What do you think?
Rate this book
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures : An Autobiography
Arthur Conan Doyle is best remembered today as the creator of the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. But he was much more than that. Apart from being a popular and prolific author - his literary output included historical novels, science fiction and histories of the Boer War and the First World War - his passion for a wide range of subjects make him a colourful and fascinating character in his own right. He was an early champion of the Channel Tunnel, he played cricket for the MCC, was a staunch advocate of Spiritualism, introduced cross country skiing to Switzerland and he was acquainted with many of the notable public figures of the late Victorian and Edwardian period. His fascinating account of his life is a wonderful record of a unique individual. This volume has the added bonus of a perceptive and illuminating introduction by David Stuart Davies who throws some light into the darker areas of Conan Doyle's life.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
17 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.8k books24.3k followersSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 14, 2020
Siempre es un placer leer a Conan Doyle. Sus "Memorias y aventuras" nos hacen retroceder a esa época victoriana y post-vistoriana en la que se escribieron algunas de las mejores obras literarias, o al menos algunos de los relatos y novelas que más disfruto. La pena, que no se hable demasiado de nuestro querido Sherlock. En cuanto al tema psíquico y espiritista (ese último capítulo y breves atisbos durante todo el libro), ¡joder!, casi consigue convencerle a uno. La edición de Valdemar, como siempre, fantástica.
March 22, 2022
Mar 21, 830pm ~~ Review asap.
Mar 22, 1030am ~~ This was my year to read Arthur Conan Doyle. Not the Sherlock Holmes stories, but some of his other works of fiction. And I thought I would round off my little project with this book, the autobiography he published in 1924, six years before his death at age 71.
The 32 chapters here covered his life from childhood through World War One, and were mostly very interesting, although I did reach a point of skimming towards the end when he spoke about various 'great men' he had known and then politics, and four or five chapters about the war. I simply did not want to focus too much on those war chapters, not with all the nonsense going on in our world today. I was not sure I wanted to read more of his thoughts about war, and you will see why by the end of this review.
I had known very little about ACD before this book. I knew he was a doctor, and I knew he wrote Sherlock Holmes stories, but other facts came as a surprise to me. He was a ship's surgeon on a whaling boat once. He was a ship's surgeon on a ship in the African trade another time. He was a war correspondent and doctor in the Boer War and wrote a history of that war while it was ongoing. He searched his entire life for a philosophy to believe in, eventually decided that Spiritualism would be his truth, and accepted the ridicule heaped upon him for that belief.
Besides being a war correspondent he also covered the London Olympic Games of 1908, and after witnessing the many controversies during those games he had this to say:
"When I consider the Dunraven Yacht race, and then these Olympic Games, I am by no means assured that sport has that international effect for good which some people have claimed for it. I wonder whether any of the old Grecian wars had their real origin in the awards at Olympia."
I was uncomfortable with ACD at times. I did not think it was very respectful for him to sneak into a mosque in what was then Constantinople in order to watch services during one of the most holy nights of the Islamic calendar.
And I detested his glorification of war. Here is what he said during the Boer War:
"Wonderful is the atmosphere of war. When the millennium comes the world will gain much, but it will lose its greatest thrill."
PIFFLE.
Mar 22, 1030am ~~ This was my year to read Arthur Conan Doyle. Not the Sherlock Holmes stories, but some of his other works of fiction. And I thought I would round off my little project with this book, the autobiography he published in 1924, six years before his death at age 71.
The 32 chapters here covered his life from childhood through World War One, and were mostly very interesting, although I did reach a point of skimming towards the end when he spoke about various 'great men' he had known and then politics, and four or five chapters about the war. I simply did not want to focus too much on those war chapters, not with all the nonsense going on in our world today. I was not sure I wanted to read more of his thoughts about war, and you will see why by the end of this review.
