El libro de Sherlock Holmes

Big Ideas Simply Explained

by Gareth Jones (Editor)

¿Quién causó el "Escándalo en Bohemia"? ¿Dónde estaba "Estrella de Plata"? ¿Quién era "El sabueso de los Baskerville"? Poniendo la lupa sobre cada uno de los casos de Sherlock Holmes, este libro nos conduce por el mundo del legendario detective de sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
El libro de Sherlock Holmes, repleto de ingeniosas ilustraciones, claros esquemas y citas memorables, constituye la perfecta guía holmesiana, cubriendo todo el canon desde Estudio en escarlata hasta la célebre "Aventura de Shoscombe Old Place" y situando las historias en un contexto más amplio.
Tanto si esta es una primera introducción del lector a las habilidades de Holmes como si ya está familiarizado con su extraordinaria capacidad de deducción, este libro le intrigará y cautivará.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mystery, Reference, History, Classics, Detective, Literature

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1998

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I am a fan of the Holmes books, I was looking forward to this read..........oooops!

This will be a short review since there is only one thing that made me give this a low rating. It was the fact that, although, the author reviewed every Holmes short story/novel, s/he also revealed the murderer in each one. That is a big no-no as far as I am concerned. There were short stories that I haven't read and that certainly takes the joy out of detecting, along with Holmes, to identify the villain.

I was very disappointed.....enough said.

[Jaksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am currently reading, or re-reading all the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories from a big, heavy annotated two-volume series. I am using this book, The Sherlock Holmes Book, as a way of adding extra insight and background information. And I've got to say, this has completely enhanced my reading pleasure.

However, I'm not really 'finished' reading this book, which I won through a GR giveaway (and thanks for that!). So why review it early? Because it will take quite a while - a few months or more at the very least - and I wanted to say how helpful and interesting the book is proving to be.

Btw, I am doing the same thing with The Shakespeare Book, also by DK Publishing.

The game's afoot, or whatever, and reading The Sherlock Holmes Book in tandem with the Holmes stories has been, thus far, a great experience.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sherlock Holmes Book is an absolute must-read for any fan of the Great Detective and his loyal friend, Dr. Watson. This book covers every short story and novel detailing the plot, offering analysis, historical content. It also offers a biography of the author, a wider look at world Sherlock Holmes inhabited, and further Holmes stories and adaptions.

[Luanne Ollivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am and always have been an avid mystery fan. The puzzle, the clues, the chase and that satisfying mental click when the final pieces fall into place. And really, is there any more iconic mystery character than Sherlock Holmes?

Big Ideas is a new series from DK. And one of the titles in that series is The Sherlock Holmes Book. Oh my gosh, this book is so amazing!

"...The Sherlock Holmes Book provides a complete guide to all aspects of Holmesiana. It is a celebration of Conan Doyle's' most fascinating creation, the Great Detective Sherlock Holmes.

And I mean complete. Looking for a timeline and details on the author and his creations - check. But here's what I loved. Holmes appears in 56 short stores and four novels. Each story (in chronological order) is explored in detail in The Sherlock Holmes Book. An 'In Context' box liststhe date and the characters. Quotes from the story, info boxes talking about the time period, social mores, devices, postcards, pictures, ephemera and more accompany a dissection of the story. Which leads to my big idea.....

I'm going to go back to the beginning as well and re-read the Holmes novels and stories one by one, following up with the companion chapter from The Sherlock Holmes Book. I'm going to take my time and savour re-discovering the world of Sherlock Holmes.

The last fifty pages of the book explore Victorian London, Holmes on stage and screen, detective fiction, the art of deduction and more. See for yourself - read an excerpt of The Sherlock Holmes Book. If you love Holmes, you'll love this book.

As with all DK books, the layout was great, glossy stock, colourful and eye catching. Oh yeah - filled with wonderful information! This was the first of The Big Ideas Simply Explained titles I've looked at and I was impressed.

