Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowskyby Eliezer Yudkowsky
Ranked 4 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
Praised for clever subversion of the Harry Potter world and above-average prose for fan fiction. Caveat: very long, and critics find it preachy.
Praised for clever subversion of the Harry Potter world and above-average prose for fan fiction. Caveat: very long, and critics find it preachy.
36 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 17
- approval share
- 53%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Stronger than the original series
“I thought that Yudkowsky's HPMOR fanfic had more interesting ideas than the whole Rowling series”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class” “it's my favorite book and I consider it better than the original series”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” “This is part of what makes it a better story than the original.”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult” Clever subversion of Harry Potter world
“Most of what makes hpmor good is the cleverness with which yudkowsky subverts the original harry potter world”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult” “the overall struggle/war and reimagining of logical fallacies of the HP universe's magic were fun”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult” Prose above average for fan fiction
“Not only is his prose actually acceptable which is pretty rare in fanfic”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult” “I find yudkowsky's prose to be above average for fan fic”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Preachy lecturing and self-insertion
“The parts I read were basically Yudkowsky doing a self-insert into the book and trying to dress rationalist lecturing up with Harry Potter themes.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” “you're so, so wrong because your mind is defective and clouded by this list of 30 erroneous thinking patterns”
Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” “Hundreds upon hundreds of pages go by with nothing happening except creepy children preaching at each other.”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult” Poor writing quality
“Sadly they're very bad writers. Have you actually read the stuff they produced? Horrible.”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “AI 2040: Plan A” “such an appallingly written piece of... I hesitate to use the word literature”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Game design is simple” “I have read HPMOR and was distinctly underwhelmed by its literary quality”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult” Very long, slow, padded
“the Methods of Rationality is very much on the less verbose side of them, but by the standards of traditionally published fantasy and sci-fi it is wordslop”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” “I found it pretty boring, to be honest. Felt like an excuse for the author to show off how smart they thought they were”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “The effects of caffeine consumption do not decay with a ~5 hour half-life” “It's not so much rationality as a narcissistic fantasy that goes on for hundreds (thousands?) of pages.”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Sex, AI, and the Apocalypse” Uncomfortable content
“completely unnecessary uncomfortable parts like the rape threat sequence”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” “It is repugnant to healthy people from the first few pages.”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “AI safety is mostly a sex cult”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer YudkowskyThis page | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| Piranesiby Susanna Clarke | 12 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 49 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“you're so, so wrong because your mind is defective and clouded by this list of 30 erroneous thinking patterns”
“Most fans loved that challenge.”
“The parts I read were basically Yudkowsky doing a self-insert into the book and trying to dress rationalist lecturing up with Harry Potter themes.”
“I curiously read a little bit and couldn’t believe people were taking it seriously.”
“the Methods of Rationality is very much on the less verbose side of them, but by the standards of traditionally published fantasy and sci-fi it is wordslop”
“rationalist fanfics tend to instead try to tear down the world as illogical”
“it's my favorite book and I consider it better than the original series”
“it essentially serves as Rationalism's "Torah"”
“completely unnecessary uncomfortable parts like the rape threat sequence”
“His weirdo Harry Potter fanfic is 600,000 words long”
“I thought it was kind of like The Martian, but long”
“I have read HPMOR and was distinctly underwhelmed by its literary quality”
“very few people care about sophomoric LW thought experiments”
“the overall struggle/war and reimagining of logical fallacies of the HP universe's magic were fun”
“If you actually read the story, you will find out that many things that Harry said and believed turned out to be wrong.”
“hopefully you use those experiences to remind yourself what kind of person you don't want to be”
“It's not so much rationality as a narcissistic fantasy that goes on for hundreds (thousands?) of pages.”
“HPMOR was entertaining as well.”
“portrayal of voldemort as the ultimate adversary to rationalism is better than pretty much any plot arc in the original story”
“Arrogance is consistently rewarded while goodness is consistently ridiculed.”
“Most of what makes hpmor good is the cleverness with which yudkowsky subverts the original harry potter world”
“This is part of what makes it a better story than the original.”
“It is repugnant to healthy people from the first few pages.”
“I find yudkowsky's prose to be above average for fan fic”
“It's quite bad. Like, even for fanfic, it's not good.”
“Hundreds upon hundreds of pages go by with nothing happening except creepy children preaching at each other.”
“Not only is his prose actually acceptable which is pretty rare in fanfic”
“it would be worse off without it”
“he really poured his soul into it”
“Sadly they're very bad writers. Have you actually read the stuff they produced? Horrible.”
“You might like HPMOR by the same author if you don't mind the length.”
“It has like a dozen interacting plotlines, and is massively different from any other HP fanfic”
“I found it pretty boring, to be honest. Felt like an excuse for the author to show off how smart they thought they were”
“might generate cross-interest in Harry Potter for those who wouldn't have read it otherwise”
“I've never read such self absorbed drivel in my life.”
“there's nothing even close in HPMOR”
“I thought that Yudkowsky's HPMOR fanfic had more interesting ideas than the whole Rowling series”
“How can I forget Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality”
“such an appallingly written piece of... I hesitate to use the word literature”
“Whereas he could help innocent girls any time he felt like it, because he wasn't a good person.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.