Harry Potter: A History of Magic

An Audio Documentary

By: Pottermore Publishing, Ben Davies

Narrated by: Natalie Dormer

The history of magic is as long as time and as wide as the world. In every culture, in every age, in every place and, probably, in every heart, there is magic.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic reveals some of the hidden stories behind real-world magic and explores some of J.K. Rowling's magical inventions alongside their folkloric, cultural and historical forebears.

Narrator Natalie Dormer and a host of experts will take you on an audio journey like no other; from ancient China, to a 14th-century apothecary's shop, on to the Salem witch trials and beyond. They delve into a rich body of writings about magic and explore intriguing artefacts to bring to life deep-rooted ideas of mysticism from around the world.

Along the way, you can listen for handy tips on how to capture a basilisk, make yourself invisible or create your very own philosopher's stone. You'll hear about the dozens of drafts and drawings that went into J.K. Rowling's writing process and enjoy exclusive interviews with Jim Dale, Stephen Fry and illustrator Jim Kay, who all share their experiences of working on these incredible stories.

The extraordinary and thought-provoking tales in this audiobook are perfect for anyone who wants to know a little more about magic and the wizarding world.

In this audio documentary, Natalie Dormer takes you on a spellbinding exploration of the real-world history that influenced J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories. While not written by J.K. Rowling herself, nor taught by the slumbering Professor Binns, the documentary is inspired by the exhibition held at the British Library in 2017, which came to the New-York Historical Society in 2018. This audiobook is packed full of exclusive interviews, folkloric facts, and musings on intriguing artifacts and mysticism from around the world.

Music composed by Patrick Neil Doyle

Sound effects licensed from ProSound Effects

©2018 J.K. Rowling/Pottermore Ltd. (P)2018 J.K. Rowling/Pottermore Ltd.

Brilliant

This book is really fantastic. Don’t be fooled by the title as this is a nonfiction book examining both the Harry Potter series and the origins of many of the mythological creatures and ideas presented. That being said this is well worth the 12 hour listen. If you have the physical copy of the book, you should know that this covers a vast amount of information that the books do not. There are tons of interviews with everyone involved with the project of creating the museum exhibits. There are also fascinating and revealing interviews with many of the people involved with making the books, including: both the American and the British audiobook Harry Potter narrators, the illustrator of the illustrated editions, the publishers in both America and Britain, and many others. In summary, I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend it to anyone looking to gain more insight on the world of Harry Potter.

Not as bad as some say, but not as good as it could have been

Though I don’t feel this is a 5 star book, I gave it that to try to help balance out the ratings. As I feel a good amount of people rated this book based on how much it deviated from their expectations. Not trying to be disrespectful to them, but this book does match up with the description on audible.

I think most individuals who like history and Harry Potter will enjoy this book. I think it is a fascinating premise, and it was somewhat executed well, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been. I do think the interviews is what really detracts from how engaging and interesting the audiobook is. For one, a great deal of interviews had me wondering if anyone actually listened to the audio, as the interviewee was virtually whispering, mumbling, or the audio was too low. Additionally, I feel this book is too long and it kinda gets annoying jumping from interview to interview. A lot of the interviews or snippets were superfluous and could have easily been cut out. I think if they would have sifted out some interviews and/or just had Natalie Dormer read summaries or quotes of the interviews it would have been a much more engaging book. Lastly, some parts were a little dry as it was talking about artifacts that you can’t see cause you’re listening to the audiobook.

I did see some review say Natalie Dormer was over the top with narration, which I did not see at all. She was the perfect narrator for this and I really wish she just read the whole book. And truthfully, I found the real world history behind the magical stuff in Harry Potter and different insights into how the books were created prettty cool. Though I think it was more my love of history that kept me reading than my love of Harry Potter. If you’re someone who loves Harry Potter but not that intrigued by history, this book probably isn’t for you.

Love history

Although the book was quite long, it was very informative. Explaining the origins of the wands or where these potions derived from. A lot of our history coincides with the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

Some of the additional narrators

Julian Harris has a really annoying voice. But, Tanya Kirk Makes up for it! Over all a really interesting and fascinating look into the world of magic!

Absolutely loved

Listened to this audiobook before we went to the exhibit in NYC this past week and it was amazing. The details of what could have been in the wizarding world and also the roots of where did the idea of philosopher stone come from and was it real was very interesting.