The Science of Harry Potter. How Magic Really Works

Customer Reviews

Engages kids in bleeding-edge science

2005-03-06
I am a kid who is quite up-to-date in science. I have always enjoyed the fact that I am more knowledgeable about topics like teleportation, time travel, game theory, etc. than my peers.

Now I'm afraid. Very afraid.

Why? Because with this book, anyone even moderately interested in Harry Potter can easily learn all the interesting stuff I have found by wading through lots of boring science.

This book attempts to use Harry Potter as an introduction to the far more fascinating and wonderful world of science -- and succeeds brilliantly. If there are parents out there whose child has an interest in Harry Potter and would like their child to develop an interest in science, this is the book for you.

This book uses Harry Potter as a medium to engage children in bleeding-edge science, and is good at it.

Science with lots of Harry Potter namedropping

2005-01-14
I'm only partway through this, so bear with me... The basic structure of the book so far is: XXX happens in Harry Potter's world. Here's some real-life science that is tangentially related...

Here are some examples:

"Wizards are able to teleport or 'aparate', sometimes using portkeys, like Harry when he won the Triwizard Cup. Maybe portkeys function by creating wormholes in the space-time continuum. Or maybe they make use of technology used by real-life scientists who have 'teleported' a photon from one side of a lab to the other. Such technology will probably never be able to teleport a whole person."

"Wizards at Hogwarts are sorted into houses by the Sorting Hat. It must read thoughts somehow. Real-life scientists can use functional magnetic resonance imaging to see what is happening in the brain when a person thinks. Scientists aren't at the point yet where they can read thoughts like the Sorting Hat, and they may never be able to."

"After the wizards are sorted into houses, how does that society function, given that the young wizards of Slytherin House tend to be evil, including Voldemort, the evilest of evil wizards? Real-life economists use something called 'game theory' to describe similar situations. A classic example is the Prisoner's dilemma. Imagine that Professor Dumbledore catches Harry and his archrival Malfoy's chum Crabbe. One of them has committed a serious offense that could cost their house points. He offers each one of them a deal..."

"Owls deliver mail at Hogwarts. In real life, owls have some amazing senses and abilities. Owls are not really that smart, but real-life scientists have trained parrots to do some amazing things..."

So basically there are a bunch of things in science that the author thinks are cool, and he uses Harry Potter as an excuse to talk about them. He does a decent job of describing the science. But the Harry Potter references are pretty gratuitous. This could just as easily be "The Science of Star Wars" where Wookie language and society as an excuse to talk about game theory, and Luke's land speeder as an excuse to talk about some sketchy antigravity research.

Review of The Science of Harry Potter

2004-08-18
Woah- This book was obviously very well researched and thought out. Whats-his-name went to a lot of effort to write this book. Though, as an obsessive 15 year old harry potter fan, it didn't make me happy! It took all the magic out of the books. it explained how every bit of magic the book had could be really happening, but with out magic! He took the all the fun out of it! When i bought it i thought it would tell me how the magic worked, not how it wasn't real. i was highly offended.

The science of Harry Potter?

2004-07-06
I received this book as a gift and, upon reading it, now consider it a valuable addition to my collection. There are a few things, however, that I've noticed some other reviewers pointing out that I would like to go into. The author of the book considers himself a Harry Potter fan. In fact, the majority of scientists he consults are also supposedly fans of the series. The book, however, is less about Harry Potter and more about science. Essentially, it is a book describing and explaining the realistic possibilities of scientifically creating the "magic" used by the wizards in Harry's world. If anything, the book should be retitled, "The Science of Harry Potter: How Muggles Use Technology to Acheive What Magic Already (Potentially) Does."

It is, however, incredibly well researched and is obviously a labor of love and dedicated interest. I would suggest this book to any Harry Potter fan who also enjoys reading about science. It is not, on the other hand, what the average Potter fan would consider casual reading. This is a science book, discussing topics ranging from quantum physics to ethnobotony and could very well be considered boring by most people's standards.

Ignore the writing style and enjoy the information 2004-03-01
This book does an amazing job introducing the "magical" world of science. I am amazed at the author`s research and discussion of emerging scientific fields--such as levitation and teleportation--in layman`s terms. Anyone with science or Harry Potter in his/her heart will love this book. Sit back and relax and enjoy the tid bits of information the author offers. However, if you expect the author to stay on topic, totally relate to the Harry Potter books, or draw any comprehensible conclusions...you will only frustrate yourself. Ignore the writing style and enjoy the wealth of information.

confusing 2006-06-20
unless you have a degree in physics, i wouldn't recommend this book. i had a very hard time wrapping my mind around alot of the concepts. the book also has very little to do with harry potter and much more to do with all of the scientific advances out there that semi-resemble things from the books.

Fantastic! 2006-04-09
I loved this book. Behind every 'old wives' tale is a body that ate a certain substance or an occurance that happens every time certain conditions are met. I loved the quote "that the highest form of technology is indistinguishable from magic". The country people are 'superstitious' and the learned are 'factual'. Those who are adept at manipulating matter are witches.

What this book does is take every single magic trick and give the physics explanation for how they work. Behind every act of 'magic' is either an illusion or an adaption and manipulation of matter. Period. Physics can and does explain both. This is a book that should be widely read and hopefully widely understood

Critical Account of Scientific Reading 2006-03-20
For a piece of school A level coursework, I chose the book - The Science of Harry Potter - By Roger Highfield. His best-known work to date gives a flavour for the kind of writer he is, `Can Reindeers Fly?' a discussion on the science of Christmas.
I personally love to read, no matter what the book is about. However unfortunately, I struggle on the imagination side, and most books I find it hard to get my head around the fictional creations - Including many of the Harry Potter Books written by J.K.Rowling. So I thought this book would be great in explaining the scientific side of how the magic really works.
I was very exited to get started on this book, and my aim was to read the whole thing. However by the second page I found myself confused at Mr Highfields intelligent, though odd attempt to straddle the imaginative worlds of science and fiction. I had hoped this book was an effort to introduce basic science concepts to young Potter fans (After all, It is these people who will go out an buy his book - simply because it has the word Harry Potter on the front...) But instead I was met with the rational laws of science, quantum physics to ethnobotany and cosmic antigravity?
"While special relativity deals only with flat space-time, general relativity deals with space-time that has been warped by gravity."

It should be noted that you will not be able to levitate a broomstick after reading it... And I personally found that this book really does read more like an obsessive PhD dissertation! Also, I cannot not stress how much the scientific ideas are really quite challenging!

Lots of information 2006-03-01
An interesting way to get some kids interested in science. It's a little like a leader ad in the paper. I honestly was hoping for a less serious take on the subject, with more interesting artwork similar to what we see on the cover of the book. I have to agree with other reviewers and say that, for some people, this books contents could diffuse the wonder of the original Harry Potter stories.

High praise for this book! 2005-10-09
Roger Highfield is to be commended for his solid scientific
work in this clever and informative book. His obvious
knowledge in many fields of science in combination with
his discussions of old myths and legends are a delight to read.

And he certainly knows his Harry Potter stories, and admires
them as much as I do! Dr. Highfield manages to inform us and
amuse us with his sly references to the Rowling characters.
And yes - I am over the age of 13 - by 63 years!!