Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres and the Methods of Rationality

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality #1

by Eliezer Yudkowsky

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a work of alternate-universe Harry Potter fan-fiction wherein Petunia Evans has married an Oxford biochemistry professor and young genius Harry grows up fascinated by science and science fiction. When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Fan Fiction, Harry Potter, Science Fiction, Humor, Magic

343 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Eliezer Yudkowsky is a founding researcher of the field of AI alignment and played a major role in shaping the public conversation about smarter-than-human AI. He appeared on Time magazine's 2023 list of the 100 Most Influential People In AI, was one of the twelve public figures featured in The New York Times's "Who's Who Behind the Dawn of the Modern Artificial Intelligence Movement," and has been discussed or interviewed in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Forbes, Wired, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Washington Post, and many other venues.

Reviews

[Vervain Helsdottir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear gods, this book was amazing.

If you're only finding out about it now, you're lucky, because it's finally finished.
If you fancy a week-long vacation of nothing but reading, read this.
If you want to learn the methods of rationality, read this.
If you like Harry Potter and want to love science, read this.
If you like science and want to enjoy Harry Potter, read this.

This is a fantastic manual in the methods of rationality, and while you could learn them from a source other than Harry Potter fan fiction... why would you?

This is absolutely on the level of Rowling, and frankly, I think it's sometimes ahead of her. Granted, you've gotta give her credit for creating the universe in which this novel takes place to begin with, and for her own amazing series, but Eliezer Yodkowsky does an impressive job of rationalizing, explaining, and improving upon the Hogwarts universe, and sometimes characters. It's not Harry Potter, but whatever it is is amazing.

[Анастасія ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Повне розчарування, якщо б не деякі деталі, то взагалі була б одиниця. Почнімо з того, що це взагалі інший всесвіт, але чгг Гаррі Поттер, його прийомні батьки це його тітка та імені не пам'ятаю, але призвище Веррес. Дуже, і дуже сильно дратувала поведінка Гаррі, особливо коли він говорив зі старшими, без всілякої поваги. Намагався шантажувати вчителів, не поважав правила школи, не поважав закони отого годинника, особливо коли йому сказали, щоб він не користувався їм часто, на що йому було начхати, і міг вдень 6 разів туди сюди переміщатися. Тут не було Ґегріда, а він мені подобався, його від батьків забрала Макгонагал. До Драко я навіть не знаю як і ставитися тут, бо з одного боку він казав, що коли виросте, то згвалтує Луну Лаквуд, а з іншого боку він нормально ставиться до Гаррі впродовж 1 книжки, хоча в оригінальній у них здається одразу ж почалися проблеми. Я думала, що ті ж самі події будуть, але в інакшому світі, але тут взагалі нічого не було, що було в оригіналі. Почнімо з того, що він та Герміона попали на зовсім іншим факультет, у них немає 3 друга, Рона, і головне, що в цій частині вони ворогують, вони не товариші, не друзі, вони навіть не спілкуються, хоч і з одного факультету. Я можу тільки сказати, що в 1 частині мене дуже дратував Гаррі, так були моменти, де більше менш він мені подобався, але їх було мало. А ще у нього в думках було стати наступним темним лордом, але потім світлим лордом.

[Hayat · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This book had me laughing, gasping, occasionally cringing and by the end, fall in love with the idea of an alternative universe where Harry Potter is an evil genius in Ravenclaw.

[Anusha Narasimhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best fanfiction I've ever read! As the title goes, this is a rational take on the Harry Potter series. We get to see how the events would turn out if Harry was a child prodigy who grew up fascinated by science and science fiction.

There were many scenes that took me by surprise. I loved Harry's thought process. Actually, I might like this Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres character better than the original Harry Potter. I didn't like a few of his choices, but since he's a kid I'll let it slide.

There were certain topics that made me uneasy and sounded unreal coming from 11-year-old kids. Draco Malfoy speaking of rape was downright shocking. He's a child! Also, the way Harry dealt with that was way too mature for his age. Also, it made me uncomfortable that Harry sounded smarter than Hermione when they first met. It makes sense, but my fangirl heart couldn't take it. I'm hoping that they'll turn out as equals in the later books.

