In Conan Doyle's novels, Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street was an eccentric, cold, solitary man with a calm mind, quick wits, observation skills superior to those of ordinary people, and a self-confidence bordering on arrogance. He often toyed with the police using his extraordinary deductions and took pleasure in it. One of his few hobbies was playing the violin, but because of his personality, he had very few listeners.
Pomona felt that the real Sherlock was simply not good at getting along with people. For instance, he could share a living room and dining room with Watson, while their landlady provided the meals. Everyone seemed perfectly happy. Sherlock was not someone incapable of sharing, and Watson got along well with him. Even though Sherlock liked rising early, Watson, who liked sleeping late, was not woken by his violin. Nor did Sherlock feel "disturbed" by Watson's presence. A good roommate did not merely take care of the other person and try not to make too much noise while moving about, so as not to disrupt their rest; when they were awake, it was best if they also had something in common to talk about.
When Holmes played the violin properly, it could produce a beautiful and pleasant melody. But more often, he merely plucked the strings at random, and that was noise.
Yet Watson tolerated Sherlock. He knew Sherlock was using sound to help himself think. Many times, clues were as tangled as a ball of yarn a cat had clawed through.
A Brief History of Time described it this way: an intact teacup was a highly ordered state, while a cup shattered on the floor was a disordered state. As time passed, the degree of disorder increased when a teacup fell from the table to the ground. This was called