[Obrir un llibre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completísima e impresionante guía sobre el canon holmesiano que hará las delicias de aquellos que quieran descubrir o adentrarse en el mundo de uno de los personajes más famosos de la ficción, como es el investigador del razonamiento deductivo Sherlock Holmes. Un vademécum que explora las cuatro novelas y los cincuentaiséis relatos que Sir Arthur Conan Doyle creó sobre Holmes, y donde el lector encontrará un análisis exhaustivo de cada narración y ordenada por colecciones. Al final del libro se descubrirá unos capítulos dedicados a “Los muchos rostros de Holmes” (en la cinematografía), o “Sherlock en la escena y en la pantalla”, además de los pastiches de la literatura más reconocidos del detective.

El contenido del libro se encuentra dividido en los siguientes apartados: Introducción, Primeras aventuras, El gran detective, El regreso de una leyenda, El último saludo de Holmes, Las últimas deducciones y El mundo de Sherlock Holmes.
http://www.abrirunlibro.com/2017/01/e...

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story by story walk through the Sherlock Holmes canon of Conan Doyle. In addition to basic plot points, most titles have info about setting, writing, or historical connections. As I spent this year with each of the books in turn, it was an appropriate finish. On the other hand, it's like reading an encyclopedia - perhaps more useful as a reference.

Photos were few, infographics were many. While much of the information is on Wikipedia, the presentation here is quite good. I especially like the listing and mini reviews of other works after A. Conan Doyle's Holmes.

[Adia]

The bulk of this book is taken up with the synopsis of the many stories in the Holmes canon, and as I've already read the canon multiple times, it seemed a bit pointless to read it all. A well done book, I think; enjoyed learning about the many film adaptations over the years and discovered a few new pastiches that I may get around to reading.

[Eslam الغني · Rating 5 out of 5]

كانت رحلة ممتعة إجمالا - ولا تخلو من بعض المشقة - في تتبع بعض التفاصيل واسترجاع سياقها الأدبي والتاريخي لترجمتها على النحو اللائق والمرغوب.

عالم هولمز كاملا بين يديك، فاقرأ واستمتع.

مودتي.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3..5/5 Stars

So my partner brought this lovely hardback as a Christmas present in 2015 for me to read little knowing I had already brought myself the actual hardback of all the Sherlock Holmes stories.
So I read this in conjunction after each story I read and I found it most helpful because it summarised the story neatly and quickly enough with fun facts and historical tales to be told behind Conan's works. There is also sections at the back of the book going into detail regarding Conan's work, past and new movies, screenplays and e.t.c, basically everything you can think of regarding the Sherlock world.

[SB Senpai Manga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best, current, and accurate account on the Sherlock Holmes series and everything associated with it from the multiple adaptations to the facts of the Victorian era. Any Sherlock Holmes fan should read this!

[Gabs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally done😮‍💨

[Max Lapin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Кто в детстве или позже не читал Конан Дойля. А кто видел книгу, где указаны районы Лондона и не только, а еще и Англии, да даже маршрута от Рейхенбахского водопада двумя способами?

А еще в этой энциклопедии по Шерлоку Холмсу есть невероятные схемы, объясняющие дедуктивный метод детектива. В общем, самый настоящий интеллектуальный десерт. https://maxlapin.com/2020/11/27/b287/

[Cloak88 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete overview and context for the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, his Author and the time and place they lived in.

Review to follow.

[Meaningless · Rating 2 out of 5]

~After finishing it review~
The only redeeming qualities of this book is that 1) I read most of the quotes out-loud in my best Sherlock, Watson, and others impressions and 2) it provides a great deal of insight into Victorian and early Edwardian Britain/London.
If you are to read this book, I'd recommend reading it alongside a few other Big Ideas Simply Explained books: The Literature Book / The Poetry Book; The Crime Book; and The World War 1 Book. The first two will provide more context to other authors and works of fiction of the 19th century that this book references in a way that feels like they expect you to know them. This actually complements the third and fourth book here, as this goes into explaining the origins of crime fighting agencies and science that took of in the 19th century, as well as the pre-WW1 setting.

