCoLBJmX6_D-Hy95LM-IZCDuOB22WHUeI2Lt89byeMRuJtD99IiRH0kZ0j57kA2KJS_qzkd4gE4lzK_MSt8qGUqQnAcze-zDssomdEfvHR1IhLsK3kAZKfTDjJ25D0/s1600/Nuts+to+Rex+Stout.jpg" title="Nuts to Rex Stout" width="640" /></a></div>
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Of course, Wolff also enumerated examples within the Canon that decisively proved that Watson could not have been a woman: his medical degree (at the time, only granted to males), his membership in the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, and most decisively, Lestrade's description of Watson as obtained by the servants at Appledore Towers: "middle-sized, strongly built man - square jaw, thick neck, moustache..." [CHAS].<br />
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This type of tongue-in-cheek scholarship and playful literary banter was one of the hallmarks of early Baker Street Irregularity. We still enjoy the mental calisthenics that such a pursuit affords us, even if the publishing platforms have changed over the years.<br />
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<i>Image credits: Warner Bros. and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bionicteaching/5886647862/" target="_blank">Tom Woodward</a> (Flickr)</i><br />
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That Was No Lady

"Fairly took me in, he did." [MAZA] In a recent post, we were treated to an old bit of Irregular "scholarship" in ...

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by Scott Monty

Watson Actually Was a Woman

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"an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents..." [SIGN] </h4>
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In all the recent debates among Sherlockians over the CBS program <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/elementary"><i>Elementary</i></a>, one will often find vehement disagreement over the decision of the show's creator's decision to cast Lucy Liu as "Joan Watson."  They will say that it destroys the all-male dynamic of Holmes and Watson's relationship, they will worry that it will develop into a romantic relationship, they will say "It's simply <b><i>not</i></b> Holmesian!"  All the while, the assumption seems to be that the idea of casting Watson as a female role is a new (and perhaps dangerous or ill advised) idea.  As we'll see, that simply is not the case.<br />
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Let us consider an article published in <i>The Saturday Review of Literature</i>, March 1, 1941, written by a certain Rex Stout, creator of another famous detective, Nero Wolfe.  The article, based on a speech Stout had given to the Baker Street Irregulars earlier that year, was entitled "<a href="https://www.nerowolfe.org/pdf/stout/home_family/BSI/Watson_was_a_woman.pdf" target="_blank">Watson Was a Woman</a>." Stout, apparently with tongue implanted firmly in cheek, opens his article thusly:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You will forgive me for refusing to join in your commemorative toast, "The Second Mrs. Watson," when you learn it was a matter of conscience. I could not bring myself to connive at the perpetuation of a hoax. Not only was there never a second Mrs. Watson; there was not even a first Mrs. Watson. Furthermore, there was no Doctor Watson.<br />
Please keep your chairs.</blockquote>
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"Please keep your chairs," indeed.  To address a gathering of Sherlockians, opening with the words "there was no Doctor Watson" seems to be a potentially disastrous idea.  Remember, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had only died about a decade before Stout dared to give his speech and publish his article.  I can only imagine the outrage that must have taken place among some of the Sherlockians who first read or heard these words!<br />
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It gets better, though.  Mr. Stout goes on to quote from one of Watson's earliest impressions of Holmes, in A Study in Scarlet: ...he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning."  Aha! A clue...  Stout continues:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I was indescribably shocked. How had so patent a clue escaped so many millions of readers through the years? That was, that could only be, a woman speaking of a man. Read it over. The true authentic speech of a wife telling of her husband's-- but wait. I was not indulging in idle speculation, but seeking evidence to establish a fact. It was unquestionably a woman speaking of a man, yes, but whether a wife of a husband, or a mistress of a lover, . . . I admit I blushed.</blockquote>
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So here we have it!  Not nearly as coy as the creators of <i>Elementary </i>would be seventy years later, Rex Stout presents the theory that Watson was a woman, and not just any woman: either the wife or mistress of Sherlock Holmes! "My blushes, Watson!" (I can almost hear the great detective saying it...)<br />
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Mr. Stout finds more proof in Watson's statement about Holmes's prowess on the violin: ". . . his powers upon the violin . . . at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder. . ." He writes: "Imagine a man asking another man to play him some of Mendelssohn's Lieder on a violin!"  Stout goes on to develop his theory of Watson as the wife of Sherlock Holmes.  He finds particularly interesting Watson's role as a "reformist wife," in his attempts to break Holmes of his cocaine addiction.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: ivory; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.600000381469727px; text-indent: 6%;"><br />
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Further on is possibly the most incredible (or the most ridiculous, depending on your point of view) bit of deduction in the entire article.  In an almost acrobatic feat of acrostics, Rex (I don't think he'd mind me calling him "Rex") arranges eleven of the adventures in the canon in the following order:<br />
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     <span style="font-size: large;">I</span>llustrious Client<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">R</span>ed-headed League<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">E</span>ngineer's Thumb<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">N</span>orwood Builder<br />
    <span style="font-size: large;"> E</span>mpty House<br />
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     <span style="font-size: large;">W</span>isteria Lodge<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">A</span>bbey Grange<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">T</span>wisted Lip<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">S</span>tudy in Scarlet<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">O</span>range Pips<br />
     <span style="font-size: large;">N</span>oble Bachelor<br />
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IRENE WATSON!  All he has to do after this bit of legerdemain is to connect the name "Irene Watson" with the classic description of Irene Adler as "the woman," and his case is complete.<br />
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Towards the end of the article, Stout admits: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"All this is very sketchy... I am now collecting material for a fuller treatment of the subject, a complete demonstration of the evidence and the inevitable conclusion."</blockquote>
<br />
Presumably no further treatment of the theory was forthcoming, and one has to wonder if the whole thing, speech and subsequent article, was just a little fun at his fellow Sherlockians' expense.<br />
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It's plain to see, then, that the idea of Watson as a woman is hardly a novel one; inflammatory for some Sherlockians, certainly, but not new.  It's no secret that Watson has appeared in many different guises over the years: old man, young man, doddering, comical, and intelligent. Indeed, in the world of film and TV adaptations, Watson has been presented as a woman in 1971's <i>They Might Be Giants</i> (Dr. Mildred Watson becomes the companion of Justin Playfair, a man who thinks he is Sherlock Holmes), and as a robot in the animated series <i>Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century</i> (a robot companion programmed to believe his is the original Dr. Watson).  To borrow from Ecclesiastes,"there is nothing new under the sun."<br />
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[You can read the Rex Stout article in its entirety <a href="https://www.nerowolfe.org/pdf/stout/home_family/BSI/Watson_was_a_woman.pdf">here</a>, or if you'd prefer a PDF of the article as it appeared in The Saturday Review of Literature in March of 1941, <a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1941mar01-00003">here</a> for the first two pages and <a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1941mar01-00015">here </a>for the final page.]<br />
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UPDATE:<br />
Julian Wolff, MD, BSI wrote the retort courteous: <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/02/that-was-no-lady.html#.UwZUjfldV8E" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">That Was No Lady</a>.<br />
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Watson Actually Was a Woman

