The Clash of Belief: Conan Doyle and Houdini

Host: Chris Mooney

Our guest this week is Maria Konnikova, who is the author of a simply fascinating new book about training your mind so you're as sharp as the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.

It's entitled Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.

In addition to her new book, Konnikova writes the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American, and is a doctoral candidate in psychology at Columbia University.

She's also written for The Atlantic, Slate, The New York Times, and other publications. Mastermind is her first book.