Along the way, I learnt a few scientific and philosophical theories. I had to google some terms to better understand them. In the end, I got my share of fangirling done, I got to learn new things and I got myself an utterly delightful read. This book is an absolute treat for Potterheads who also love science. It also serves as a good work critiquing the wizarding world. Highly recommended to the Potterheads who like science and/or want to learn about rationality.

[Colin Gooding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, this is Harry Potter fan-fiction. I was convinced to check this out after reading Brahm's excellent review on the full 2100+ page collection, but I didn't want to commit to that yet so this review is just for the first of six books this has been broken down into.

And I'm not sure what to think so far. Going into this, I thought this would be like an alt-history of Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts if he was raised by kind, smart parents instead of the Dursleys, but there are a lot of changes to the story that seemingly have nothing to do with that. I don't think that's a bad thing, there are a lot of interesting takes on characters here, but it took me a bit to adjust my expectations.

A lot of the book, especially the early chapters, feel like just term papers with a thin wrapping of the Harry Potter setting and characters. Harry is barely a person, he's just a mouthpiece to spout off the major tenants of the scientific process. It smooths out a bit as the end of the book neared, but at no point does Harry, or any of the other kids for that matter, feel like eleven year old students.

But I kind of started to get into a groove once I accepted the book on its own terms. The fact that this is fan-fiction helped me to think of it as sort of experimental story telling within an established playground, and it seems like the author is leaning into a lot of the over-the-top characterization to get certain ideas across.

I'm enjoying a lot of the different takes on other characters as well (Quirrel, Draco, and Dumbledore to name a few) and the story, in so much as it exists so far, is setting up some interesting possibilities, so I am certainly going to read on, but I think I need a little break from it first.

[Saurabh Modi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this on a whim, and haven't really been disappointed. This isn't the best book I've read, but it has a lot of good things I'll mention here -

A rational main character - one of the gripes I've had with Harry Potter series after growing up is the seeming abundance of impulsive, non-sensical behavior that Harry exhibits. I guess it does make the main character more human and it's not outside of reason given that the main character is a child when the series starts. Still, it was awesome to read about a Harry Potter who acted more rationally (even to the point of being superhumanly rational in some cases). Other than him, it was a blast to read about Draco and Quirrell in a different light (the part where Harry and Quirrell look at the space was simply beautiful).

Other than this, I loved how the author used rational thought to discuss several magical phenomena. I'm sure that there are some mistakes (bound to be when the author is exploring so many scientific themes from different disciplines), but it's still sufficiently well written and any inaccuracies weren't blatant to me, an average reader who has read some science in school and college. I also think that it's a much more difficult thing to try to be consistent with the real world science instead of creating a whole new world consistent in itself, so I really appreciate the hard work, the author has put.

I really liked the several sub-stories where Harry had to face some of his deep rooted fears, even when he usually tried being reasonable and approaching problems head-on. This kind of inconsistency in character in certain situations made Harry a little more relatable. Other than that, Eliezer did away a bunch of story elements right from the beginning, so that was pretty interesting as well.

I also think that the author managed to maintain a similarity to the characters as read in the HP series which is really hard. It isn't perfect in my opinion, and could be better done, but it suffices.

Removing 1 star due to the inevitable comparison to HP series which seemed richer compared to HMPOR so far. Put differently, HP has a world wherein you can look all around in the scene the author is describing and you can even walk out of the immediate vicinity and it seems that the world would hold itself, unlike HPMOR, where, if you walked out of the immediate vicinity, you might end up in a vacuum because it's impossible to imagine too much about the world.

[Петър Стойков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Идеята на книгата е повече от чудесна - фенфикшън на Хари Потър, в стила rational fiction: т.е. всичко е логично в разказа, вътрешните разсъждения и анализи на героите са описани подробно (което не е проблем във фенфикшъна, понеже не е ограничен в обема, както са печатните книги). Всяка глава от книгата съответства на един от принципите на науката и логиката, който е приложен в развитието на действието.

За съжаление, по неизвестни за мен причини, след доброто начало, самите действия на Хари Потър стават абсолютно неправдоподобни. Да, ясно е, че в тази книга той е аутист-вундеркинд, но колкото и да е наперено и начетено едно 11 годишно дете, абсолютно нелогични и неправдоподобни са сблъсъците му с ректора на училището и учителите.

Авторът се е опитал да напише всичко много логично, но е изпуснал логиката на социалните отношение и неговия 11 годишен Хари разсъждава и се държи като възрастен човек, с което за мен интересът ми към книгата силно намаля. Да не говорим, че самата книга обхваща може би 1 седмица като времеви период, а е сигурно 1000 страници.

[René Mortimer · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 85%.

It was fun and interesting in the beginning , but became a pretentious mess towards the middle.
I loved the idea of Harry being in Ravenclaw and having scientific perspective of the world, because he was raised in muggle world ( and I loved that he had a normal childhood - every aspect of that was very refreshing ), but the story eventually lost its logical course, and what was interesting to me and became just…
A fanfic that it is.
There’s nothing wrong with it , but it could have been so much more , because it had such a great potential to tell a different version of the well-know story in way that might have felt rightfully possible 100%.

[Pran · Rating 4 out of 5]

HPMOR is a fan-fiction of Harry Potter that imagines Harry as a follower of and believer in rationalism. (In other words, imagine Harry Potter except he made calculated, rational decisions). This is the first "book" in the Methods of Rationality "series". (I use quotes because the whole series only covers Harry's first year at Hogwarts, and it's divided into books kind of arbitrarily, possibly just because splitting the series into six 300-page books is more palatable than one 1900 page book).

The premise is inherently interesting, and for the most part, it delivers, while effectively explaining ideas in logic and rationalism. Many of the characters are a bit different from their original counterparts, especially Harry. At times, Yudkowsky's portrayal of Harry can be sloppy: one moment he's this clear, concise messiah for rationalism, and another moment he's immature and arrogant. And Harry's internal conflict between "light" and "dark" seems really trite and overdone. But, hey, what can you expect? It's fan-fiction. A more serious issue, though, is Yudkowsky's extremely weak and stereotypical female characters. McGonnogall cries, Hermione is love-struck, and Petunia used magic to make herself beautiful so she could attract men.

With all that being said, having read the first book in the "series", I enjoy this as much as I enjoy re-reading the original series. Even though the writing is occasionally spotty, I really liked the first book. I love how Yudkowsky uses the scientific method to examine the illogical rules of the original Harry Potter universe that I always wondered about. Like, is the sorting hat self-aware? Why do you have to pronounce a spell a certain way? Do pure-blood wizards actually possess any magical advantage over muggle-born wizards? Even, why is Quidditch set up so that the seeker (who catches the snitch) is so much more powerful than the other players? Etc.

Note: the whole thing is free. You can find PDFs and Kindle versions that are online and fully authorized. You can also read the whole thing on fanfiction.net if that's your style.

[Dominika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tak já nevím. Mám za sebou první díl, a tedy první týden alternativního Harryho ve škole. Některé nápady a myšlenky dávaly smysl, ale ve finále mi většina rozhovorů, zákonitostí a celého příběhu přišla totálně překombinovaná, říkala jsem si WTF? a ani po několikerém přečtení jednoho odstavce jsem to prostě nepochopila. Na další díly budu muset nasbírat sílu.

[Steff Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

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DNF at 21%.

I just couldn't suffer through it any longer. I've been trying to read this book for almost three years now and every time I read a little further, I just find myself disgusted with everything the writer has done. Now here's the thing...the idea was brilliant in its own right. But the execution was not only grossly unrealistic, but it was just downright awful in general.

I'd been really excited to read this, in part due to the fact that it somehow managed to find its way onto Goodreads as a fan fiction. I must admit I am utterly baffled as to how that came to be now that I've read as much as I have. And here's something to understand about this book. It's massive. The number of pages I managed to force myself to read through would equate to a 400+ page novel.

And I personally don't think this book deserved even that much of my time.

I think it's thoroughly apparent that I wanted to like this fan fic. I truly did. There is a lot to be praised from intelligence and rationality, but instead of actually telling an important tale with themes of rational understanding woven in, Yudkowsky simply gives us asinine characters that are poorly written and a story that jumps around so much you wonder how anyone could say there's even a plot at all.

Now, I had expected that there would be a fair amount of differences in the novel, especially on the part of Harry's character. His entire backstory had changed, after all. But ultimately that doesn't account for how an eleven-year-old boy never seems to have any of the traits of the young child that he is. Ironically, I think I might have been able to get past that--who doesn't want an immensely intelligent Harry Potter to read?--had it not been for how disgustingly out of character literally everyone else was.

And then, somehow along the line, Harry becomes disturbingly sociopathic and thus even more difficult to empathize with. I can't think of a single instance past the very first chapters of the tale where he didn't come off as a self-obsessed little jerk for absolutely no reason at all. He's manipulative and cruel on more than one occasion and does nothing to show intelligence in a positive light. This was immensely frustrating as it only furthered the often misconstrued notion that intelligent people are stuck up, snobbish assholes with no emotions whatsoever.

Harry's intelligence is also portrayed in a deeply unbelievable manner. Instead of needing to learn (as someone at eleven years old, even a very well read someone, would need to do) Harry simply thinks...and then somehow knows in a short period of time. Intelligence is not a trait that one simply has, but rather something someone has to work at constantly and Yudkowsky completely ignores this factor in favor of simply parroting his somewhat misguided beliefs through the mouth of his main character. In fact, Harry's solution to a great deal of events is simply to use a time-turner to travel back and re-do everything.

Disturbing jokes are made throughout the prose and the writing is mediocre at best, only serving to create more problems with the story as a whole. And to make matters worse, there is almost nothing going on at all aside from Harry acting like a little brat all the time and taking advantage of the people around him. I'm pretty sure that by the point I stopped, he was still in his first few months of classes in his first year. Which brings me to another issue I had. There is absolutely no continuity. The story arcs hop around idly at random as the author appears to simply fill in whatever idea he had at the present moment and say, "well, who cares if it fits?"

I just couldn't stomach how unrealistic the entirety of this story was or how Yudkowsky regularly butchered characters in order for them to fit his own personal view of them. It's not the first time I've seen Dumbledore portrayed as a bumbling fool, but it's the first time that I've been thoroughly disgusted by it. He regularly degrades and insults well loved and kind characters from the original novels and does a horrible job of it in the process. The blatant disrespect the author shows the original story and characters is exceedingly difficult to accommodate.

It's a real shame, because ultimately the idea was one I had been really interested in. But, I suppose I just have to say that if you're interested in reading Harry Potter fan fiction, definitely read something else rather than waste your time with this one. There are much better ones out there and it doesn't take too long to find them.

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[Mazzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun, maybe a bit silly (the protagonist is too much) and a great premise.

[Ranvir Desai · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, done with the first part. Phew.
It is soooo good. I thought at start that Harry would be childhood Kvothe. Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres is way too much fun.
And man, the humour. "Headmaster burned a chicken!"
There are great lessons to be learnt along the way.
Certainly recommended to Harry Potter geek fans.
Going to complete, but later. Come on, it's a big book, and I am not a girl named Hermione Granger.

[Tatiana Le Feuvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Harry Potter lover should miss this epic alternative reality of the boy who lived.

In reality it is 2000+ pages. It would have impacted my 2023 reading statistics :)

[Alex Lobko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Полный восторг. Фанфик (очень) здорового человека. С одной стороны уважительное отношение к первоисточнику, с другой - полное переосмысление лора.

Не знаю, почему я так долго до нее добирался, хотя насобирал множество рекомендаций.

Это несколько книжек в одной. Местами Канеман в художественной форме, местами научпоп, иногда Клуб завтрак, а иногда просто-таки триллер, но с шутками-прибаутками. А глобально все вместе это эссе про нравственность.

Главное перевалить за первые 30% книги, которые тоже замечательные, на пародийность начинает приедаться, а дискуссии становятся все более занудными. А начиная с, гм, посещения Азкабана, стиль, как мне кажется, сильно меняется и скорость повествования тоже увеличивается. И если сначала я читал просто с удовольствием, но понимал тех, кто уставал от однообразия и бросал; то потом оторваться было просто невозможно.

А еще понравился логичный злодей и открытый новому Драко Малфой

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting premise. Love the spin on the wizarding world. Most of the characters are insufferable, though. I'll keep on reading the next books, but my suspension of disbelief struggles with this "annoying genius Harry Potter".

[Maris-Johanna Tahk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very different from the original.

[Carolina Silva Rodé]

No se por que me hago esto

[Roman Nikulin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know you now, Harry thought as his wand twitched once, twice, thrice and four times, as his fingers slid exactly the right distances, I comprehend your nature, you symbolize Death, through some law of magic you are a shadow that Death casts into the world.

And Death is not something I will ever embrace.

It is only a childish thing, that the human species has not yet outgrown.

And someday...

We'll get over it...

And people won't have to say goodbye any more...

The wand rose up and leveled straight at the Dementor.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The thought exploded from him like a breaking dam, surged down his arm into his wand, burst from it as blazing white light. Light that became corporeal, took on shape and substance.

A figure with two arms, two legs, and a head, standing upright; the animal Homo sapiens, the shape of a human being.

Glowing brighter and brighter as Harry poured all his strength into his spell, blazing with incandescent light brighter than the fading sunset, the Aurors and Professor Quirrell shielding their eyes in shock -

And someday when the descendants of humanity have spread from star to star, they won't tell the children about the history of Ancient Earth until they're old enough to bear it; and when they learn they'll weep to hear that such a thing as Death had ever once existed!

The figure of a human shone more brilliant now than the noonday Sun, so radiant that Harry could feel the warmth of it on his skin; and Harry sent out all his defiance at the shadow of Death, opening all the floodgates inside him to make that bright shape blaze even brighter and yet brighter.

You are not invincible, and someday the human species will end you.

I will end you if I can, by the power of mind and magic and science.

I won't cower in fear of Death, not while I have a chance of winning.

I won't let Death touch me, I won't let Death touch the ones I love.

And even if you do end me before I end you,

Another will take my place, and another,

Until the wound in the world is healed at last...

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad fanfiction. It's just a piece of work to read. It's an interesting take on the story and me and my friend paula had a lot to discuss during book club meeting, which was by far my favourite part of this whole ✨experience✨. Some chapters were definitely stronger than others and I just skipped many paragraphs unconsciously because they looked so complicated. (It's a theme) I had difficulty connecting with the characters because I kept comparing them to the ones I know and love. (wouldn't recommend)

So overall, I will continue reading the next books because of my book club but if I wouldn't have that to get me through, I would probably not finish it.

[Lady Kia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

Na začátek bych chtěla říct, že to není asi kniha pro každého, musíte prostě unést, že se tam tenhle přechytralý Harry často rozvášní o nějaké teorii - a některé jsou celkem zajímavé, takže za mě v pohodě :). Mně to do té knihy a k Harrymu prostě sedělo. Ten kluk je prostě děsně chytrý a chce být ještě chytřejší.

Scéna, kterou z téhle knihy musím vypíchnout je rozhodně ta s moudrým kloboukem! :-D. U tý jsem se hodně pobavila. A nebo, když se stal Harry součástí hry, u které neznal pravidla.

Taky jsou celkem zábavné hlášky autora na začátcích kapitol.

[Liam Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wizarding economy is set for collapse, causality is fragile but self controlling, teachers abusing students is extremely uncool, magical ability should carry genetic markers, and muggles are better than wizards.

These are all things that Rowling set up in her book and in a move of outstanding arrogance chose to pretend these things didn't exist. Yudkowsky examines the Universe of Harry Potter through the lense of scientific literacy and punishing adherence to rationality and empiricism.

This is the first part of a series that initially began as a mere fanfiction poking fun at Harry Potter, before evolving into a full blown narrative of its own. As a result the initial chapters are good fun bashing and ripping, but are over quickly before the full story begins. I am looking forward to where this goes from here.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as fan fiction goes, this book is really interesting. The reviews seem super inflated to me, though, which I assume can be attributed to fan bias, because honestly, as a story, it could be much better written. The grammar and punctuation and so on are edited well enough, but the more difficult-to-manage elements of novels, like characterization, narrator voice, balance of dialogue and momentum, etc., are managed really inconsistently. I would recommend it to anyone who would enjoy a creative jaunt into the Potter-verse because the ideas are thought-provoking and there are a few scenes that really glowed, but I'm not tempted to continue reading the series.

[radhika morabia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was a book on Goodreads.

I read this over a long period of time and felt the pain of reading this rise over time. This started out fun, educational, and interesting. It ended with an entitled Mary Sue main character, a side character reduced to nothing but gender stereotypes, and a subpar villain. The climax itself was laughably dull.

I guess you can't expect much from fanfiction even if it's written by a professor.

[Amarelys · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few chapters, up to the Sorting, are just as good as the real thing! The rest is drifting a bit far from the original material but it's very enjoyable and quite close to JKR in style and humour. Let's see where the rest of this fan-made saga takes us.

[Zarathustra Goertzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite cute, funny, and well written ;)

The themed lessons in rationality are rather small, but the general story is a bunch of geeky fun and "rational investigation into the magical world" or whatnot :)

[Любава Кропивницька · Rating 5 out of 5]

Перше враження - захват і шок, що так можна було. Одна особливість характеру головного героя змінена - і все у звичній нам історії йде шкереберть (або ж навпаки - так, як і мало бути).

Я захоплена. Я не можу відірватися. Я читаю далі
і далі
і далі
...

[NotAWiz4rd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly hilarious

[Hasini · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was more beautiful than I imagined

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I know that I perhaps get a little too expansive with my book reviews. I want to tell you everything I found meaningful, and then provide you will all the quotes that struck me while reading, often paragraphs at a time. Probably not the best way to induce you to read. More like reading the highlights and annotations in my own copy of the book. Honestly, I'm not good at the art of the book review. You have to give your thoughts on the book without spending too much time on the content of the book, give the reader an idea of where the book fits in and what to expect, without simply being a summary or a repeat of the blurb on Goodreads. How do you do this?! You've got to start somewhere.

OK, so to help me avoid summary mode, let's just give you the Goodreads summary up-front so I don't repeat anything:

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a work of alternate-universe Harry Potter fan-fiction wherein Petunia Evans has married an Oxford biochemistry professor and young genius Harry grows up fascinated by science and science fiction. When he finds out that he is a wizard, he tries to apply scientific principles to his study of magic, with sometimes surprising results.

I honestly forget how i stumbled upon The Methods of Rationality. It's been sitting on my to-reads list for quite a while. I wanted to read something fun, so while scrolling through my list, I chose this one. I didn't know how big the fan fiction genre was-- that there were authors out there writing book-length adventures in alternate universes! And Yudkowsky does an amazing job, staying true to the universe of Harry Potter, while probing and expanding the mechanics of magic and its history.

I had to look up Yudkowsky after I was a few chapters in. He dropped so many academia references that he had to be an insider. And he was, but not the traditional route. Yudkowsky is an AI researcher at the self-founded organization Machine Intelligence Research Institute. But he never attended high school or college, and considers himself self-taught in the field.

OK, on to the book itself. How does it fit in to Rowling's original universe? Well, the breaking point it when Petunia decided that Vernon was a loser, and chose to marry a biochemistry professor instead. That pretty much alters everything in books 1 through 7. Imagine if all the characters had exactly the same dispositions and habits, but Harry had been replaced by a science master-mind. While Harry still enters Hogwarts at 11, he definitely doesn't seem to act like an 11-year-old. To me, Harry seems to offer Yudkowsky the opportunity to probe the world of magic using the scientific method. Perhaps inserting his own commentary and discussion on Rowling's world that he had while reading. I'm sure every reader of Harry Potter has had moments wondering, "Wait, how does that work?" or "If that spell exists, why didn't someone do this already?" Yudkowsky takes those questions and runs with them, merging the world of science and magic.

But how do you merge science and magic? Well, if magic exists, then you kind of break a lot of the accepted laws of physics. And one of my favorite scenes is when Harry first encounter with magic and his mind explodes. I'll avoid the temptation of quoting it at length here for you haha.

Harry's altered childhood also changes much of his personality (want to take a guess at which house he gets sorted into?). I sometimes felt that Harry was too cold, that he had lost something in becoming a Baconian. He is the scientific method personified. There were some things I disagreed with Harry on. I don't treat science as the ultimate authority, but only a useful tool. I have a much more conservative approach, and I believe there are limits to what we can know. I was also surprised that Harry's induction into the magical world didn't tone down his scientific hubris; is magic was here all along, defying the conservation of mass and the second law of thermodynamics, shouldn't you be a bit more skeptical about what you think you know?

The book is an enjoyable read either way. It is nice to re-immerse myself in the world of Harry Potter (nostalgia!!), and it has also gotten me thinking about my own approach to science.

I look forward to reading the next in the series!

P.S.

Just one little quote? When Harry first encounters time turners:

"Really," Harry said. "Ahahahaha. Of course you wouldn't give time machines to children if they were dangerous, what was I thinking? So just to be clear, sneezing on this device will not send me into the Middle Ages where I will run over Gutenberg with a horse cart and prevent the Enlightenment? Because, you know, I hate it when that happens to me."