The Sign of The Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle author of A Study In Scarlet – my note is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/08/a-study-in-scarlet-by-arthur-conan.html along with hundreds of other reviews - 9 out of 10

 

The Sign of The Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle author of A Study In Scarlet – my note is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/08/a-study-in-scarlet-by-arthur-conan.html along with hundreds of other reviews

 

9 out of 10

 

 

The Mystery Writers of America published a list named The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time and The Complete Sherlock Holmes is at number one, somewhat strangely, The British, with their own Crime Writers’ Association have placed it only at twenty-one, on their Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, though it is still an achievement

 

Sherlock Homes is quite a character, one of the most famous detectives, perhaps the best known, together with Hercule Poirot https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-secret-adversary-by-agatha-christie.html two smart men that may be unfamiliar to younger generations, who could know better film sleuths

In A Study in Scarlet, we find the hero less awesome, since he is presented as knowing very little, if anything, that is not applicable to his art, he is the first, perhaps the only detective at that time, and he has incredible capacities, his deductions are formidable, and yet, whatever is outside his field appeared irrelevant to him

 

When he meets doctor Watson, his equally famous associate, Sherlock Homes is able to tell he has been in Afghanistan, and a good number of other things, while in The Sign of The Four, we have another sample of the ability, when he shows he could tell how the doctor had been to the post office, from his shoes and other things

About the brother, we hear that he has been in trouble, then he had good periods, and more details besides, just by looking at the watch that Watson shows, and looking at scratches on the object, then the peculiar marks left by pawnshop owners, while the doctor is outraged thinking something else, before he sees the thought mechanism

 

The introduction is quite unexpected, for we find the acclaimed detective indulging, he is a drug addict, using morphine or cocaine, and we could wonder, is this the fellow we appreciate, want to know about, what is his contribution, and how much is it the substance abuse that makes the mysteries disappear, in a puff of smoke

Evidently, addiction is a serious problem, and we have moved from just blaming the victims of abuse, to a better understanding, and looking for solutions, trying to have them go through treatment, get into facilities, if they can afford it, but there is still this issue, what is the effect of cocaine on Sherlock Homes, and how do we take it

 

He explains the fact that he needs challenges, and thus he proves the truth explained in Flow https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/10/flow-by-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-this-is.html a classic of psychology, the author is the co-founder of positive psychology, Mihaly  Csikszentmihalyi, who has studied Optimum Experience

Counterintuitively, we are not getting into The Zone while we are in front of the television – or the newer versions, screens of various kinds – but when we are in fact challenged, which is what Sherlock Homes said, and he is again absolutely right, for we have some conditions for Peak Experience, detailed in the fabulous Flow

 

These are – you are in control, nothing else matters, it is an autotelic event, with clear goals, time is relative ‘Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute…’ courtesy of Albert Einstein, you have constant and instant feedback, like in tennis

Regarding the time, in flow we have the examples of a brain surgeon, coming out of an operation and asking for lunch, only to be told that this is evening already, he had been so concentrated that the couple of hours he thought he had spent have become many more, and at the same time, there is another experience…

 

A ballerina will dance on the stage for just one minute, but the intensity, ardor of the performance makes it seem like a whole day, and then we have the challenges meet skills, or being on the line between burnout and boredom, which is related to tennis, and other sports and endeavors in the magic book

If you play with an adversary that is much better, say tennis with Nadal, then it is not a joy, but a burden, for someone in that position will exhaust the opponent – unless it is that Djokovic, the one I dislike so much, for his position on vaccines and other, political stands – and the same when you play with one who is much weaker

 

Crime stories can be exhilarating and hilarious, take Malice Aforethought https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/11/malice-aforethought-by-anthony-berkeley.html by Francis Iles with its ‘immortal’ first line ‘It was not until several weeks after I had decided to murder my wife that I (Doctor Bickleigh) took any active steps in the matter."

I am reading, in fact it is an audiobook, the dialogue between Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, with the translator between them, which is so extraordinary at times, revealing so many facts, details, even innuendo from the professional life of the great film maker, how he worked with Ingrid Bergman, Claude Reins, who was short

Arthur Hitchcock reveals that he had wanted to adapt Malice Aforethought, and then says the first line to Truffaut, also explains the infamous quote ‘actors are cattle’, saying that at the start of his career, most thespians were concentrated on the theater, and disdained their activity in filming, which was just a side show…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”