Something that I've noticed is that some of the dates given are off by a couple years, for example, there's two pages side-by-side that have slightly different start and finish dates for The Afghanistan War; and spelling errors are not uncommon to say, which can make this especially tricky to parse out when THERE ARE SO MANY uncommon, or what my old friend used to say, "fancy words" used - that's just something you may have to get used to whilst reading this, either constantly looking up these new words, ignore them, or use "ratiocination" - as the book teaches - to reason out their meanings. YOU SHOULD SEE how many "?" I wrote beside words, like "parish" "vicar(age)" "solid" "ignobly" "recalcitrant" "defrocked" "assizes" etc. etc.

I've read some reviews from Holmesians and Sherlockians, and they seem to criticize this book for doing a bad job at feeling immersed in the mysteries of these stories, as this book lays bare what happens, often spoiling events several pages ahead of time. What this book, I think attempted to do, was to be a reference guide to all of the canonical Sherlocks stories by Conan Doyle, the author, and the whole culture around it without much attempt to puff up the content to make it fun or engaging. This book was made to be pure information, without trying too hard to give meaning, or often times context, to that information. It can be a very dry read - MOST BIG IDEAS SIMPLY EXPLAINED BOOKS ARE NOT LIKE THIS! Trust me, I've read almost all of them by now.

This was my first time reading about Sherlock Holmes, aside from that small article in The Literature Book: BISE by DK, and my main introduction to the character, as I only know of him from that first season of Sherlock Holmes staring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and from a few passing cameos/references in random media, like probably Family Guy. So, I was not a Holmes fan, I read this because it's part of my personal goal to read all BISE books, and I'm in my "things people wrote" phase of it. Did this inspire me to become a Holmes fan after reading all his original stories from a secondhand source? No. At least I'm familiar with this fanbase and universe, now.
I really should watch those Guy Ritchie movies with Robert Downey Junior, huh? Yeahhhh.

Alright, now for some detail critiques of something no one cares about, ahahahaha!:

~My Reddit review while almost done the book~
Now this is a poorly written book! So, for starters, BISE books always have info boxes or images with a description laid out on every other page, which tends to give context of the main text body. What this book does unwell is placing them where they don't feel like they belong.

Firstly, within the first couple pages, before even having read any of the Sherlock stories, they give a info box with a long list of Conan Doyle's (the author of Sherlock) favorite Holmes stories! As someone who has never ready any of the stories, which this book is meant for, it feels like a load of rubbish as non of that information will make any sense! What this book does exceedingly well is telling you information that doesn't make any sense unless you do some extra reading outside the book! Like how they constantly reference other stories of the Victorian era, like from Oscar Wilde, seemingly expecting you to know what they mean!

Secondly, many of the info boxes and images feel a page or two ahead of the sub-headers, as they'll make much more sense once you've read the contents below the sub-header that leads to the next page or the body of text below the sub-header on the next page. The majority of BISE books are good at not doing this, this one however lags behind.

Lastly, the extra readings that are full of tiny snippets of info cards that are always located at the back of BISE books tend to feel relevant and are good to be read a few at a time while navigating the body of the book, but the ones here feel irrelevant, not worth reading.

What I do like about this book is immersing myself in the Victorian era, London. As much as this book is about Sherlock and his creator, Conan, it is also largely about painting the scene of what the time period of the 1880s to early 1900s was like. I really appreciate this immersion. Reading The World War 1 Book: BISE is a major complementary text to this as well, which I picked up recently to read alongside this book, as the first big part of that book is the decades leading up to 1914 - the same time frame of when the Sherlock stories were being published :)

[Thao Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book overall but it took me literally a decade to finish because of all the detailed information (and this book itself is already super thick!!!). I'm pretty sure that I'll re-read this book over and over again.
This one could be best served as a reference book, something that you read after finishing the main stories to find more easter eggs. All Sherlock Holmes stories were arranged chronologically, each story is covered by around 10 to 20 pages with original illustration. It talked about background stories, some hints that were not explained well enough in the main stories, Holmes's reasoning and etc. In some parts, it provided comparison between the stories which gives reader a more systematic thinking of how stories are related. A really enjoyable read.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sherlock Holmes Book is another incredible installment in the DK Big Ideas Simply Explained series of books. I appreciate intelligence. Sherlock Homes is brilliant. So is this book. It’s a terrific reference to the ins and outs of Mr. Holmes’ world.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably should have read Sherlock Holmes before reading this book. Oopsie.

