
The Enduring Fascination with Sherlock Holmes - apollinaire
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-enduring-fascination-with-sherlock-holmes-its-elementary/2019/06/18/34536fd8-9113-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html
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Aromasin
If you get the opportunity, listen to the fantastic narration of the audio-
books by Steven Fry. I don't find myself reading much outside of tech specs
nowadays, but listening to these while I was working was a joy. I binged every
single Sherlock Holmes book in a few days, and would class them as some of my
all time favourite novels now.

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gambiting
While you are at it, listen to his narration of the Hitchhiker's guide to the
galaxy. And Mythos.

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Aromasin
Second that. When I finished his Holmes narration I went and listened to
everything else he had on Audible. Victorian Secrets is also very
entertaining, as well his "Fry's English Delight" podcast. The man is a
treasure.

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Nullabillity
Are they available anywhere else than on Audible? I don't want to support the
company that seemingly spams up half of Youtube.

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Aromasin
I think his are all Audible exclusives as far as I'm aware. Despite what you
may say about their aggressive marketing practices, these narrations would
exist without Audible. They approached Fry about narrating these books, and
without the production team behind him they wouldn't be as good as they are.

I tend to agree with the premise of finding alternatives to FAANG services
generally, but when it comes to Audible I'm biased. In my eyes, the only
decent audiobooks that came out prior to their dominance were Games Workshop's
Black Library productions. Now there is a wonderful cornucopia of audiobooks
on offer that frankly would not exist in such a polished state without the
Audible team.

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vmurthy
Peter Bevelin[1] has made a wonderful compilation of the _lessons_ one can
learn from Sherlock Holmes. The book is a great aid to thinking better.

I have also heard that Mastermind by Maria Popova[2] is a good read

[1][https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18471784-a-few-
lesson...](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18471784-a-few-lessons-from-
sherlock-holmes)

[2][https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15805442-mastermind?ac=1...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15805442-mastermind?ac=1&from_search=true)

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Dumblydorr
Sherlock is an amazing character. He is an expert actor and master of
disguise, loves theatrics, and is remarkably kind and helpful. I find myself
using his phrases and thought processes, his logical reasoning is inspiring.

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MrMember
I think part of it is that Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain (well,
mostly, some specific story points are still off limits). Anyone can create a
Holmes story in any medium and profit from it.

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blacksqr
Holmes is the first literary hero on the gifted spectrum, and hence prophetic.
Thus he becomes more and more relevant and noteworthy over time.

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ggggtez
>first literary hero on the gifted spectrum

Why do you make this claim that there were no "gifted" heros in books before
1892? That seems pretty unlikely. Not even in myths?

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edmundsauto
I don't know all the myths, but to me it appears that heroes before Holmes
were praised for bravery, physicality, devotion to country/god, or another
dimension. I'd love to know of any that were truly cerebral heroes -- maybe
Loki is the closest, although at chaotic neutral it's a stretch to consider
him a hero.

(Also mostly familiar with Western myths. Odysseus was praised for his
cleverness, which is a kissing cousin... but it was his cleverness in war,
which makes it more of a 3rd cousin IMO.)

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goto11
Odysseys was not just clever in war. For example he uses wordplay and disguise
to escape from capture by the Cyclop.

Loki and Odysseus are examples of "trickstes", legendary characters who use
cunning rather than strength to get ahead. They are often also morally
ambiguous and subverts the rules of society though, while detective stories
like Holmes are about restoring order and justice, even if the detective have
to bend the rules a bit along the way.

Oedipus is perhaps a closer parallel - Oedipus Rex is basically a detective
story where he has to investigate who killed King Laius in order to lift a
curse. Turns out it was Oedipus himself! Justice is restored, but of course at
great cost to Oedipus himself.

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edmundsauto
Is Holmes really about justice, or is he about solving a difficult problem?

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goto11
Homes the character cares mostly about the challenge, but compared to a
"trickster" character like Loki, he is not subversive. He uses solves the
crime, he doesn't commit it.

