Amazon.com
Despite (or because of) the tremendous success of his Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle always tended to play down their value and importance in his life. Just before his death in 1930, he drew a memorable sketch of his life's work. Conan Doyle portrayed events from his life as a series of packing cases being loaded onto a wagon and pulled by a flea-bitten workhorse. Perhaps the heaviest case of all, notes Daniel Stashower in his fascinating biography Teller of Tales, is the one that reads "Sherlock Holmes."
Stashower's intent is to show that Conan Doyle was not Sherlock Holmes, and that his life consisted of much more than the now ridiculed spiritualism to which he devoted much of his later years. He succeeds to a surprising degree, convincing us that The White Company and Sir Nigel (forgotten novels that Conan Doyle thought were his best) are indeed worth reading. As for the spiritualism, Stashower meticulously places his subject's long fascination with it into a compassionate and fully researched social context. We come away certain that Conan Doyle (along with many other worthy citizens of the period) really believed in it. --Dick Adler
Book Description
Winner of the 1999 Edgar Award for Best Biographical Work, this is "an excellent biography of the man who created Sherlock Holmes" (David Walton, The New York Times Book Review)
This fresh, compelling biography examines the extraordinary life and strange contrasts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the struggling provincial doctor who became the most popular storyteller of his age. From his youthful exploits aboard a whaling ship to his often stormy friendships with such figures as Harry Houdini and George Bernard Shaw, Conan Doyle lived a life as gripping as one of his adventures. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written, Teller of Tales sets aside many myths and misconceptions to present a vivid portrait of the man behind the legend of Baker Street, with a particular emphasis on the Psychic Crusade that dominated his final years-the work that Conan Doyle himself felt to be "the most important thing in the world."
Customer Reviews:
Arthur Conan Doyle, not Sherlock Holmes.......2005-08-24
This is a very readable and engaging biography of Arthur Conan Doyle. While many people only think of him in association with the stories of Sherlock Holmes, in fact Conan Doyle (his compound last name) was a multi-faceted man who grew up in poverty, became a medical doctor, served on a whaling ship in the Arctic, and worked in an Army hospital during the Boer War. He began his literary career writing stories for magazines, and one of these stories concerned a detective named Sherlock Holmes. The Sherlock Holmes stories became popular, although Conan Doyle did not consider them serious literature and would come to consider the demand for this character as pulling him away from his efforts at more important works.
Conan Doyle lost many close relatives during WWI. Perhaps as a result of this he developed a deep interest in spiritualism, and this interest gradually began to absorb his life as he left off literary pursuits to advocate for spiritualist research via press and podium. This advocacy led many to lose their esteem for the creator of Sherlock Holmes since they assumed that Conan Doyle and Sherlock must be one and the same in personality and temperament.
I was interested to learn that Conan Doyle wrote his detective stories by determining the ending, and then working back toward it. Thus his character's "brilliant observations" and deductions were always carefully planned by knowledge of the solution before it was apparent to the reader. While Sherlock's powers of observation and deduction came to represent a paradigm of rational scientific proof, in reality they were an illusion working back from given solutions. In the same way, Conan Doyle would advocate for spiritualism by pleading for people to restrain their skepticism, and believe in order to know. Seen in this way, the contrast between his flinty-eyed detective and the real-life Conan Doyle's interest in spiritualism seems less dramatic.
Overall, this book read like a novel and was a good balance between Conan Doyle's whole life story and the part of it that involved Sherlock Holmes.
An entertaining and informative Read.......2005-03-25
Teller of tales is a biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, writer of the Sherlock Holmes series. I was required to read a non-fiction book and write a review for the book on amazon.com. At the time, I had just been introduced to the Sherlock Holmes series, and was currently reading my way though a collection of these novels. I was intrigued by he author's unusual writing style, and somewhat ashamed that I knew nothing about him, so I decided to read his biography.
