Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Somewhat lesser-known sci-fi novels I read in the past: The Unincorporated Man (and three sequels) Cross between science fiction and fantasy: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality ("HPMOR") - the premise is that Harry Potter is raised by a good aunt and uncle, and is taught the Scientific Method and so he uses that when encountering magic. Old Man's War (and sequels) by John Scalzi Redshirts by John Scalzi Science-reality: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Ra by qntm There is no Antiemetics Division by qntm

Ten Steps to Nanette, Hannah Gadsby - Autobiography of an Australian comedian I like. (If you like audiobooks, she reads it herself which is a treat.) True Biz, Sara Nović - A year in the life of a boarding school for the deaf. Upgrade, Blake Crouch Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains, Matt Johnson & Prince Ghuman - Interesting angle of examining neurology. Treasure & Dirt, and The Tilt, Chris Hammer - Good Australian rural crime fiction. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eliezer Yudkowsky - Alternate fan fic depiction of Harry Potter as a hyper-rationalist. My review linked below. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60034663-ten-steps-to-na... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60034663-ten-steps-to-nanette) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58395049-true-biz https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59838811-upgrade https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52225003-blindsight https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58520598-treasure-dirt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61413297-the-tilt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33951086-harry-potter-an... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33951086-harry-potter-and-the-methods-of-rationality)…

Ten Steps to Nanette, Hannah Gadsby - Autobiography of an Australian comedian I like. (If you like audiobooks, she reads it herself which is a treat.) True Biz, Sara Nović - A year in the life of a boarding school for the deaf. Upgrade, Blake Crouch Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains, Matt Johnson & Prince Ghuman - Interesting angle of examining neurology. Treasure & Dirt, and The Tilt, Chris Hammer - Good Australian rural crime fiction. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eliezer Yudkowsky - Alternate fan fic depiction of Harry Potter as a hyper-rationalist. My review linked below. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60034663-ten-steps-to-na... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60034663-ten-steps-to-nanette) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58395049-true-biz https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59838811-upgrade https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52225003-blindsight https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58520598-treasure-dirt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61413297-the-tilt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33951086-harry-potter-an... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33951086-harry-potter-and-the-methods-of-rationality)…

Have you read it? Judging a book by its cover is kinda like judging a book by its cover. It definitely makes Harry a massive arse if you enjoy the original character, but once I got past that it was actually an interesting read. A lot of the concepts have stuck with me and I've gone on to look into them further.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - great story and also quite a nice introduction to rationality. There's also an audiobook https://hpmorpodcast.com/?page_id=56

- Harry Potter and methods of rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky Great intro to rationality, so fun to see a different take on a world you likely already know. - Kindred by Octavia Butler Such an interesting perspective on the psychology of what it takes to break a human being. In the worst way possible. - The Humans by Matt Haig Being outside of the human race, the language is so jarring and alien.

- Hpmor, from Yudkowsky the guy who created the ML Research Institute, simply one of the funniest and smartest book I ever read. - Martin Eden, a great tragic adventure from the late 19th century about a poor smart guy from the slums who tries to make his riches as a writer - The Moon is Harsh Mistress, Elon’s favorite sci-fi books - Foundation by Asimov - Homo Deus by Harari - Principles by Ray Dalio

I read a lot of fanfiction in the last years. On the downside the writing is less polished. On the upside it is free and non-mainstream. I was influenced by Eliezer Yudkowsky and his take on rationality. His fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" serves as a nice introduction. http://www.hpmor.com/ Worm by John McCrae is an epic superhero/villain story. Consider it Game of Thrones in the superhero genre. With 16 million words it is a really long story. For comparison, the Harry Potter series is 10 million words. The Metropolition Man by Alexander Wales is also in the superhero genre, but turns it on its head. Lex Luthor is the hero standing up against Superman. The Last Ringbearer by Kirill Yeskov does the same to Lord of the Rings. It effectively becomes a fantasy spy thriller. These three are great stories that show how good and evil are a point of view. An important lesson to learn in a time when US and China are increasingly hostile. Since HN is american, China might be compared to Mordor and Xi Jinping to Lux Luthor. Fiction stories may help you to at least imagine that they consider themselves as the good guys.…

These books really challenge your thinking or force you to think hard and/or see things through another lens. They are also really good reads that are very hard to put down. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality Firefall series by Peter Watts (Blindsight & Echopraxia) Axiomatic by Greg Egan N.N. Taleb's books These are all books I had seen written about in previous HN threads like this and ended up reading, so glad I did!

