Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

[Migey]

Hey.

Yes, i know this should be in the books/tv/movies/music forum. It is. However, since many people dont visit that forum and i think a very, very large number of people would be interested (due to the huge sucess of the Harry Potter books on people who normally would never read a book), i have also put it in this more widely read forum instead.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...of-Rationality Is the thread in the other forum about this.

Mods - if you really feel like just the one topic in the other forum is sufficient, then please just delete this thread, rather then move it to the same forum as the other one.

Edit : Berteh makes a good point - i should have just made the thread on this forum exactly the same as the other one. Well, here it is then.

Hey.

First off, apologies for the upcoming walls of text. Im bad at this - feel free to skim read and go straight to the links at the bottom.

I am not sure how many of your reading this are well acquaintanced with fan fiction. For those of you that are not, then you should know that 99% of all fan fiction out there is pure garbage. Of the 1% that is left, 99% of THAT is again only mediocre, just a step above pure garbage. Of the 0.01% still left, most of it is pure gold.

I found out about this through the Westeros boards, which you will probably know of if you are into literature and visit any forums about it. Also, while i refer to this text as a book, it has not been printed onto paper as far as i know, although it is increasing in popularity, and may be the most popular fan fiction ever written.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by an author under the name 'Less Wrong', is Harry Potter fan fiction which has turned out much better then the original. It is Harry Potter, but with some very important changes. Namely, Harry's aunt decided not to marry Vernon. Instead, she married a biochemistry professor (i think it says 'biochemistry major' actually. The author is probably American, and didn't realise that you dont do 'majors' in England. Oh well) and the result was that Harry grew up with loving care, surrounded by science and science fiction books. The result is that young Harry turned into a prodigy - a child genius.

I know how this will sound to you. This is what it sounded to me when i read it - a cheap rip off of Harry Potter by having HP follow exactly the same structure of the original books, with added snarky comments every other page about how bland the characterization is and how stupid and irrational the world is. Indeed, for the first few chapters of this book, it may seem that way, but i assure you, it is not. Harry's efforts to apply rationality to the world of magic go much farther then just making snide comments about it - it really is interesting the ways in which he tries to work it out, and manages to prove and disprove his theories. Indeed, through logic and rationality he finds some pretty interesting new forms of magic, ranging from a completely useless and insanely difficult transfiguration technique to a new way of dealing with dementors. The book is simply hilarious. The book has wonderful prose and even though the tone of the book is mostly serious, it is still amusing. There are tons of little easter eggs, and nods to the original series as well. In addition, and most interesting of all, Less Wrong has done a much better job of fleshing out the magical world then JK Rowling did. It truly feels like a world, and is very interesting and complex. Little tid bits like where Mad-eye got his eye are common.

This book (it is not quite finished yet. In fact, im not sure if it WILL finish. Il explain later) is easily a book in its own right, and is alot better then the original. I am much more emotionally invested and interested in the plot and characters than i was in the original. The book very, very quickly moves on to its own agenda and has a solid plot of its own, along with numerous sideplots.

I strongly suggest you give this a try, and read to chapter 10. If you are not vaguely interested by the time you finish chapter 10, then i suggest you drop it but please give it the benefit of the doubt.

You can read chapters 1 through 63 (essentially, the first 'book') here : http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-con...ality-1-63.pdf

And chapters 1 through 72, and all new chapters as they are released here : http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/...of_Rationality

Basically chapters 1 through 63 can be considered one book, but the story picks straight up in chapter 64 and although there is a pretty large and awesome climax to the first 'book' there is no real break between 63 and 64. At the moment, the author is releasing new chapters very slowly, but we can hope he will pick up again in the future.

Edit : Also worth noting is the characterization is amazing in this book. Characters who were virtually ignored in some books are proper characters in this - Quirrel being a prime example. Characters such as Draco and Dumbledore are no longer pure black and white. Both are in fact very interesting characters.

[Berteh]

Where is the thread brosif.....? This thread seems completely pointless here if you are just linking it to another ><

Edit: All better now

[Deleted]

I heard about this before, didn't read it though, (I didn't read hte originals either, only saw the movies) but I heard it's pretty damn good yeah.

Might suggest this to a friend of mine who actually did read the original books.

[Migey]

Even if you havn't read the originals, this will probably still be a very good read for you. As i said, all easter eggs and tributes aside, its an amazing book in its own right.

[Deleted]

Even if you havn't read the originals, this will probably still be a very good read for you. As i said, all easter eggs and tributes aside, its an amazing book in its own right.

Perhaps, though I'm having a hard time as it is getting through the first Wheel of Time book. I should read more tbh.

[Migey]

The Wheel of Time is certainly worth reading, although some people detest it. This book is much eaiser to read, however. Its like Rothfuss, the pages really just turn (or in this case scroll down) themselves.

If you're interested in reading more, allow me to refer you to - asoiaf.westeros.org - This is a forum focused around George R R Martins Song of Ice and Fire series (of which the first book, A Game of Thrones, is now a television series). If you have not read Martins series, then you need to take a step back and re-evaluate your life. Either way, there is a forum on those boards dedicated to general literature. If it has a name, its been discussed there. Infinite recomendations and discussions can be found there, along with it being a very well known and respected board (several authors themselves frequent those boards).

And everyone should read more.

Edit : I should also mention that the westeros boards have the prestigious honor of being one of the premier Goodkind-mocking sites out there. Unfortunately, the golden days of yeard-mocking are slowly fading, and the amount of genuine yeardites out there is diminishing, yet there is still upwards of 47 threads (and something in the region of twenty thousand posts) filled with golden yeardy goodness. For those not in the know, Terry Goodkind (aka, 'the yeard') ties with Roberts Newcomb and Stanek for position of worst author ever to have been published (or in Staneks exceptional case, publish themselves and refuse to admit it), in addition to being a bit of an ass. If your bored and looking for a laugh, go browse some of the Goodkind/Stanek threads using the search engine on the westeros boards.

[Confirm Deny]

Oh, man. Just the way Harry and his intellectual father both go, "Huh," and the whole "anticlimactic" thing in the second chapter makes me think I'm going to spend far, far too much time reading this piece of work. That was picturesque. Thank you. Very interesting.

[Migey]

It gets better.

It's interesting how it bears up 100% as strongly to a reread as it did the first time. It stops being so outrageously funny after the first quarer (even though there some completely golden moments that have you laughing out loud), but it truly becomes an amazing story. Harry and Draco's relationship, while a bit silly at times is fascinating. Lucius also becomes a very interesting character and suddenly he isnt as evil as he seems. And Dumbledore too.

And all the little sub plots and things on the side and the sheer scope of the speculation possible with this book. Jesus. This needs to be printed and marketed. Now. It's just so good.

Although i will warn you that plot wise, most of the interesting stuff happens in the second half of the book. Alot of the first half is a setup for later. It's also really, really interesting because of all of the logic and rationality principles Harry mentions. Most i think are taken form real life examples (many of the principles have names so they are probably authentic) and many are quite intruiging.