"an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents..." [SIGN] In all the recent debate...

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by Cory Howell

25 Percent Americans Share This Trait with Sherlock Holmes

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"But the Solar System!" [STUD] </h4>
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You wouldn't call Sherlock Holmes ignorant, would you? But that's the very nature of the insults we've been seeing hurled at Americans across the web over the past few days.<br />
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According to a study conducted by the National Science Foundation, only <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jazBjrI8ZFm0e4fMwCtO_2WEbI3w?docId=a31a943f-befb-4a3d-8de7-cce861b955fd" target="_blank">74% of the 2,200 respondents knew that the Earth revolves around the Sun</a>.<br />
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Recall that after first meeting Sherlock Holmes as recounted in <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>, Dr. Watson attempted to summarize his new flatmate's skills as follows:<br />
<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">SHERLOCK HOLMES - his limits</span></div>
<ol>
<li>Knowledge of Literature. - Nil.</li>
<li>        "          "  Philosophy. - Nil.</li>
<li>        "          "  Astronomy. - Nil.</li>
<li>        "          "  Politics. - Feeble.</li>
<li>        "          "  Botany. - Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.</li>
<li>Knowledge of Geology. - Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.</li>
<li>Knowledge of Chemistry. - Profound.</li>
<li>Knowledge of Anatomy. - Accurate, but unsystematic.</li>
<li>Knowledge of Sensational Literature. - Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.</li>
<li>Plays the violin well.</li>
<li>Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.</li>
<li>Has a good practical knowledge of British law.</li>
</ol>
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When it came to the workings of a small set of planets and a star within the Milky Way galaxy, Watson found it absurd that Sherlock Holmes had no working knowledge in this area:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.<br /><br />"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."<br /><br />"To forget it!"<br /><br />"You see," he explained, "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. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."<br /><br />"But the Solar System!" I protested.<br /><br />"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work." </blockquote>
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We're going to take a leap of imagination and suppose that the NSF respondents may not have quite the same level of logical faculties and capacity for facts as Sherlock Holmes. But it's still interesting that we can find a connection with our favorite detective in the news.<br />
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<h4>
Related: </h4>
If you haven't yet had the opportunity, you might listen to <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/07/episode-54-how-to-think-like-sherlock.html#.UwKEDcRDuSo" target="_blank">our interview with Maria Konnikova</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670026573/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0670026573&linkCode=as2&tag=thebakerstree-20"><i>Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes</i></a>, who delves into the psychological possibilities of brain-attics in every one of us.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/07/episode-54-how-to-think-like-sherlock.html#.UwKEDcRDuSo" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix6B51xz10aWe3c-4ZhKlCtHU0CnwC0cjMpDPR8YIUOfQIHWc7gxql86MCq-xOhT61L_AT4QWaDLkPLQIVp4qijifpYbSbdhBBCbXF25N98zYoBUPME3LK_xWtoTqOdwIF3v01n9vsVq88/s1600/Maria+Konnikova.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/07/episode-54-how-to-think-like-sherlock.html#.UwKEDcRDuSo" target="_blank">Interview with Maria Konnikova</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Image credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8011986@N02/2681416387/" target="_blank">Bill Brooks (Flickr)</a><br />
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