The author of this biography, Daniel Stashower, addresses a lot of controversies pertaining to Conan Doyle throughout the book, rationalizing some of Conan's more unusual decisions and actions while keeping an impartial 3rd person tone throughout the entire book. "Many critics assume that the reason for Conan's actions were this, but at the time Conan was going through this. It can be speculated that..."
The book was very entertaining and thought provoking. Conan Doyle himself is an interesting character, though he is nothing like his famous book character. Besides eth actual storyline, there were many great books written during Conan Doyle's time period, but none of these books are required reading through high school. After reading this, there are many novels I want to look into, novels that I would never have heard of otherwise. Although I feel it is a shame that many kids my age never have and never will read these stories, I can't remember enjoying any book I was forced to read.
Daniel Stashower has written several mystery novels of his own along with writing this biography. He is also a freelance journalist, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and many others. However, it is easy to tell that he is a credible author when reading Teller of Tales.
I can only think of one drawback to this book, and it wouldn't be fair to hold this against the book or the writer. I personally can't read more than one book at a time. Since I stopped reading my Sherlock Holmes collection to read this novel, and since the book makes many references to these stories and stories by other authors that I would like to read, the task of finishing this book has become somewhat painful.
Conan Doyle From the Outside.......2001-11-18
Daniel Stashower's biography of Conan Doyle is well written, as one would expect from the author of the Houdini mysteries, but never profound. We are given the great man's public life without any deep examination of the inner man. The result is a rather straightforward narrative, interesting because Conan Doyle led a fascinating life, but with all the weight of a magazine profile. The complete absence of citations reinforces this impression, and there are no footnotes, although a comprehensive bibliography is included.
Excellent Biography.......2001-08-28
Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle was a complex and honorable man. Toward the end of his life he embraced spiritualisim as he did everything else, wholeheartedly, and this led to many people dismissing him as a crackpot. However, as author Daniel Stashower pointst out, such was not the case. Conan-Doyle really believed in life after death. This belief filled the void in his life that was left when he renounced his belief in the Catholic Church. Daniel Stashower has written an even-handed fair biography of Conan-Doyle. The book is well researched and Conan-Doyle comes to life on these pages. Conan-Doyle, of course, is best known for creating Sherlock Holmes but as Stashower shows Conan-Doyle wrote many more works of fiction and non-fiction in his long career. If you want to have an idea of what made the man behind Sherlock Holmes tick then I recommend this book highly.
Conan Doyle Comes to Life..........2001-05-15
Years ago I read the biographies of Conan Doyle by John Dickson Carr and Charles Higham, and even tried to get beyond Sherlock Holmes by reading as much as I could of Conan Doyle's other fiction. Therefore I thought I knew something about Conan Doyle as a writer and as a person, but Stashower's fine book was still a revelation to me; it's not an exaggeration to say that I found new insights into Sir Arthur on nearly every page.
Stashower has done his research, but he is also unafraid to use Conan Doyle's semiautobiographical fiction, not to mention his poetry, to provide windows into the inner Sir Arthur that Sir Arthur's own autobiography carefully conceals.
Sir Arthur, of course, created a character that (along with Tarzan) is one of the immortal icons of adventure fiction, a character as popular today as he was when his short stories first hit the STRAND Magazine like a thunderbolt. One thing everyone knows about Conan Doyle is how deeply he resented the fame of Sherlock Holmes, but even here Stashower has some startling information to relate.
He is particularly good on the last couple of decades of Sir Arthur's life, when his seemingly mindless advocacy of even the most infantile and transparently fradulent aspects of Spiritualism, and his output of nearly a dozen unreadable religious tracts, left almost all of his readers convinced he had lost his mind. His endorsement of the authenticity of some photographs of fairies supposedly taken by two little girls (who had actually cut the tiny figures out of very familiar magazine ads for Fairy Soap!), and his calling in a psychic detective to "solve" the not-very-mysterious disappearance of novelist Agatha Christie, were the final straws for even his most tolerant fans.
