What I Read in the Afternoon: A Study In Scarlet

What I read in this sunny noon? Sherlock Holmes. Yes, again. This one is A Study in Scarlet, where Holmes first appeared in Sir Conan Doyle's. You can read it here.



"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

"But the Solar System!" I protested.

"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently: "You say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."

I think this is not what they said ignorance is a bliss. This is about how you manage your mind, what to put in it and what to throw. Nice, Mr. Holmes. You're still one of the smartest I ever known.