Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes QUOTES

2 " the most powerful mind is the quiet mind. It is the mind that is present, reflective, mindful of its thoughts and its state. It doesn’t often multitask, and when it does, it does so with a purpose. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

4 " We are terrible at seeking evidence that challenges our own beliefs, but other people do us this favor, just as we are good at finding errors in other people’s beliefs. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

6 " every time you find yourself making a judgment immediately upon observing—in fact, even if you don’t think you are, and even if everything seems to make perfect sense—train yourself to stop and repeat: It is impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some respect have stated it wrong. Then go back and restate it from the beginning and in a different fashion than you did the first time around. Out loud instead of silently. In writing instead of in your head. It will save you from many errors in perception. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

8 " Imagination is all about new possibilities, eventualities that don’t exist, counterfactuals, a recombination of elements in new ways. It is about the untested. And the untested is uncertain. It is frightening—even "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

10 " We want to learn to pay attention better, to become superior observers, but we can’t hope to achieve this if we thoughtlessly pay attention to everything. That’s self-defeating. What we need to do is allocate our attention mindfully "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

12 " a failure to use all senses equals a scene not seen to its full potential, attention that has not been allocated properly, and subconscious cues that color the attention that is allocated in a way that may not be optimal. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

14 " Whatever the situation, answering the question of what, specifically, you want to accomplish will put you well on your way to knowing how to maximize your limited attentional resources. It will help direct your mind, prime it, so to speak, with the goals and thoughts that are actually important—and help put those that aren’t into the background. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

16 " motivation predicts higher academic performance, fewer criminal convictions, and better employment outcomes. Children who have a so-called “rage to master”—a term coined by Ellen Winner to describe the intrinsic motivation to master a specific domain—are more likely to be successful in any number of endeavors, from art to science. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

18 " How did the System Holmes machine become . . . a System Watson? Simple. Holmes says it himself: he had lost interest in the case. In his mind, it was already solved, down to the last detail—the visit, of which he thought so much that he decided it would be fine to disengage from everything else. And that’s a mistake he doesn’t normally make. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

20 " the better they recalled the topics of conversation, the more extremely off their predictions were. In other words, the busier their brains were, the less they adjusted after forming an initial impression. "

― Maria Konnikova , Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes