"Like a Little Empty Attic" [STUD]

In A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes opined that he had no room for useless knowledge (in that particular case, it was the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun). He remarked to Watson:

"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."

"To forget it!"

"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...It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

We're all familiar with information overload (especially these days), but I wonder if this was the hubris of a younger Holmes speaking. Recent research shows that the older brain can actually process information much better than previously thought, and is better at filtering out distractions than a younger brain.

From a recent New York Times article:

Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world, where it is not always clear what information is important, or will become important. A seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes...
"A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger peers," Dr. Hasher said. "We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser."

What do you think? Does this match with your experience? Does Holmes's claim seem like juvenile boasting to his easily-astonished new friend? Would the older Holmes agree?

"We Shall Know a Good Deal" [SUSS]

One of the benefits of the volunteer work that I do with the Baker Street Journal (yes, the BSJ is primarily a volunteer-led enterprise; only our printing and distribution are handled by a professional firm) is that I get to interact with customers. What it means is that I correspond with hundreds of people via email throughout the year and that I get to greet nearly everyone who enters the vendors' room during the BSI Weekend.

Occasionally I have to break bad news to people - that a shipment is delayed or that we've sold out of an item. And while I don't like disappointing anyone, I do like the little surprises that come with the territory. And have I got one such surprise for you.

The Baker Street Irregulars have become a publishing powerhouse in recent years. The Journal is and will continue to be the mainstay, but when you think about the other complementary publications that have some along, it's pretty impressive:

• Five volumes in our History Series
  
• Five volumes in the Manuscript Series
  
• Two volumes in the International Series
  
• An expedition publication (with another to follow)
• A joint imprint with the Sherlock Holmes Society of London
  
• 10 years worth of Christmas Annuals

And we've sold out of two of our hardcovers and 4 of our Christmas Annuals along the way. Not bad for a 300 member literary society!

The good news is that I've opened new section of bakerstreetjournal.com called Deal Table where I offer specials on items from time to time. Items may include extra copies of items that were thought to have been sold out, or perhaps bundled titles that we need to move. Take a look for yourself from time to time to see what we've got. You might be able to "fill that gap on that second shelf."

"Put Into Plain Words" [HOUN]

When Burt Wolder and I started the podcast I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere - the first Sherlockian podcast - nearly a year ago, we were immediately faced with one daunting problem: how to explain to people what a podcast is. We tried to do so - but we made a mistake by using the medium itself to explain what it is.

Well, eighteen episodes and nearly a year later, I think I have the solution. The very creative team over at CommonCraft are in the business of providing explanatory videos. They've done a particularly remarkable job with their "plain English" series, which you may have seen if you clicked on the "RSS in Plain English" link over in the sidebar.

Their newest video is Podcasting in Plain English, which you can watch right here on the blog or by clicking on the link. Either way, this should help you to understand what we're doing over at I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere and to hopefully subscribe to our free audio show.

"To Humour Your Guilty Elder" [PRIO]

I realize that my updates have been sporadic at best lately (thanks to a demanding job) and that the posts I've been able to write have been morbidly focused. Well, today I regret that I have to continue in that vein, but at least it's not announcing the death of another Irregular.

Fans of the little audio program that Burt Wolder & I host, I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere (and yes, that's another thing that's fallen by the wayside in my hectic life) will know that there are a number of artists who have done their fair share of Sherlockian illustrations. This was made the most clear in our interview with Jerry Margolin ("Hilton Cubitt"), who has made a serious hobby out of collecting original Sherlockian art.

As you listen to the interview, you'll hear that one of Jerry's heroes was Will Elder, one of the original MAD Magazine artists and the creator of Little Annie Fanny for Playboy. I say "was" because Will Elder passed away late last week. You can read a full profile of him on Wikipedia. In the meantime, I leave you with the one Elder Sherlockian image on my computer. It's a memorable one.

Caption: "By Jove, Holmes. What a remarkable disguise."

"In the New Almanac" [VALL]

Peter Blau very kindly pointed out that Garrison Keillor mentioned The Baker Street Irregulars and Sherlockian societies in a recent episode of The Writer's Almanac on American Public Media. For those of you who don't have access to public radio or whose local markets don't pick it up, not to worry. Such shows typically have the audio available on the Interwebs.

