You see, but you do not observe

October 20, 2026

Do you know how many steps lead up to your front door? Most of us don't, and that's exactly the point of one of the best scenes in Sherlock Holmes.

It comes from "A Scandal in Bohemia," the first Holmes short story, which ran in The Strand Magazine in July 1891. It's also the story our morning serial starts with. Early on, Watson admits he can never follow Holmes's reasoning, even though his eyes are as good as anyone's. Holmes answers:

"You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."

Watson has climbed them "some hundreds of times." He has no idea how many there are. Holmes does. "Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed."

I love that line because it isn't about genius. It's about attention. Holmes isn't smarter about stairs. He just bothered to count.

It's like scrolling past a hundred photos of a beach versus actually standing on one. We see an enormous amount every day now, and I'm not sure how much of it we observe. A screen is always half-asking you to look at something else. When I was a kid reading the back of a cereal box, I read every word and wished there was more. Nothing on that box was competing for my attention.

Here's the twist. The same story that gives us "you see, but you do not observe" is the one where Holmes gets beaten. The King of Bohemia hires him to recover a compromising photograph from Irene Adler, an opera singer and actress. Holmes disguises himself as "a drunken-looking groom," then as a clergyman, stages a fake fire, and learns exactly where she hides the photo. She sees right through it. That night a slim youth in a long overcoat walks past the door on Baker Street and says, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." It was Irene. In the letter she leaves behind, she explains, "I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me."

By the time Holmes comes back for the photograph the next morning, she's gone. The King offers him an emerald snake ring as a reward. Holmes asks for her photograph instead.

Interesting fact, Irene Adler appears in only one story, and she's still one of the best-known characters in the whole canon. Watson's first line says it: "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman." His last line says the rest: "the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit."

So the great observer got out-observed. I think that's why the story holds up. Paying attention is a skill, not a superpower, and anyone can practice it, including the person you're trying to fool.

It's also a big reason I like reading on paper. A printed page doesn't refresh. It just sits there and lets you notice things.

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-Patrick