I had known very little about ACD before this book. I knew he was a doctor, and I knew he wrote Sherlock Holmes stories, but other facts came as a surprise to me. He was a ship's surgeon on a whaling boat once. He was a ship's surgeon on a ship in the African trade another time. He was a war correspondent and doctor in the Boer War and wrote a history of that war while it was ongoing. He searched his entire life for a philosophy to believe in, eventually decided that Spiritualism would be his truth, and accepted the ridicule heaped upon him for that belief.
Besides being a war correspondent he also covered the London Olympic Games of 1908, and after witnessing the many controversies during those games he had this to say:
"When I consider the Dunraven Yacht race, and then these Olympic Games, I am by no means assured that sport has that international effect for good which some people have claimed for it. I wonder whether any of the old Grecian wars had their real origin in the awards at Olympia."
I was uncomfortable with ACD at times. I did not think it was very respectful for him to sneak into a mosque in what was then Constantinople in order to watch services during one of the most holy nights of the Islamic calendar.
And I detested his glorification of war. Here is what he said during the Boer War:
"Wonderful is the atmosphere of war. When the millennium comes the world will gain much, but it will lose its greatest thrill."
PIFFLE.
July 9, 2022
A 12 hour unabridged audiobook
An autobiography of Doyle? Why not.
One would expect a well known author to do a fine job at their own autobiography, and he has.
This is a man who didnt just have a good imagination, he traveled the world and was an adventurer in his own right. I enjoyed listening to this.
An autobiography of Doyle? Why not.
One would expect a well known author to do a fine job at their own autobiography, and he has.
This is a man who didnt just have a good imagination, he traveled the world and was an adventurer in his own right. I enjoyed listening to this.
November 2, 2024
It's going to be an incoherent review, the circumstances make it difficult for me to write something well-thought out these days, I hope it will get better soon.
Plus, as I was reading Doyle's memories, I was often changing my mind about him : I alternately wanted to slap him and hug him !
- As a sportsman, he made me think of Captain Hastings (with more brains and less taste for pretty women) : eager to practice any sport, to risk danger, to travel all over the world and experience new (action) things : the kind of man who can't remain sitting for long, he loves adrenaline !
- As a military, Victorian man, I found him sometimes stuffy, with very strict, colonial oriented, conservative opinions and a dreadful view on women (those awful gossips who are only useful at decorating dinner tables!) and it made me angry at him. Several times.
- I found his passion and his quest for truth in spiritism touching. I know it was all the fashion back then, but he hardly seems like a man subject to fashion. He had doubts, questions and he looked for answers. Many people must have thought him a fool, he carried on anyway.
- For a conservative, stuffy man, he had a deep admiration for the non-conservative, non-stuffy Oscar Wilde.
- My opinions and his differ on many subjects, but I admire him for one thing : if he felt something was wrong, unjust, needed to be changed, he went for it, he fought. He wrote, he met important men, he travelled to meet people (more important men - women were merely decorative in dinners, in those days), he thought out plans, he acted. Do you know he's at the origin of the invention of the lifebuoy ?! To save drowning sailors. And that he was very much in favour of the Channel tunnel (for commerce and tourism, not for war). At a time when lots of people whine about what's wrong in the world and nobody lifts a finger, it feels good to see someone actually do something for what he believes in.
- As he was writing about hunting as a sport and having begun the book with whale hunting, I was about to growl when he started talking about animals and their pain, how cruel hunting can be and how he practised it less and less, and he flipped me like a pancake...
- When he spoke about war and what must be done (and I got a little bored and saw him again as a stuffy old boy), he suddenly shifted to all the accidents he experienced in his life and talks about them with such nonchalance, such good humour that you can't help but smile at his good mood.
Of course, I'm going to keep reading Conan Doyle's books. I'm re-reading Sherlock Holmes, I'll then jump to professor Challenger, to Brigadier Gérard and everything I can lay my hands on. I adored him as a teenager, I still have a fondness for him in spite of many things. I think what got me what his wonderful sense of humour. He's like a stuffy old uncle who jumps everywhere, talks about all his adventures around the world and makes jokes with a spark in his eyes - you don't really agree with everything he says, but you can't help loving him. I think I'll always be partial to him !
