Diary of a Network Geek

I decided on The Napoleon of Crime : The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief.
I read the prolog of this little beauty some time ago, but when I re-read it today, I was hooked. I have to admit I have a certain dark fascination with the criminal element of every stripe. I want to know what makes them tick, how they make their choices and what their lives are like as a result. Of course, the fact that Adam Worth was the model for perhaps the most famous criminal of all time sort of weighed in this book’s favor. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with who the “Napoleon of Crime” was in literature, review your Arthur Conan Doyle.) Also, the fact that this guy was at his peak about the time that my paternal grandmother was born didn’t hurt either.
Anyway, it’s a bit of interesting history and may prove useful in my sad attempts at writing sometime in the future.

Actually, it’s Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle’s birthday.
But, since he is Holmes, in a way, well… Anyway, this comes from the Writer’s Almanac:

It’s the birthday of novelist and short story writer Arthur Conan Doyle, (books by this author) born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1859). Conan Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh where he met Doctor Joseph Bell, whose amazing deductions about the history of his patients fascinated the young student. After completing his studies, Conan Doyle served as a ship’s doctor on voyages to Greenland and West Africa, and eventually opened his own practice. In his spare moments, he began writing. Calling on his memories of Doctor Bell, Conan Doyle created a detective who used his great powers of deduction to solve crimes. The first such story, A Study in Scarlet, introduced the detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Doctor Watson, in 1887. All told, Conan Doyle wrote 56 Sherlock Holmes stories and four Holmes novels.