On top of it all Sir Arthur was a terrible judge of the relative merits of his own fiction, and anyone who attempts to read his entire fictional output, as I did some years ago and as Stashower obviously has, will see how sadly he frittered away and squandered his unique gifts as a "teller of tales."
How could a man who created one of the immortal icons of rationality be in person so gullible, irrational, foolish and unworldly? Well, Stashower does as good a job of explaining the apparent paradox as anyone will probably be able to do. Highly recommended.
Book Description
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed with the utmost sincerity in the validity of Spiritualism and became one of its most fervent propagandists. Harry Houdini was a skeptic and became, in Conan Doyle's words, "the greatest medium-baiter of modern times." FINAL SEANCE is the fascinating story of their five-year friendship, years that were filled with exciting adventures, paranormal investigations, and confrontations among the "spirits."
Customer Reviews:
A Fascinating Subject, but Less Letter is Better.......2007-08-15
The friendship between Houdini and Conan Doyle was truly a strange one. The first man made his living at deception, yet spear-headed a crusade to unmask other deceivers. The second man is famous for the logical-minded, methodical, and observant character he created, but as for himself, he must have been the most gullible man alive. Conan Doyle actually believed that Houdini had the power to dematerialize and was even fooled by the rather infantile finger trick -- by which a person "disconnects" the forefinger up to the first joint.
Although the topic is fascinating, sadly, the letters of Houdini and Conan Doyle are tedious and wordy. I found myself endlessly skimming them in order to return to the next seance or the next significant event.
Still, I found all the accounts of mediums and their spiritualistic shenanigans mysterious, in spite of Houdini's repeated attempts to discredit them. Some of the explanations presented by the author Polidoro are so complicated and unwieldy, it would be easier to believe in the spirits! Is it really possible to swallow a roll of gauze and regurgitate it later as "ectoplasm?" Could a man really surgically alter his wife so that she could smuggle items into a seance? (Shudder.)
Worth reading for those fascinated with the topic (like me), but we could wish that the two principal subjects had been a little less tedious in their correspondence -- or that Polidoro had just summarized more often!
Dianne K. Salerni
Author of High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance
High Spirits: A Tale of Ghostly Rapping and Romance
The Skeptic vs. the Believer .......2005-11-23
Final Séance is a strange book about two strange individuals who strangely enough became involved in a strange friendship:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Creator of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, internationally known author and believer in Spiritualism, who chose to believe in more or less any medium he encountered, as long as the messages received confirmed his preconceived ideas.
Harry Houdini - The world's greatest escapologist, acclaimed magician and illusionist who never said his performances had anything but natural explanations, and over the years one of the foremost debunkers of many alleged occult matters.
Or in other words, the skeptic vs. the believer. Could these two gentlemen really be friends? Absolutely, and good ones, too. Massimo Polidoro of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of the Paranormal has written a book where he tells the stories of how they met, why they met, how their friendship evolved over the years yet ultimately came to a tragic end.
Their friendship was quite unorthodox: Doyle the believer in everything and Houdini the believer in nothing (though he said himself if was willing to believe were solid evidence ever to be shown to him). Fine, but is it interesting to read a book about a friendship, unusual as it may have been, and furthermore, a book that is mostly based on surviving letters between the two? For sure, because Final Séance is more than just a book about their friendship. It's actually a whole lot more.
First of all, it offers a good description of how Spiritualism evolved in Great Britain and North America at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. People everywhere became convinced that communication with the dead was indeed possible, and in dark rooms on both sides of the Atlantic different mediums claimed to be able to make contact with the ones who had passed on. The fact that mediums on a regularly basis were exposed as frauds never dampened the spirit (no pun intended), and that alone is an interesting cultural phenomenon well worth investigating.
