Ron White - 17 Dec

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Forward

The character of Sherlock Holmes has been repeated in different forms, but with the same characteristics, over many genres television, books, movies, and social clubs. It is as if the character were real, and people are fascinated with how his mind works.

The draw of Sherlock Holmes is not just because people are interested in intrigue and detective stories. They want to actually learn to THINK like Sherlock Holmes. They want to test their intelligence against the master. Is it possible to solve a crime quicker than Sherlock Holmes? Is he always right? How is he able to spot all those clues others miss so quickly?

People have formed clubs around the character, the most famous being the Baker Street Irregulars, founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. With these gatherings, people from all parts of the world meet in person, or on social media, to re-enact a crime and try to see who can solve the mystery first. They exchange written works on Holmes, mysteries, clues, and even fan-inspired trading cards.

Often people want to see if they are smarter than Sherlock Holmes, and if they possess the ability to recall minute details that can help them form an educated resolution to a problem. They want to understand how Holmes thinks. Is he a genius, or does he come to his conclusions as anyone else would who takes the time to focus, and observe?

My name is Ron White and I am a two-time USA Memory Champion. I have held the record for the fastest person to memorize a deck of cards in the USA, and for the most numbers memorized in 5 minutes - at 167 digits. I promise you that you can do these things with practice, and I want to help you learn how to do just that.

I have been a memory training expert for many years. I have done videos where I can recall the names of almost everyone in an audience, and have conducted seminars around the world on how to improve memory to enrich all aspects of your life, including your job. Memory, and memory improvement, is not only a job for me, its a passion.

I enjoy watching peoples faces as I have the audience members stand up, and one by one I will point to them and recall their names so they can sit down.

Many think I have a photographic memory, but that is not the case. I was born with a normal brain and memory, just like most people. What is different for me is that I have trained myself to memorize long lists, names and locations. Most of the time I use the Method of Loci, or as Holmes calls it - the Memory Palace, an ancient technique that allows you to recall information based on associating the information with a specific location, and anyone can do it.

I want to explain to you what memory is, and the different types of memory we use to make decisions and come to conclusions. I want to teach you EXACTLY how Sherlock Holmes brain works to spot details, organize, dismiss, and focus on what most people overlook. I want to teach you how you can use your memory to store and recall facts so they are at your disposal whenever you need them.

In essence, I want to teach you how you too can think like Sherlock Holmes by using his mind palace, and fine tuning his memory techniques and tools.

I put together this book to teach you how to see the world as Sherlock Holmes would, and to help you see that you too can be brilliant at remembering details. I want to show you that learning to think like Holmes can help you in your daily life.

This book is part of a larger program that can be found at sherlockskills.com. The program enables you to memorize names and faces; memorize chapters of books; learn foreign languages; give speeches without notes; memorize Bible verses; or whatever you want. So I really recommend that you check it out.

Who knows, you could become a brilliant detective like Sherlock Holmes. If not a detective, at least you have the tools to develop your mind and memory to think like the brilliant investigator.

I look forward to following you in your journey to think like Sherlock Holmes, and I look forward to feedback on your progress.

- Ron White

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

If you are like me, you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes. We have read the books, and seen the movies and television shows where he outsmarts his nemesis and other trained detectives by focusing in on small but important details that escape others.

There is something about this intellectual detective that is magnetic. We are drawn in by his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science to solve difficult cases - even before the introduction of modern DNA testing and computers. We respect him, admire him, and want to think like him.

What is it about Sherlock Holmes that draws us to him? How is he able to spot things that other trained professionals have missed? Does he have a photographic(eidetic) memory, or is it something any of us can learn? These are questions Sherlock Holmes aficionados would like answers to, and what I wish to address throughout this book.

The great English ghost story writer, Montague Rhodes James, once said the adventures of Sherlock Holmes differed from his ghost writing in that his stories did not frighten people as long as they were long ago and far away, while Doyles stories brought them to the here and now.

The Sherlock Holmes stories originated in Victorian England, yet the tales have universal appeal, and have withstood time. As a matter of fact, the appeal seems to be escalating, with more and more entertainment involving a main character with Holmes amazing memory and observation abilities i.e. The Mentalist, Forever, Elementary, etc. Every crime story with a wise detective incorporates some of the methods of Sherlock Holmes. When you get to know Holmes better you can easily spot these elements and see the similarities.

We like the appeal of an adventure, and we also enjoy the intrigue of a riddle. Its only human nature to be curious, and competitive. We want to see if we can outsmart those who are trained experts, and most of us want to see the criminals get caught. The more cocky, creative and intelligent the criminal is the more exciting and intriguing the case becomes, until the conclusion is reached.

People always are curious. We want to know what happened when a crime was committed. We want details. We want to come to our own conclusions before anyone else to see how smart we are, and if can solve the crime before the experts do.

In addition, solving a crime brings us a sense of safety in an ever growing unsafe world. We want to bring order from chaos. Even if the world around us is crumbling, and the story is fictitious, we can escape to a place where order is restored, and Sherlock Holmes brings that order.

Even though Sherlock Holmes is brilliant, he is a flawed person, which makes him vulnerable and human. We can relate to him on many levels, so we excuse his flaws (heroin addition and arrogance) because he is able to make the world a better and safer place. He makes mistakes, but admits to them and moves on using what he learned from his mistakes to help him further along in the investigation.