In this case, we've got an audio link to the 5-minute program from May 7, 2008 that you can access by clicking here. You'll need RealAudio to listen. It's a free download and the software is free as well.

The show notes are a little more extensive than Keillor's commentary (after all, he's only got 5 minutes). Here's what he had to say about the BSI and other societies:

Novelist Christopher Morley founded, in 1934, the Baker Street Irregulars to celebrate the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and today there are many groups of Sherlockians, including the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, who developed in protest to the men-only Baker Street Irregulars. Both of those groups now admit members of both sexes. The London Sherlock Holmes Society, which began in its current incarnation in 1951, has an annual dinner and regular meetings, and produces a Sherlock Holmes Journal twice a year. There are also occasional mock trials, trivia challenges, pub nights, London walks, and cricket matches against the P.G. Wodehouse Society.

I think Christopher Morley would be proud - not necessarily that his creation still lives on - but that he's noted as a novelist.

"A Cry of 'Cooee!'" [BOSC]

It is once again with a heavy heart that I pick up my keyboard to write of another member of the Baker Street Irregulars passing beyond the Reichenbach. This time the Southern Hemisphere has lost one of its own with the death of Alan Olding ("Cooee!").

Alan was the President of the Sherlock Holmes Society of Australia, and his membership extended to other Aussie societies, such as the Sherlock Holmes Society of Melbourne and the Sherlock Holmes Society of Western Australia. An active member of the Hounds of the Internet for quite some time, where his nom was "Holy Peters, of Adelaide, whose speciality is the beguiling of lonely ladies."

According to his biography on his Sherlockian Who's Who page,

Alan Olding migrated to Australia in 1951, after service in the British Army during WW2. He brought with him his new bride, Olive. They lived in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, before setlling in the Adelaide Hills in 1970. Alan is a retired Insurance Executive. He was invested in the BSI in 1988 under the name "COOEE", and President for the Sherlock Holmes Society of Australia.

His loss is a great one for anyone who knew him.

"When the Stake is Best Worth Winning" [CHAS]

The Mystery Writers of America held their annual dinner in New York City last night to honor the 2008 Edgar Winners. The field of Sherlockiana, while well represented in 2007, only had a single entrant on this year's list of nominees.

And evidently, that's all that was needed, for the winner of the Best Critical/Biographical category was none other than Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Charles Foley, Jon Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower. Congratulations, gentlemen!

Check out this link to see what I originally wrote about the book last November, which includes a link to the interview that Burt Wolder & I conducted with Dan & Jon - one of our most popular episodes on our audio program I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere.

If you haven't picked up a copy of the book yet, I strongly recommend that you get over to Amazon and grab yourself a copy. It's a worthy asset to any Sherlockian or Doylean library.

"The Principal Difficulty in Your Case" [NAVA]

I was just informed that another Irregular has passed beyond the Reichenbach. Earlier this week, David Galerstein, BSI ("Bert Stevens") passed away. A former principal and member of the New York City Board of Education, he was always interested in educating those around him.

I remember meeting Dave for the first time at one of my early meetings of the Men on the Tor at Gillette Castle. He was more than happy to spend time with a young and relatively uninitiated Sherlockian. He suggested that I follow up some of my Canonical reading with other related stories, such as Houseboat on the Styx by John Kendrick Bangs. As he slowed down in recent years, he still kept his keen and innate curiosity about him and was able to faithfully attend the BSI weekends.

From Ben & Sue Vizoskie, of the Three Garridebs - one of the many scions that Dave belonged to - comes this writeup:

We were saddened to hear this morning that David Galerstein, a long-time Sherlockian and member of the Three Garridebs, died on April 29th. Dave was very active in the New York area and belonged to many scions, including the Long Island Cave Dwellers, Mrs. Hudson's Cliffdwellers, the Montague Street Lodgers of Brooklyn, the Priory Scholars of Manhattan, the Retired Colourmen and the Epilogues of Sherlock Holmes.

He was invested in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1972 as "Bert Stevens."

Dave was a frequent contributor to The Baker Street Journal and to Prescott's Press. In 1990, he and Marlene Aig co-edited A Singular Set of People; and in 2002, he compiled and Caroline Bryan edited A Singular Sense of Humor: A Compilation of Stuff and Nonsense by and for Sherlockians.

He is survived by his wife Roz and their children. According to the death notice in today's New York Times, memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association.

You can read his death notice in the New York Times.