Reviews

The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics by James O'Brien

that_bookworm_guy's review

informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

This book is one that you need to sit somewhere quiet and read certain pages over because you'll miss something. A super interesting book that breaks down some of the science used within the stories, as well as ACD's understanding and experiences with science and how he used some cutting edge techniques that still are used today. As well as some that have been discovered to not be so useful. 

This book is set out in an easy to read and understand way, a brilliant read for those who love Sherlock Holmes and science.

michellegopaul_'s review against another edition

totally devoured this book

but i was a tinnnyyy bit underwhelmed. the majority of the book itself was just recap, and even when he finally got into the science it felt like he was just restating the cases rather than really analyzing and explaining scientifically what was going on.

there were still a bunch of really cool takeaways and deep dives that i thoroughly enjoyed though, so overall not bad at all!

sigo's review

3.0

This book had too many summaries of the plotlines of almost all of the sixty Sherlock Holmes stories and not enough exploration of Sherlock as a scientist. Additionally, I came into the book believing that it would be about how Sherlock uses science and forensics to understand his cases, but it was more a discussion of the science he does outside of the confines of a case. The book was well written and the author obviously knew what he was talking about, but the topic seems more suited for a lecture at a Sherlock convention and not as a book adaptation.

maiakobabe's review

3.0

The Scientific Sherlock Holmes is a scholarly fan's discussion of the use of various scientific methods for crime solving in the Sherlock Holmes stories. The book includes chapters on finger prints, foot prints, hand writing analysis, cryptography and tracking dogs, comparing each of these as used by Holmes against their uses in modern criminal cases. I was surprised to learn that many of the techniques discussed (particularly finger prints) were, at the time of Conan Doyle's writing, revolutionary new ideas in police work. Also examined are Holmes' knowledge of chemistry, biology, geology, physics and mathematics. Two sections I particularly enjoyed were a discussion of false gems and brief afterward about famous hoaxes credited to Conan Doyle himself. Google “The Piltdown Man” if you are curious about the later.