The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Thursday, April 09, 2015

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Finally!

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is finally finished! I'm so happy!

I started reading this a few years ago, but the rate of new chapters was never that fast and it's only been in the past month or so that Eliezer Yudkowsky finished writing it. I think the premise is wonderful—that Harry Potter was raised by scientists and skeptically approached magic at Hogwarts by applying rational thought and scientific experimentation. It takes a while to start, but once it does, I found I could not stop reading it (well, until I reached the current chapter and had to wait a several months for the next outburst of chapters).

Over the past two nights, I've finished reading it (staying up way past my bedtime), and I must say, I found He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named to be a quite facinating character (when he finally did show up—oh, is that a spoiler?).

I think it's worth the read, all 122 chapters of it. Don't worry, it's a complete story with Harry winning and He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named losing and not a seven book series, so don't let the length discourage you if you are a Harry Potter fan—at least now you can finish it in one reading binge if you so desire.

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