About a year ago (15 April 2010 if my Delicious bookmarks can be trusted), a friend told me about Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, a Harry Potter fanfic starring a Harry who tries to apply science and rationality to magic. Since then multiple people have told me about the fic, and I’ve told them that it’s on my to-read list. Today I started reading it, and I’m already nineteen chapters in.
There are some notable changes from the canon, but for the most part (so far) the basic storyline parallels Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Since Harry has a rationalist mind in the fic, there are lots of references to science and how the human mind works, which makes me wonder why I didn’t read it sooner. It also makes you wonder why no one ever pointed out some of the things that happened in the books or in real life.
Go read it. There are almost seventy chapters, so you’ll be reading for awhile. That’s why I started on Sunday (and on Super Bowl Sunday at that; I don’t care about the game or the commercials).
2 replies on “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality”
Wow. I don’t know whether to thank you or hate you for telling me about this fic because it’s so awesome and hilarious that I have been neglecting the planning of my book.
But whichever I finally decide on I still have to say thanks, because that fic had been one of the best I’ve read for a while now! Thanks for posting about it!
@BookOwl If it makes you feel better, I’ve done little else for the past two days, including writing, and am on chapter 48. On the bright side, I can get all the binge reading out of the way and return to my normal life while anticipating new chapters. Right?