[Titini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally... ΤΟ ΚΑΛΎΤΕΡΟ ΠΡΆΓΜΑ ΠΟΥ ΈΧΕΙ ΣΥΜΒΕΊ ΣΤΗ ΖΩΟΎΛΑ ΜΟΥ.-

[Suyog Garg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly informative introduction and a ready reference to Holmes. The illustrations are cool and the artwork accompanying each of the chapter nicely brings out the analytical details of the story concerned. There are some typos in the print though. Overall a good read. Some mild trivia here and there are especially likable.

[Deanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the Sherlock Holmes canon, plus details about sir Arthur Conan Doyle which adds insight. There's also a few chapters on the adaptations made for tv and film, and my personal bugbear books written by other authors who have hijacked the characters devised by someone who is now dead.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the essays were better than others, but definitely a book I think any Sherlock fan would enjoy.

[Mick Finlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent reference book for all the stories.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Or The Encyclopedia of Everything Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Starts out with basic overviews of Holmes' "life" (important people/events, etc.) and Conan Doyle's life (especially in regards to Homes, but same premise of when important people/events occurred). Then gives about a two page spread to each of the main characters throughout the Holmes cannon. After this, begins the breakdowns (which is about 90% of the book), taking each story collection as a timeframe, graphing out what important things happened in the world, Conan Doyle's life and Holmes' stories for this collection. Then looks at each story in the collection individually, pretty much doing a recap of the basic plot, characters and how the case ended, adding in any notes on where Conan Doyle's inspiration for any part of it did (if known) or may have (if unsure) come from. Also, usually mentions if there is a film version of the story, or if multiple, the most well liked by Holmsians (or Sherlockians, depending which side of the pond you live on). When the stories are done, provides a brief summary of Holmes appearances in non-canonical (not written by Conan Doyle, but may have his approval or not) stories/plays/film/radio dramas/etc. And finishing off with all Holmes' adaptations (up to around 2015) in movies and TV shows, focusing on the ones best received by Holmes fans. Though given a few paragraphs, this is aimed at an adult audience, so Holmes' appearances in children's lit is nowhere near as detailed and just covered in broad strokes. Also gives two pages to highlight some of Conan Doyle's other literary offerings and how they were received.

If, as a Holmes fan, you ever felt the need to have a summary of all of the stories at your finger tips, as well as any geek trivia each may have in it, this is for you! As an introduction to Holmes, I would steer clear, as it does spoil the ending of every story with little of the drama and detection that make them so fun. If you ever need to write any sort of paper on Holmes and/or Conan Doyle's Holmes years, this would make an excellent resource! I had a hard time really getting into it simply because I didn't really want to read about the stories, I'd rather be reading them firsthand, hence the rating.

