3. The mind palace (or brain attic)
In one of the many stories that Conan Doyle wrote, Holmes tells Watson: “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.” Then, the idea of the brain attic is not actually new, because this quote was published in 1891. The brain attic is not a very common idea, it is not usual to come across those words neither in literature nor in television, nevertheless, it is one of the most special characteristics of Sherlock Holmes. That is the reason why the showrunners of Sherlock, Moffat and Gatiss decided that it was important to include it the series, although instead of using the term ‘brain attic’ they employ the words ‘mind palace’ throughout the episodes. The term ‘mind palace’ is one of the different names that the ‘method of loci’ has, this is a mnemonic device that appeared in ancient Greece. According to a myth, the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos used this device so as to remember the names of two men that later turned up dead, based on the place where they had been sitting in a hall where a banquet took place. Nowadays, it is a method used by both memory contest champions and memorisers.
Therefore, the mind palace is to some extent related to the mindfulness technique. It is a method where you imagine a …show more content…
But his insights into the human mind rival his greatest feats of criminal justice. What Sherlock Holmes offers isn’t just a way of solving crime. It is an entire way of thinking, a mindset that can be applied to countless enterprises far removed from the foggy streets of the London underworld. It is an approach born out of the scientific method that transcends science and crime both and can serve as a model for thinking, a way of being, even, just as powerful in our time as it was in Conan Doyle’s. And that, I would argue, is the secret to Holmes’s enduring, overwhelming, and ubiquitous
In one of the many stories that Conan Doyle wrote, Holmes tells Watson: “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.” Then, the idea of the brain attic is not actually new, because this quote was published in 1891. The brain attic is not a very common idea, it is not usual to come across those words neither in literature nor in television, nevertheless, it is one of the most special characteristics of Sherlock Holmes. That is the reason why the showrunners of Sherlock, Moffat and Gatiss decided that it was important to include it the series, although instead of using the term ‘brain attic’ they employ the words ‘mind palace’ throughout the episodes. The term ‘mind palace’ is one of the different names that the ‘method of loci’ has, this is a mnemonic device that appeared in ancient Greece. According to a myth, the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos used this device so as to remember the names of two men that later turned up dead, based on the place where they had been sitting in a hall where a banquet took place. Nowadays, it is a method used by both memory contest champions and memorisers.
Therefore, the mind palace is to some extent related to the mindfulness technique. It is a method where you imagine a …show more content…
But his insights into the human mind rival his greatest feats of criminal justice. What Sherlock Holmes offers isn’t just a way of solving crime. It is an entire way of thinking, a mindset that can be applied to countless enterprises far removed from the foggy streets of the London underworld. It is an approach born out of the scientific method that transcends science and crime both and can serve as a model for thinking, a way of being, even, just as powerful in our time as it was in Conan Doyle’s. And that, I would argue, is the secret to Holmes’s enduring, overwhelming, and ubiquitous