How To Instantly Size Up Strangers Like Sherlock Holmes

As a result of the resurgence in Sherlock's popularity, there are a growing number of books that are making their attempt to teach Sherlock's Method or the way that he thinks. I myself have bought Mastermind, How to think like Sherlock, The Deduction Guide, Taz Rai's The Art of Deduction (not the art of deduction book here on amazon), The Elementary Methods of Sherlock Holmes, Snoop, The Secret Life of Pronouns, I've watched Sherlock, Elementary, House MD, Criminal Minds, and read Conan Doyle's, stories, scoured blogs and the internet for more pertinent information, read extensive information on various subjects and have come to a conclusion.In order to sort the relevant from the irrelevant, the good from the bad, you would have to write your own book on the subject. in fact i plan to, in a different area, because i wouldn't want to be counter productive, but this book is very similar to the one i would've written, at least the first one.The author uses examples from the canon for the reader to observe Holmes using particular parts of his method, and then teaching you how to apply it in the real modern day world, and suggests a wealth of practical exercises designed to improve your natural abilities to do the same. these are not brain teasers, or anything like it. there are specific observation training exercises, listening exercises etc. if you've read any of the above books mentioned chances are that this is what you've been looking for, i know, i was.It's concise, and to the point, and doesn't bite off more than it can chew. and as an added bonus, the author challenges the reader to discover a secret that he has embedded in the book, in true mystery story spirit! the secret, while not a major revelation of any sort, as he says "you already know it", can provide a motivation in the student that could be absent had he/she not endeavored.If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes and have ever wanted to buy a book that could help you do what Sherlock does, this is without a doubt, one that get's a very high recommendation.

I kind feel like I understand where Sherlock is coming from even more so now that read through the exercises. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to size up strangers!!

Why not?

I'm still reading, has good to know information but mostly it references alot of the sherlock stories. Wish besides all the sherlock story references I wish they had more of the science explanation. It's not bad, it's ok.

As a HUGE longtime fan of Sherlock Holmes I can truthfully say I loved the book HOW TO INSTANTLY SIZE UP STRANGERS LIKE SHERLOCK HOLMES BY MAR A WILLIAMS SR. The author took apart piece by piece the "methods" Mr Holmes used to find out the bad guys. What amused me was they arent rocket science folks! Just simple observation and listening skills. In the book he referenced Holmes books when trying to make a point or example. At the last section of the book he challenges you to test your new found knowledge. Reading the book made me want to drag my Sherlock Holmes books to reread and test my new skills!I received the book from goodreads in exchange for a review

If you're entirely new to the subject of reading people, to deduction and logic, to the most basic methods of deduction- this book can give you a starting point on each. But if you've ever studied anything at all related to these, this whole book is worthless. It gives you lists of specific details about people to look for, and doesn't say anything about what you can learn from it, aside from what is utterly obviously. A ring on the 'ring finger' means they're married? Wow. Couldn't have figured that out myself.You might expect the book to tell you the details to look for and then what you can infer about them. But no, it just says to identify things like, age, nationality, eye color, height, weight, what kind of shoes, what kind of clothes, are they worn, are they new? etc... etc...Details that may fool the average person into thinking they know something about this person, but really you're just cataloging the obvious. This book doesn't tell you anything about what inferences to make, because the reasons for various differences are too vast to list in a book. You really just need two things.1. Good observation.2. The deductive imagination. Try to imagine a picture into which the facts will fit. There's parallel lines on the inner part of a person's wrists which are red and slightly indented? You can imagine this person has had their wrists sitting on a keyboard for a while, hence the indent marks...If you understood what I just said, you have no reason to buy and read this book. Don't waste your money. Look Up Maria Konnikova's "Mastermind- How to think like Sherlock holmes" This is a book you can really benefit from.

The book has a lot of Sherlock Holmes quotes and gives many examples from the Canon. Some people may find the use of quotes tiresome but I'm a Sherlock fan so I loved it. I liked chapter 12 the best because it has actual exercises that you can learn to deduce people the same as Sherlock does. If your serious about learning Sherlock's deductive methods, then I highly recommend this book.

Good book! its easy to read. It says a lot of obvious things about reading people. It asks a lot of questions to help you discover the answers for yourself. You will have to practice a lot if you want to be good at deducing people. Overall,l liked it.

Literally the most pointless book I have read. Nothing practical to use, and the only references are to passages from Sherlock Holmes fiction books, not anything fact or scientific. Each "systematic method" is not only stupidly vague, they all reference things characters in Sherlock Holmes have said and done as historical evidence.

I found the last reviewers deductions spot on. Just lots of passages from Sherlock Holmes books but nothing to use.