Canon of Sherlock Holmes

… build a model of reasoning from the canon of Sherlock Holmes

We are going to read the canons of Sherlock Holmes in this Medium essay and we will put together the principles of Holmesian observation and investigation. Then we will analyse how these principles can help us to put together a plan of deduction and inference in our practical lives. Be that as it may, these are fiction but they carry elements of observation, deduction, and storytelling that can still enable many of us to get through the morass of lies and falsehoods and help us launch investigations into the “facts” that we get to experience everyday, and sensemaking.

We will cover the novels and the stories as they have been laid out in the Sherlock Holmes stories: chronologically but as narrated by Sir Conan Doyle through the eyes of John Watson. In the process, we will read the stories, summarise them, identify the core principles, build a model of Holmesian canon, and see how these can be applied to new situations. Sounds familiar? :-), let’s dive in!

Summary of the Holmesian canon

Sherlockian canon consists of 56 short stories and 4 novels.

1. Novel 1. (STUD) Study in scarlet

Study in scarlet is about a family of father and daughter who were stranded in Utah desert and were rescued by a group of Mormons and were brought to Salt Lake city in the 1880s. The father and the daughter family lived among the Mormons and the father lived the life of a farmer there…