Secondly, one cannot avoid being fascinated about the fact that two so very different people were able to ever be friends, when one of them believed wholeheartedly in what the other one rejected passionately. Humbleness and tolerance were the key ingredients, and the elegant use of the English language they both used in their letters truly is a joy to experience.
Furthermore, many of the ideas that evolved during these years are still with us today, and thus the book is useful to anyone interested in the historical background to what today is known as New Age.
However, the main focus is on the friendship, and because of this the book is merely complementary to the history of the New Age and the growth of Spiritualism. But if you're interested in reading about two fascinating human beings and at the same time have a reminder that different beliefs don't necessary equal discord, then Final Séance is well worth looking into.
Fascinating book for more than just Houdini - Conan Doyle fans.......2005-07-12
I was so fascinated by this book that I read it in one evening. In a narrow sense, the topic is the discussion/debate between Houdini and Conan Doyle about spiritualism that first made them friends and then opponents. In a larger sense, I think that it has a great deal to say about the human mind and deserves a wide audience. It is an excellent example of how hard it is to consider objectively such subjects in which people invest so much emotion. Conan Doyle was so determined to believe that Houdini was a psychic that nothing Houdini said could deter him.
I have thought for a long time about the issue of trust and credibility. If I would believe someone if they told me that they just saw the bus go by, why don't I necessarily believe them if they tell me that they spoke to a spirit, or god, etc. As this book illustrates, these are issues which have historically involved some much delusion and deception that it is important to proceed with caution. (Of course, it would help if all prophets said the same thing.) I know that I will be thinking about it and quoting it to people for quite a while.
Polidoro is clearly on the side of the skeptics, and makes his affiliations clear up front. He remains, however, sympathetic to Conan Doyle and clearly admires the latter's kindness, intelligence and generally amiable and honorable character. Although he sides intellectually with Houdini, he doesn't attempt to cover his arrogance and boasting.
Recommended to everyone, except perhaps, convinced spiritualists, although even they might find it a useful cautionary tale, if not a convincing argument.
Interesting but dry.......2005-02-23
This book was very interesting, but it made for dry reading. Certainly not a page-turner. If you can get through the first half of the book, it gets more interesting toward the end.
In addition, the author did not impress me as being an impartial source. It was clear that he agreed with Houdini from the start and he set out to make Conan Doyle look as ridiculous as possible. Perhaps Conan Doyle really was that foolish, but the author was too biased for me to take his word for it.
Couldn't stay awake.......2005-02-23
It was written in the style of Dracula with alot of correspondence. The auther was also very biased towards Houdini. It was not very objective.
Book Description
These richly atmospheric tales from Victorian London trace the continuing adventures of an ever-popular sleuth: "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Red-headed League," "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Final Problem," "The Adventure of the Empty House," "The Musgrave Ritual," more. Large print edition.
Average customer rating:
- By: Julie Shives
- Good to read if you like mysteries
- Was I ever surprised!
- Doyle at his best
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The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Puffin Classics)
Arthur Conan Doyle
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 014036689X |
Customer Reviews:
By: Julie Shives.......2005-05-11
The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a fantastic book. Having amazing description I can paint a very detailed picture in my mind. Although it may have short stories in it, these are stories that have had a lot of thought put in to them. I can tell this by how amazing Sherlock Holmes is able to figure out his cases. He focuses on ever little detail to figure the most difficult cases. It's especially amazing how he figures it out so quickly. Hearing this it may seem as if it is impossible, but when you read the book, in the end, when Holmes tells the other characters how he figured out this case, he explains it so well that it is quite believable. This book is so great that I can't even explain the amount of talent was used to make these stories possible.
Although this book was a wonderful book, it also had some down sides to it. When reading this book, in the beginning of each story, the author went a little too quickly in to the case so the reader doesn't understand what's going on until the middle of the story. But to make up for his rushed start the author explains the case with much detail and informing the reader on every little detail about the case. All in all, The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a very good book that I would recommend to anybody that likes mysteries, even if it does have some down sides.
