Free How to Think Like Sherlock by Daniel Smith Page A

you must master it, rather than it you. Gather together all the information you have in as logical a system as you can. Wading through huge piles of information fragments is not conducive to effective sifting.
Keep an eye on the bigger picture
Always keep in mind the big puzzle that you are trying to solve when considering if you have a small piece of it in your hand.
Give yourself time and space to evaluate the information
Spending hours on end staring at data is not the best way to analyse it. Indeed, you might be one of those people whose optimum thinking is done in the shower or while going for a run.
Don’t be over-reliant on intuition
It is useful to have a gut-instinct about whether to trust one piece of information more than another. But beware of dismissing information on a whim. And always ask the question: do I have all the pertinent information?
Beware the ‘recency’ effect
We have a tendency to prioritise the information that we have most recently acquired. Recency and relevance are not inherently linked.
Retain the chaff
Until you have successfully worked through your ‘wheat’ and solved your conundrum, you may need to revisit the ‘chaff’ to see if there is anything you have missed.

    The job of information sifting is easier if your note-taking powers are up to scratch. The secret to good notes, as any exasperated university lecturer will tell you, is not to take down verbatim accounts. Such an approach ensures that data will slip seamlessly in and immediately out of your brain. The trick is to actively engage with the material you are taking notes on, encode it in a way meaningful to you and reference it to your own knowledge. What does this mean in practice?
You must grasp the point of the information you are taking notes on.
    Cut out any extraneous information as you note-take. For instance, if you are working from a textbook, you might begin by highlighting short passages that best carry the point of the text. Similarly, if you are taking notes while someone is speaking, you should not jot down their verbal ticks or detail long examples given to reinforce a simple point. By being selective in what you note down, you are engaging with the material and have already started the sifting process.

If your initial note-taking process leaves you with rather scruffy notes, re-inscribe them neatly at the earliest opportunity. The longer you leave it, the more notes you are likely to accumulate, and the thought of writing them up neatly will become less appealing.
Use devices to make your notes as easy to review as possible. Most simply, use headings and subheadings. This will add structure to what you write and how you think.
Consider more complex devices too. Will a graph or a diagram make a point most clearly? Colour-coding is another way to make notes visually stimulating. You might write up a main point in blue ink, illustrate with an example in green ink and add some concluding thoughts in red.
One popular way to visually present interconnected ideas or subject matter is the spidergram, also known as the mind map. Spidergrams are a great and simple way to concentrate a lot of ideas in a small space, making review easy and often prompting new trains of thoughts by giving you an overview of the big picture. Here’s how you might create one:
At the centre of a blank piece of paper, write your key word or phrase.
Draw lines from this central concept. Each new branch (or spider’s leg) connects to a related idea or thought.
Impose some order. Don’t let the spidergram get out of control. If there is a clear hierarchy of ideas, number the sections or use a radial hierarchy.
Let your creativity run free. Feel free to use a mixture of upper and lower case printing, different colours, symbols or images. You set the rules.

    Here is an example of a spidergram that Holmes might have drawn for ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’:

     
    Improving Your Memory
     
‘My mind is like a crowded box-room with