Plus, as I was reading Doyle's memories, I was often changing my mind about him : I alternately wanted to slap him and hug him !
- As a sportsman, he made me think of Captain Hastings (with more brains and less taste for pretty women) : eager to practice any sport, to risk danger, to travel all over the world and experience new (action) things : the kind of man who can't remain sitting for long, he loves adrenaline !
- As a military, Victorian man, I found him sometimes stuffy, with very strict, colonial oriented, conservative opinions and a dreadful view on women (those awful gossips who are only useful at decorating dinner tables!) and it made me angry at him. Several times.
- I found his passion and his quest for truth in spiritism touching. I know it was all the fashion back then, but he hardly seems like a man subject to fashion. He had doubts, questions and he looked for answers. Many people must have thought him a fool, he carried on anyway.
- For a conservative, stuffy man, he had a deep admiration for the non-conservative, non-stuffy Oscar Wilde.
- My opinions and his differ on many subjects, but I admire him for one thing : if he felt something was wrong, unjust, needed to be changed, he went for it, he fought. He wrote, he met important men, he travelled to meet people (more important men - women were merely decorative in dinners, in those days), he thought out plans, he acted. Do you know he's at the origin of the invention of the lifebuoy ?! To save drowning sailors. And that he was very much in favour of the Channel tunnel (for commerce and tourism, not for war). At a time when lots of people whine about what's wrong in the world and nobody lifts a finger, it feels good to see someone actually do something for what he believes in.
- As he was writing about hunting as a sport and having begun the book with whale hunting, I was about to growl when he started talking about animals and their pain, how cruel hunting can be and how he practised it less and less, and he flipped me like a pancake...
- When he spoke about war and what must be done (and I got a little bored and saw him again as a stuffy old boy), he suddenly shifted to all the accidents he experienced in his life and talks about them with such nonchalance, such good humour that you can't help but smile at his good mood.
Of course, I'm going to keep reading Conan Doyle's books. I'm re-reading Sherlock Holmes, I'll then jump to professor Challenger, to Brigadier Gérard and everything I can lay my hands on. I adored him as a teenager, I still have a fondness for him in spite of many things. I think what got me what his wonderful sense of humour. He's like a stuffy old uncle who jumps everywhere, talks about all his adventures around the world and makes jokes with a spark in his eyes - you don't really agree with everything he says, but you can't help loving him. I think I'll always be partial to him !
November 22, 2018
I was in the 8th grade at the time and picked an autobiography at semi-random for an oral report. Little did I realize that this would turn out to be so long, yet also so fascinating. I ended up giving a 15min report to my class that got cut off at the 50minute mark as the class ended. Safe to say I've been a huge ACD fan ever since. He led an amazing life of adventure, in a very British way.
September 30, 2023
Que vida más interesante tuvo Arthur Conan Doyle, la verdad fue más que Holmes aunque Holmes sea más grande que el. Está claro que disfruto de la vida a lo máximo. Lo que hace interesante el libro es cuando habla de la guerra de los Boer y la primera guerra mundial, ya que estuvo en las dos. A su vez sus ideas políticas es interesante verlas cien años después. Es una visión muy interesante de la vida de un hombre que la disfruto.
July 10, 2022
Wow, ACD really led an adventurous life. Solider, sailor, harpooner, doctor, detective, and spiritualist. When I first started this book I had fears that it might be a dry, Victorian affair, but due to the many people and places he encountered, there were indeed many memories and adventures to share. The highlights for me were his experiences aboard a whaling ship, as well his soldiering. I would recommend to any Sherlock Holmes fan to learn more about his creator.