Good to read if you like mysteries.......2005-01-27
This was a pretty good book. It was kinda boring for a long time but if you get into it it's not that bad.The lanuge they use in the book(old english)can get really annoying. Sometimes it is really hard to understand. Overall it was a pretty good book, but it was log and sometimes really boring.I recomend this book to people who have alot of time to read, its long and hard to understand.
Was I ever surprised!.......2001-02-16
When my son and husband chose The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for our monthly book discussion, I was certain I'd be bored senseless but figured it was only fair that they choose some of the titles, too. Far from bored, however, I actually loved the droll accounts of Sherlock's sleuthing talents. In fact, as I read, I could "hear" a radio broadcast of the stories in my head. As it turns out, recordings of the mysteries are available, as are films of the adventures. It will be interesting to see how these compare to the version in my head.
If you are sharing these stories with young readers, you may want to read the first story aloud. This proved helpful to my son, who initially had a little trouble "getting into" the rhythm of the narrative. After "The Solitary Cyclist," however, he was happily on his own. He is now tackling a two-volume collection of Doyle's mysteries.
Doyle at his best.......1999-05-02
This book is great. Although there are two other books like this one, I prefer this one the best. My favorite mystery in it is "The Red Headed League." An honorable mention is "The Engineer's Thumb." You won't regret buying this book, so... go ahead!
Customer Reviews:
An entertaining read!.......2001-06-03
This is the first Conan book I have read from the popular Tor series, although I have read some of Robert E. Howard's original stuff. In this one, King Conan befriends the Jester dwarf, Delvyn after a battle with Nemidia and Ophir leaves Conan victoious against the two rival kingdoms. Conan is easily suckered by Delvyn into expanding his power and becoming the emperor of all the hyborean kingdoms. But the dwarf has an ulterior motive, and that is to hook up with a king powerful enough to spread the cult of some weirdo demon to the whole world, and he figures Conan is stupid enough to do it, and global mayhem ensues as Conan tramples over neighboring kingodoms in an attempt to rule the world before Armiro, prince of Koth does it first. Overall, the book was entertaining, but I couldn't help feelin that it was a bit unworthy as a follow-up to The Hour of the Dragon bu REH. The story seemed to miander a bit and was a little over long, and the ending was a bit dissapointing. Conan's reasons for conquering the world should have been a little stronger, and the book lacked the pulpy brutality that REH enfused into his stories of Conan's world . But the book was good enough to encourage me to pick up some of the other Conan books Tor has produced, so it does have some merit.
An entertaining read!.......2001-06-03
This is the first Conan book I have read from the popular Tor series, although I have read some of Robert E. Howard's original stuff. In this one, King Conan befriends the Jester dwarf, Delvyn after a battle with Nemidia and Ophir leaves Conan victoious against the two rival kingdoms. Conan is easily suckered by Delvyn into expanding his power and becoming the emperor of all the hyborean kingdoms. But the dwarf has an ulterior motive, and that is to hook up with a king powerful enough to spread the cult of some weirdo demon to the whole world, and he figures Conan is stupid enough to do it. Global mayhem ensues as Conan tramples over neighboring kingodoms in an attempt to rule the world before Armiro, prince of Koth does it first. Overall, the book was entertaining, but I couldn't help feeling that it was a bit unworthy as a follow-up to The Hour of the Dragon by REH. The story seemed to miander a bit and was a little over long, and the ending was a bit dissapointing. Conan's reasons for conquering the world should have been a little stronger, and the book lacked the pulpy brutality that REH enfused into his stories of Conan's world . But the book was good enough to encourage me to pick up some of the other Conan books Tor has produced, so it does have some merit.