Content notes: Very infrequent, mild swearing (sometimes a line from a story is quoted where a character is extremely put out and their swearing is written out). Women in the stories are sometimes known to have been a mistress or in other ways "sullied" their reputations, but this is not detailed in any way and only mentioned frankly and as applies to the case. In Conan Doyle's own life, there is a bit more hint of scandal, as after his first wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis, he admits to falling in love with another, younger woman (who eventually became his second wife), but he claims to have stayed faithful to his first wife until she died and to have only had a platonic relationship with the "other woman". Most of the cases have an element of violence, even in the ones that don't start out as murder cases; mostly fist/knife/gun shot/animal attack or poison style of violence; fatal injuries are mentioned with locations, but not generally with graphic detail; murder weapons and how they occurred are told but usually matter of fact-ly with Watson adding more drama than grotesque detail. Additionally, heavy tobacco product use throughout and occasional alcohol use (accurate to the time); Holmes' dalliance with opiates is also mentioned fairly frequently, but never portrayed as a good thing, and Watson is always strongly against him using drugs.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting recap of everything Holmes. In addition to biographical information about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, there are summaries of every story in the Holmes canon, short bits about the Victorian era, sidebars about things like hansom cabs, Jack the Ripper, and many others. There are lists of movies, authors of pastiches & parodies, TV shows, and much much more. People who are just starting out as fans of Holmes & Watson can find a lot of good source material here, in addition to canon.

This book is one BIG spoiler - if you have never read the original Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories, do NOT read this book until you have done so (I don't expect there to be many people who have not read the original in some language or other - all the stories have been translated into more languages than anything else except the Bible - another of the neat little facts from this book).

Also, if you have not read Sherlock Holmes, and you like mysteries, what are you waiting for? Then read this book for additional information.

[Ondina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recomiendo este libro a todo holmesiano o sherlockiano.

No solo te resume cada relato (GRACIAS, de verdad que no era capaz de recordarlos todos), también cuenta muchas curiosidades, e incluso añade datos de cada uno para que podamos ubicarnos en un contexto histórico. Así podemos descubrir de dónde sacaba Doyle los perfiles de los personajes o incluso las historias, qué pasaba en la propia vida del autor a la hora de escribir, qué pensaba de alguno de sus propios relatos...

De verdad, todo es información muy relevante que me ha ayudado muchísimo a entender mejor a Doyle, Holmes y Watson y todas sus aventuras.

Así que, fans de Sherlock Holmes, ¡este libro ya debería tener un sitio de honor guardado en vuestra estantería!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for Sherlock Holmes fans

This book begins with a short bio of Conon Doyle and then goes over all things, Sherlock.
It discusses the short stories and novels. Then it goes over Holmes, influence on the detective genre. In the end, it went over all the adaptions of the stories through the years as well as other characters that were parodies of Holmes.
It was a great way to show the history of a literary character that is as popular today as he was in Conan Doyle's time.
Great book any Sherlock Holmes fan would love and a great jumping-off place for new fans to see the magnitude of the character.

[Fatima Sarder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to my English teacher who forwent stuffy literature in favour of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as our mandated reading in high school.

This encyclopedia made for an immersive and informative read. I actually found out the name of a book I once borrowed from the library (The Beekeeper's Apprentice) - it was a Sherlock Holmes fan-fiction in published form (though I didn't know it at the time) where the aro-ace detective is married to his feisty, spirited apprentice.

For fans of the most enduring fictional detective - who spawned a veritable empire of stories, movies, art, theatre and the likes - this reference book is a must.

[J.J. Lair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 380 page book was complete with story synopsis, analysis, history and pictures. I enjoyed this study of Sherlock holmes over other books similar to this. It's not a scholarly treatise on Holmes. It gives Holmes in his time and place. What the times were like. How Holmes is viewed today. When Holmes stories were based on real events. I got a lot of good information out of this book. It was wwell written and paced well.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tons of great information about the original stories, and there was decent history about Doyle, as well. There could have been more extensive work done on the last few pages, where it listed other works, especially considering some Doyle works were excluded from the list. Otherwise, a really great read! Perfect for people just getting into the series and lifelong Holmesians who maybe missed a few details their last readthrough.

[Felikis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un interesante análisis sobre la obra más conocida de Arthur Conan Doyle. Las explicaciones sobre los casos y la narración son acompañados de notas de información que sitúan el contexto histórico de cada uno de los relatos, enriqueciendo la información que obtenemos de la lectura de los mismos (y que, en este siglo, nos son más desconocidas). Especialmente interesante en este aspecto resulta el último capítulo, "El mundo de Sherlock Holmes".