Non-Fiction: - Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman | book on human rationality and irrationality - An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield Fiction: - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality | Petunia married a professor, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. http://www.hpmor.com/ - Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 Book 1) by Scott Meyer | Reality is defined in a text file, making the protagonist a wizard when he discovers it while hacking a company. - The Magicians (series) by Lev Grossman

There is a class at Georgia Tech I colloquially referred to as "making sure your coworkers don't hate you." It covered design patterns, software testing, and project management. I'd tack on a basic knowledge of databases to that. These are things you can gain a true functional knowledge of in a couple of weeks, and which not knowing might make senior engineers hate working with you. So to mimic the class: The Mythical Man Month Design Patterns - Even if some of the particulars are not as relevant, it still provides a useful framework for thought. Lessons Learned in Software Testing: A Context-Driven Approach I'd also add Harry Potter & The Methods of Rationality. A lot of engineers can think empirically, but its not their first reaction. Going through this book helped make it second nature for me. Can't remember if a certain data structure is immutable? Now I'll write a couple of lines of code to see rather than go looking for documentation. A lot of big problems start as false assumptions. Having the instinct to think to test them and knowing how to will prevent a lot of wasted effort, regardless of your role.…

Have to agree here. It has a unique and valuable worldview.

I'm reading "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky right now. Never thought I would be interested in fanfic, but this is just brilliant, give it a chance. You can get a free ebook on hpmor.com, or create your own paperback version with https://github.com/ianstormtaylor/hpmor (it cannot be sold, due to copyright issues)

Rationality is good, but I found Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality to be a much more pleasant read about the same topics by the same author. Both books suffer from the same problem, the lack of an editor. They could be half the size and it would make them a much more convincing and entertaining read.

Non-Fiction: "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, because it changed my understanding of people for the better. "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard Feynman, because it gave me a model for how to enjoy life. "Models" by Mark Manson, because it helped shape my understanding of heterosexual relationships. "An Introduction to General Systems Thinking" by Gerald Weinberg, because it illuminates the general laws underlying all systems. Fiction: "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A Heinlein, because it showed me a philosophy and "spirituality", for lack of a better word, that I could agree with. "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, because they showed me how human systems break, and they provided human models for how to see and live in, through, and past those broken systems. "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky, because it set the bar (high) for all future fiction, especially when it comes to the insightful portrayal of the struggle between good and evil.

Highlights: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality When Three Worlds Collide Permutation City The Story of Human Body Incognito: the secret life of your brain

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Also, strangely enough (not being a Harry Potter fan), I immensely enjoyed Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius -- A fine classic I enjoyed. Might count, might not, since it finished in March but was going on before. I loved Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - Eliezer Yudkowsky - http://hpmor.com/ Loved Masters of Doom - David Kushner I liked Worm - Wildbow - https://parahumans.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/ -- but it falls short of overall greatness and I don't think it's worth its 22-average-books length if I were to go back in time and decide on rereading... Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) - Janice Kim -- I've been learning Go and thought this book was particularly excellent for beginners. There are at least 4 other books I'm close to finishing and I might get one done before the end of the month... Volume 2 of the above Go series, Mythical Man-Month, A handbook of traditional living, or The Waking Dream.

https://intelligence.org/rationality-ai-zombies/ and http://hpmor.com/ gave me a great model of how to plan and think about difficult issues. Excellent (and very long, each one is the length of 5+ books) primers on rationality.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky These are the most intelligent and well written books I've ever read. Authors are amazing at thinking clearly, and expressing their ideas. Stories are fantastic, and the author's philosophies are amazing and mind-expanding.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Don't know if "great", but quite interesting and fun free book at hpmor.com

Currently reading Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (http://hpmor.com/). It's an alternate Harry Potter story where Harry is a genius scientist and rationalist. Hilarious and well worth a read.

Gödel, Escher, Bach - An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter. Both a work of literary and technical genius. Le ton beau de Marot, also by Douglas Hofstadter. Was blown by his description of how making the typographical choice of starting the first word of each chapter with letters decreasing in height to the normal page font size, caused him to rethink a whole chapter (he couldn't use descenders, which limits the first word, which limits his first sentence, which constrains his first paragraph and so on). Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Every single chapter is potentially mind blowing. The whole approach of trying to instruct rationality through such fiction is itself brilliant I think.

Seconded. I also recommend the podcast version, at http://www.hpmorpodcast.com/ .

A few of these are already posted (or will be) but here you go: - https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/ - http://www.withouthotair.com/ - http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/1057/business/dave-c... (http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/1057/business/dave-coplin/the-rise-of-the-humans/) - http://hpmor.com/ - http://www.linuxvoice.com/creative-commons-issues/

Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality http://hpmor.com/

"Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" by Eliezer Yudkowsky - the most brilliant book I've read this year. I wish I'd read it 10 years ago. And Atlas Shrugged - controversial, I know, a lot of people here hate it for some reason, but it was incredibly influential on me, inspired my passion for entrepreneurship and science and philosophy. Still is one of the best books I am aware of. If I could send 2 books back in time to the 14-year-old me - these would be it.

Here's my usual list of recommendations, the best books I've read in the past 5 years. Fiction: - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality If you know nothing about this book you might naturally hesitate to read "Harry Potter fanfiction" and assume that it's dumb/horrbile, but it's not. Just suspend your disbelief and read the first 5-10 chapters. Trust me, it's brilliant, hilarious, and life-changing. - Atlas Shrugged Controversial, I know, a lot of people here hate it for some reason, but it was incredibly influential on me, inspired my passion for entrepreneurship and science and philosophy. Still is one of the best books I am aware of. Nonfiction: - Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham Also a collection of his essays that you can find on github. He is one of the most clever writers I am aware of, but I assume you know that, since you're on HN. - "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins This book explains in simple terms a very awesome and elegant theory on how mind works. Incredibly fascinating, I've learned a lot from it and it explains a lot of things, and will change the way you think about thinking process. - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins…

This is what I thought about posting. I've read a lot of books this year (45 books totaling 22,000 pages), the most important being: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Silent Spring, The Feminine Mystique, The Grapes of Wrath, The Price of Inequality, The Happiness Hypothesis. But, out of all that (which I had to go look up on my Goodreads), HPMOR is what came to mind, both an engaging story, thought provoking ideas, and a lot of pages to work with :).

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality -- a fanfiction with the twist that Harry was raised to believe in science; as such he applies logic to understand how magic works, to bend it to his will; IMHO it's easily on a par with the canonical stories :) --> http://hpmor.com/

My two favorites are Permutation City by Greg Egan and The Golden Age by John C. Wright (actually that one's a trilogy). I hear good things about Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. I've only read one (The Player of Games) and while it was enjoyable it was still sort of meh, if that makes sense... (I've got Excession in my queue and I suspect I'll enjoy it more.) While it's more in the realm of science-fantasy, you might enjoy this alternate universe imagining of the Harry Potter story: http://hpmor.com/

I would also characterize Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality as "applied Thinking: Fast and Slow". I would strongly recommend it.

Like yourself I resisted reading HPMOR for years. Give in to your dark side, the book is both remarkably compelling and extremely self-aware.

You're missing out. I'd liked HPMOR much more then original story. Thought it's quite geeky which not everyone likes.

If you haven't read "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality", you're in for a treat: http://hpmor.com/

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: http://hpmor.com/ And my free ebook conversion: https://leanpub.com/hpmor/

It's worth checking out Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (http://hpmor.com/). I know I avoided it for too long due to fanfic stigma but it really is a great read that makes you reflect on the way you think.

On that point, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is great (and entertaining) for this purpose as well.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I hesitated to start. Partly because I found the original Harry Potter kind of boring/frustrating. And partly because it's fanfiction, a sort of writing I do not normally enjoy. I'm most of the way through the 1200 pages and find it pretty enjoyable. Harry's portrayal seems pretty uneven (swinging between "scientist/genius in an irrational world" and "arrogant prick demigod"). I like Drako's additional depth far better than Rowling's one dimensional jerk. Find it here: http://www.elsewhere.org/rationality/ (after the first few chapters I switched to the pdf version.. link on the right of that page)

Oh jeeze, I have to choose? Nonfiction: QED, by Feynman. It made a large portion of quantum physics "click" for me intuitively and dispelled a bunch of popular notions about quantum physics that are just wrong. Fiction: Probably the celebrated Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, for reasons others have stated over and again, or else Ass Goblins of Auschwitz for letting me explore an author's deliciously disturbing mind.

Fantastic book. Either that, or Eliezer Yudkowsky's fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" was the best fiction I read this year. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_M... (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality) HP&TMOR didn't sound like the kind of thing I'd have liked... massively mistaken. Very good. Highly recommended.

Also check out Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality too.

Since you mentioned 'eye-opening fiction' I give you my wholehearted recommendation for Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_M... (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality) Don't be misled by the 'fanfic' tag, it's a mere shell for a very deep piece of work, endorsed by Eric S. Raymond and David Brin. Many have accused the author for slipping in a lot of his own voice, calling it his own 'Atlas Shrugged', but seeing as you liked that, I think you'll find this a pleasure, too.