Book Description
Arthur Conan Doyle did not rely on imagination for the amazing cases tackled by his hero, Sherlock Holmes, after all. Drawing on new research that follows the tracks the author left in the real world, Peter Costello details how Conan Doyle’s fictional outpourings were the direct result of his hidden career as an amateur detective and criminologist. This fascinating book shows how many of Holmes’s methods of deduction were actually methods his creator used to solve real crimes, and how real-life Scotland Yard had a Sherlock Holmes of its own: Arthur Conan Doyle.
Eight pages of rare photographs are featured in this updated, revised edition of The Real World of Sherlock Holmes.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding True Crime Book.......2007-01-14
Peter Costello's Conan Doyle: Detective is one of the most fascinating true crime books published in the 21st Century. Like his fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a detective.
However, Doyle was strictly an amateur and many of his cases, such as that of Jack the Ripper, were approached as an armchair detective who based his theories more from newspaper accounts and gossip rather than from first hand investigation.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have been a disappointment as a would be detective, but this absorbing, well written book is anything but a disappointment.
Most recommended.
Average customer rating:
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The Great Boer War
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 142645516X
Release Date: 2006-11-14 |
Book Description
Take a community of Dutchmen of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots who gave up home and fortune and left their country for ever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Amazon.com
Perhaps we are drawn to detective stories because they represent our hunger to solve the ultimate spiritual mysteries of humankind. "After all, if the sleuth can discover the darkest and most guarded and protected stories within the human heart, can that of God's inscrutable will be far behind?" suggests parish minister and author Stephen Kendrick. In this ambitious yet highly successful book, author Kendrick explains how Sherlock Holmes's crime-solving methods of attention and observation can indeed help us solve and understand our own spiritual mysteries.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer who created Sherlock Holmes, certainly appreciated these parallels. Doyle himself had a strong interest in metaphysical and spiritual studies and inserted many of these references into his stories. Kendrick catches them all--from Holmes's Zen-Buddhist gleanings to the detective's painful bouts of soul-doubting despair. Kendrick also shows how Holmes's five basic detective principles can be applied to spiritual sleuthing: nothing is irrelevant; notice what we see; beware the deceptiveness of the ordinary; the bizarre is not necessarily the mysterious; and never presume anything. With his insightful and engaging writing style, Kendrick will gratify mystery fans and mystics alike. --Gail Hudson
Book Description
An unlikely yet utterly engaging new take on Sherlock Holmes: as a spiritual guide and master of a Zen-like approach to observation who can provide insight for the modern, skeptical searcher.
Taking inspiration from Holmes's comment to Dr. Watson-- "You see but you do not observe"--Stephen Kendrick examines the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle for the religious and metaphysical lessons they offer. He maintains that detective fiction can be read as religious parable, and that the methods of investigation--particularly that of careful observation, what Buddhism calls "Bare Attention"--used in solving crime are the same methods that yield religious insight when applied to the world and the human heart. the lessons of detection--nothing is insignificant, notice what you see, the bizarre is not always mysterious, never presume anything--are also instructions in how to become attuned to the mystery of life and God.
Wide-ranging and eclectic in its approach, this is a perceptive and entertaining look at a cultural icon, at the most profound issues of life and death, and at what one has to teach us about the other.
Customer Reviews:
Key to the Mysteries.......2005-07-19
Who better than a Unitarian clergyman to explore the spiritual values embedded in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes, the archetype of the coolly detached and relentlessly rational detective? Taking as his premise that detective stories should be read as modern mystery plays, the Reverend Stephen Kendrick argues that the sixty Holmes stories and novels are rooted in medieval fabliau, dealing with taboo subjects in a more human way than Scripture and liturgy with their overtly sacred subjects and explicit demarcation of good and evil. Drawing on the rationalistic and eclectic methods of his own religious tradition, Kendrick attempts to delineate the roots of Holmes' spirituality and finds them in Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism, especially in its Zen expression.
