Sherlock Holmes: Unraveling Big Ideas in an Easy-to-Understand Way

Jul_dido: Wasn’t the purchase I originally expected (completely changes when you switch between hardback, paperback etc) but I LOVE it.

United Kingdom on Oct 15, 2023

Amazon Customer: Different approach

India on Sep 30, 2023

Armando Perez: Loved The short stories and The brief descriptions. The photos are a plus. I want to read it again. A Judy have for any fan.

United States on Jul 25, 2023

Jane: This book begins with a short bio of Conon Doyle and then goes over all things, Sherlock.
It discusses the short stories and novels. Then it goes over Holmes, influence on the detective genre. In the end, it went over all the adaptions of the stories through the years as well as other characters that were parodies of Holmes.
It was a great way to show the history of a literary character that is as popular today as he was in Conan Doyle's time.
Great book any Sherlock Holmes fan would love and a great jumping-off place for new fans to see the magnitude of the character.

United States on Nov 05, 2021

Ruben: Da appassionato di Sherlock Holmes, ho trovato questo questo volume veramente molto bello e ben fatto. Le pagine illustrate e divise in colori diversi danno un’interessante prospettiva riguardo quello che concerne Arthur Conan Doyle e Sherlock Holmes

Italy on Aug 24, 2021

AllieAllie: It's pretty thorough but it is also opinionated about the era in which these stories were written (being critical of Doyle while also acknowledging how progressive he was), and contains errors. They label Holmes an asexual, and they refer to Eustace Brackenstall as "Bracknell" in the section "The Legend Returns".

If they could do more thorough editing and remain unbiased in their facts, this would be a decent encyclopedia. The thing is, encyclopedias are supposed to report facts as they are without opinions or theories, something lost on DK in this instance.

The graphic design is impeccable and the charts and photos do a great job of providing backdrops and explanations for anything either cultural puzzling or puzzling to everyone but Holmes himself.

Everything aside, I am happy I bought this. It's a decent companion alongside the Annotated and New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. I recommend getting this in a physical format, as the ebook version seems incapable of rendering the graphic design as beautifully as it is laid out on print. It wasn't made to be an ebook.

United States on Jun 11, 2021

susi079: So many insightful information on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's super sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. To those who are lazy enough reading long sentences or paragraphs, this book is a heaven sent with short and concise information plus wonderful photos and images.
Love the fact that one of the main contributors of the book's content is Mr. David Stuart Davies, the writer who wrote that amazing biography of the legendary yet underrated British actor, Mr. Jeremy Brett, called "Bending the Willow." Mr. Jeremy Brett was my number one idol during my childhood and teenage years, the most beloved British actor EVER to play Sherlock Holmes in the Granada Series on ITV UK (1984-1994). He died peacefully on September 12, 1995, aged 61, due to heart failure caused by the medication of his manic depression/bipolar disease. Gone too soon. So happy to find several beautiful pictures of Mr. Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes in this book. He was and still IS the Sherlock Holmes. For me, he IS forever my definitive Sherlock Holmes.

United States on Jun 08, 2021

Sofía: La carátula exterior vino un poco rota, pero al fin y al cabo es el papel, no el libro en sí, así que no pasó nada.

Estos libros, tanto en inglés como en español, son geniales. Hace que cualquier tema sea ameno y divertido, que te den gamas de leerlo. Lo explica todo de forma muy visual y es genial.

Spain on Apr 18, 2021

martha rubi: La manera de exponer los temas es simple y efectiva. Es visual, pero no deja de lado entrar a fondo en los temas. Lo recomiendo mucho.

Mexico on May 27, 2020

Castle: "The Sherlock Holmes Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained" is a fantastic, well researched, high quality book from DK.

As a lifelong fan of all things relating to the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I thought I had seen it all. In fact, I was getting a little tired of purchasing books that kept regurgitating the same information again and again with little new or interesting information to add. So, when I purchased this book, I was a little skeptical and prepared for disappointment. Wow, was I wrong!

After the introduction, this book immediately focuses on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as both an individual and an author with a very short, but highly detailed biography. Then, this book dedicates a few small chapters to each of the key characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories and examines how these fictional characters connected were born of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's real life experiences.

Then, this book launches directly into a study of each story in the Sherlock Holmes canon. All 56 short stories and the 4 novels are examined in the same manner with one story per chapter.

These chapters tend to average about 8 pages per story. Every chapter begins with a...

United States on Mar 10, 2017