November 29, 2010
The Memories of Conan Doyle are one of the best pieces of this genre that I have ever read. In the book, Doyle analyzes his life in detail - lineage (Irish descent), family (life with his first and second wives, death of his brother and only son in World War), literature career (Sherlock Holmes stories and historical novels), sports interests (golf, boxing, cricket, football, billyard) ,travels (North pole, Egypt, America, etc), influences on the masterpieces that he wrote (Voltaire Scott, Edgar Poe,Macolaulay, and others), indirect participation in the Great Boer War (he served as a doctor in the British hospital for injured soldiers in South Africa) and the First World War (it was Doyle who first created a volunteer army during the war),and one of the main aspects of his life - spiritualism, which he believed and tried to prove is a veritable science that is not quiet observed and explored by the scientists yet. The book is very informative from the historical point of view. In addition to that, it is full of humour and wit. Therefore, it deserves a place among the world's best autobiographies.
October 25, 2013
It's depressing to realize that the creator of one's favorite, rational and unsentimental fictional character (Sherlock, Sherlock!) believed in ghost, fairies and the Empire. This in addition (deduced from this autobiography) to apparently having been an utter bore. Sigh.
February 11, 2022
I found this book very disappointing. I did not expect Conan Doyle to so throughly fulfill every Victorian cliches. I know every man is product of his time but I thought the creator of Sherlock Holmes to have a bit more of a twist to him.
June 29, 2024
strange life and beliefs
January 17, 2020
These memoirs are written in ACD’s signature style: clear, fun, and easy to read. His life was as adventurous as his short stories and novels. Something was embellished, something glossed over, and something omitted, but on the whole it was a candid account.
- For example, he is graphic and shockingly straightforward, writing about the severe corporal punishment he suffered as a boy at Stonyhurst, a Jesuit school he attended, and which made him cast off his Roman-Catholic faith.
- However, he glosses over the fact of his father’s alcoholism and how terribly it affected the Doyle family. Mary Doyle had to raise seven children single-handedly in poverty while caring after her incapable husband. But ACD writes of his father sympathetically and doesn’t go into detail regarding Charles Doyle’s affliction.
- He creates myths which mislead his readers and biographers, like his abandoning medicine because ‘not one single patient had ever crossed the threshold of my room’ when in fact he was exhausted by treating patients during daytime and writing at night and eventually had to choose.
- While giving quite a lot of details about his first marriage and children born in it, he is practically silent about his second wife whom he adored and his younger offspring whom he doted on.
He is a story-teller, so his recounting is better be taken with a grain of salt.
I found his youthful experiences especially relatable. One can see him as a real living person, interrupting his studies to work as a doctor’s apprentice, and later as a ship’s surgeon on an Arctic expedition which nearly cost him his life due to his own recklessness. His struggles while setting his first practice in a new town are familiar to many of us in the 21st century, when you’re perpetually broke and in a desperate need of a job which doesn’t come your way.
The latter part of the memoirs covering the period after he received recognition and fame was disappointing. The real man disappears; instead there’s a larger-than-life public figure and name-dropping, as if he deliberately retreats behind that veneer to protect his privacy.
Anyways, the book is definitely worth reading.
- For example, he is graphic and shockingly straightforward, writing about the severe corporal punishment he suffered as a boy at Stonyhurst, a Jesuit school he attended, and which made him cast off his Roman-Catholic faith.
- However, he glosses over the fact of his father’s alcoholism and how terribly it affected the Doyle family. Mary Doyle had to raise seven children single-handedly in poverty while caring after her incapable husband. But ACD writes of his father sympathetically and doesn’t go into detail regarding Charles Doyle’s affliction.
- He creates myths which mislead his readers and biographers, like his abandoning medicine because ‘not one single patient had ever crossed the threshold of my room’ when in fact he was exhausted by treating patients during daytime and writing at night and eventually had to choose.
- While giving quite a lot of details about his first marriage and children born in it, he is practically silent about his second wife whom he adored and his younger offspring whom he doted on.
He is a story-teller, so his recounting is better be taken with a grain of salt.
