SKU: 19527617304

Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThough Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognized the world over, for decades the man himself has been overshadowed by his better understood creation, Sherlock Holmes, who has become one of literature's most enduring characters. Based on thousands of previously unavailable documents, Andrew Lycett, author of the critically acclaimed biography Dylan Thomas, offers the first definitive biography of the baffling Conan Doyle, finally making sense of a

Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognized the world over, for decades the man himself has been overshadowed by his better understood creation, Sherlock Holmes, who has become one of literature's most enduring characters. Based on thousands of previously unavailable documents, Andrew Lycett, author of the critically acclaimed biography Dylan Thomas, offers the first definitive biography of the baffling Conan Doyle, finally making sense of a long-standing mystery: how the scientifically minded creator of the world's most rational detective himself succumbed to an avid belief in spiritualism, including communication with the dead.

Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Always romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and fool-hardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle's life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his wayward, alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his nearly fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena. Lycett reveals the evolution of Conan Doyle's nature and ideas against the backdrop of his intense personal life, wider society and the intellectual ferment of his age. In response to the dramatic scientific and social transformations at the turn of the century, he rejected traditional religious faith in favor of psychics and s ances -- and in this way he embodied all of his late-Victorian, early-Edwardian era's ambivalence about the advance of science and the decline of religion.

The first biographer to gain access to Conan Doyle's newly released personal archive -- which includes correspondence, diaries, original manuscripts and more -- Lycett combines assiduous research with penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle's personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 11/18/2008
ISBN: 9780743275255
Pages: 557
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.48w x 1.38d
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SKU: 19527617304

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S. Langley
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 4
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This is a great resource. I thought I created great presentations before. Reading this made me realize the mistakes I was making and have me a process for really improving my decks
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Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2014
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Judith Priddy
Natrona Heights, US
★★★★★ 5
So glad that I have bought these books from Amazon
Format: Paperback
Still working on getting through, I try and read more each day
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Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2025
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Adam C. Driver
Fort Morgan, US
★★★★★ 5
Must read
Format: Paperback
Impressive second book by Justin Driver.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2025
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james p. whitters III
Dallas, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent!
Format: Paperback
Excellent read!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2025
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Big Pumpkin
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 1
A Disconnected and Legally Shaky Defense of Racial Preferences
Format: Paperback
While this book raises some thought-provoking points, it ultimately reads like a product of self-righteous elites disconnected from reality and from the American public. 1. Ignores public opinion. The author never acknowledges that polls consistently show Americans oppose racial preferences in college admissions. Proposition 16—which would have allowed such preferences—was defeated by a wide margin in 2020 in California, one of the nation’s most liberal states. A Brookings poll found that virtually all racial groups, including Black respondents, supported the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) decision. 2. Starts with a strange premise. The first chapter claims conservatives will “regret” the SFFA ruling because universities will continue racial preferences covertly. But that sidesteps the real question: why shouldn’t colleges comply with the ruling’s letter and spirit? 3. Offers dubious legal advice. In Chapter Three, the author—himself a law professor—floats risky ideas for “working around” the Supreme Court’s decision. Many of these suggestions rest on shaky legal ground, as anyone familiar with the Second Circuit’s CACAGNY v. Adams, 116 F.4th 161 (2d Cir. 2024), would recognize. 4. Ignores proportionality and real-world outcomes. The book argues for “diversity” preferences without asking how much preference is justified. In reality, Asian American applicants face steep penalties. e.g. Stanley Zhong was rejected by five University of California campuses’ Computer Science programs as an in-state applicant—shortly before Google hired him for a full-time, Ph.D.-level software engineering position. Meanwhile, UC San Diego’s own freshman math-placement data show a surge of students—mostly “underrepresented minorities” favored by UC—placed into remedial courses, some testing at a 4th-grade level. It is hard to see how admitting these students is helping them other than allowing some elites to make themselves feel good or get a promotion. If this book represents what passes for legal scholarship at Yale, the state of American legal education should worry us all.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2025

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