His conclusions are threefold: First, he argues that Holmes' attention to detail, a key component of his character, is linked both to the Christian spiritual practice of attentiveness and the Zen practice of bare attention - seeing things as they exactly are. And both of these are inexorably linked to the pursuit of truth, the ultimate concern of all religion. Second, although to Holmes the skeptic God may often be comprehended only as a shadow, central to the stories is one clear and unambiguous aspect of the divine reality, a God of justice who rules a creation where right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness are understood in all clarity and truth. And third, Holmes the scientist proves himself again and again to be a person of vision, able to see "all united" in much the same way Christian mystics from Julian of Norwich to Matthew Fox have discerned the interconnectivity of all things and all people.
While no one would ever mistake Holmes the "thinking machine" as a man of religious sentiment, Kendrick proves quite satisfactorily that in Sherlock Holmes we can find a man with a great heart for whom religion was found in the details; for whom science taught that the more we know, the more we appreciate the mystery of creation; and for whom mercy and forgiveness were part and parcel of judgment and justice. After all, it was Sherlock Holmes who observed to Watson that "our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.... [a] rose is extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."
Wonderful Insights on Holmes, Doyle, and Mystery Literature.......2000-05-28
This little book is one of the most insightful books I have ever read. It makes a very convincing argument that Sherlock Holmes had a great understanding of the human spirit, and as a detective, brought both justice and mercy to bear in his cases. The author knows his Holmes literature very well and also pulls in a great deal of other literature from the mystery genre in a way that provokes a great deal of curiousity. I found myself reading and rereading a lot of mystery fiction after finishing this book.
This book will give you many insights into both Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle, along with other mystery literature. I have read the book through several times, and it has really deepened my appreciation of mystery literature and Holmes in general. I would put it into the "desert island" category of books.
Excellent!.......2000-03-26
A very entertaining way of looking at the questions of life, using the Sherlockian Canon as your guide.
Charming, delightful, and very wise.......1999-11-28
I found this book a very pleasant surprise. Sherlock Holmes on religion? Surely this could not be a serious book. Then I read a paragraph at random and was fascinated--and immediately bought a copy. Of course Stephen Kendrick edits his quotes from Holmes to show the detective's nobler sentiments; there is none of the negativity here (no reference to drugs or other evidence of the character's darker nature.) The book is very inspirational and is a real pleasure to read. I feel that there is no coincidence that early religious plays were called "Mystery Plays"--Mr. Kendrick argues that we are all detectives investigating the greatest mystery of all.
One should also remember that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was committed to the Spiritualist cause at about the same time he started writing the Holmes stories, and these tales paid for and possibly helped propagandize his own religious views. Kendrick has simply uncovered the message that Doyle wrote in the stories a hundred years ago. He has done a very capable job.
See and observe.......1999-08-22
Stephen Kendrick has done a wonderful job. Holmes has always been fascinating to me. When I discovered a book that mixed one of my childhood heroes with the greatest mystery, I had to buy the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes or life's questions. In our information rich lives it is very easy to see and not observe. Kendrick reminds us that the true answers can be found in the smallest things. Buy the book!
Average customer rating:
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Great Works Of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:(Classics of World Literature)
Rh Value Publishing
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0517642824
Release Date: 1987-09-09 |
Books:
- The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain)
- The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
- The Chaos Curse (Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet, Book 5)
- The Children of Húrin
- The City of Falling Angels
- The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, Deluxe Edition (Literary Classics (Gramercy Books))
- The Dark Sleep (Vampire Files)
- The Dragon's Son (Dragonvarld Trilogy, Book 2)
- The Enchanted Forest Chronicles: Dealing with Dragons / Searching for Dragons / Calling on Dragons / Talking to Dragons
- The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
Books Index
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- Atlas Major
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- Amelia's Easy-As-Pie Drawing Guide
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The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Final Seance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle
The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder
The Doctor and the Detective: A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Murder, My Dear Watson: New Tales of Sherlock Holmes