I found his youthful experiences especially relatable. One can see him as a real living person, interrupting his studies to work as a doctor’s apprentice, and later as a ship’s surgeon on an Arctic expedition which nearly cost him his life due to his own recklessness. His struggles while setting his first practice in a new town are familiar to many of us in the 21st century, when you’re perpetually broke and in a desperate need of a job which doesn’t come your way.
The latter part of the memoirs covering the period after he received recognition and fame was disappointing. The real man disappears; instead there’s a larger-than-life public figure and name-dropping, as if he deliberately retreats behind that veneer to protect his privacy.
Anyways, the book is definitely worth reading.
March 27, 2022
Not an autobiography as such this is a selective collection of reminiscences by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Although famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes he was much more than just an author of detective stories. His account of visiting the front lines in the First World War dressed in the invented uniform of a deputy lieutenant of Surrey is amazing for instance. He certainly had an adventurous life but he gives little away about the inner man or his family life other than to stress his crusade for Spiritualism.
Although famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes he was much more than just an author of detective stories. His account of visiting the front lines in the First World War dressed in the invented uniform of a deputy lieutenant of Surrey is amazing for instance. He certainly had an adventurous life but he gives little away about the inner man or his family life other than to stress his crusade for Spiritualism.
September 22, 2023
The reminiscences of Arthur Conan Doyle, most famous for being the author of the Holmes and Watson saga, this book is quite readable and more entertaining than many autobiographies. Truth to tell, though, his recorded memories are a bit selective, saying very little about his second marriage and his children.
He had a very adventurous life, what with being employed on a whaling ship in his younger years, being a war correspondent during the Boer War, and doing a good deal of traveling. He also championed many political and legal causes, including the Edalji case.
Recommended.
He had a very adventurous life, what with being employed on a whaling ship in his younger years, being a war correspondent during the Boer War, and doing a good deal of traveling. He also championed many political and legal causes, including the Edalji case.
Recommended.
June 18, 2020
Very good memoirs of one of the most famous authors. Interestingly, there is very little in this book that relates to his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, or any of his other fictional novels. I enjoy reading Doyle -- he has a fluid, easy-going style that is very descriptive. And he certainly had an exciting and adventurous life!
July 17, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As much an insight into a Victorian mind as a memoir. His first wife is introduced with a sentence and maybe a paragraph talking of how they met, then shortly after two full pages dedicated to talking about camels. If he hears about a war he wants to dash off to the frontlines and usually does. A fun read.
March 12, 2023
Estic descobrint que m’agrada llegir biografies, així que dec ser un tafaner.
També que aquest senyor no em cau massa bé… grans qualitats i grans defectes, suposo que en tots dos casos propis de la seva època.
Tampoco tenía abuela…
També que aquest senyor no em cau massa bé… grans qualitats i grans defectes, suposo que en tots dos casos propis de la seva època.
Tampoco tenía abuela…
December 2, 2023
The more I read of his work, both fiction and non fiction, the more you see of this remarkable, adventurous life. The stories weave through many momentous moments of british history, including figures of great importance and fame.
August 27, 2022
Actually pretty good
September 24, 2023
I'm not a big fan of (auto)biographies but this book was great.
June 6, 2025
2.5 stars
December 29, 2011
yes, Sherlock Holmes stories are fascinating, but the autobiography of the author himself is just as interesting!
Could use better pictures tho... (and Sherlock related pics eat up something like 20 pages!)
Could use better pictures tho... (and Sherlock related pics eat up something like 20 pages!)
March 13, 2016
Too much about how wonderful the Brits are. "The good Tommy soldier". The "dirty" Hun (& Kaffa's & Fuzzy-wazzies). So arrogant and elitist. :-( Maybe a sign of the times?
Didn't realise Doyle was so much into the occult & mediums.
Didn't realise Doyle was so much into the occult & mediums.
March 10, 2007
Sherlock Holmes is a must-have for every library
April 8, 2017
Afús, un poco truño y bastante mal escrito, como a desgana.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews