Harry Potter: A History of Magic cover art

Harry Potter: A History of Magic

An Audio Documentary

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Harry Potter: A History of Magic

By: Pottermore Publishing, Ben Davies
Narrated by: Natalie Dormer
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About this listen

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.

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. Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths History Magic Science & Technology World Middle Ages Magic Users Fiction Wizardry Fantasy

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Listen to clips from this book

Harry Potter: A History of Magic
Divination: Ready for a lesson in real-world Divination? Take a seat, Trelawney.
Harry Potter: A History of Magic
Charms: What are the origins of the word Abracadabra?
Harry Potter: A History of Magic
Herbology: Earmuffs away—you won’t need them for this real-world lesson on Mandrakes.
Harry Potter: A History of Magic
Potions: Unicorn horns have long been used in potions and medicines.
Harry Potter: A History of Magic
Defense Against the Dark Arts: What is the significance of the wand?
  • Harry Potter: A History of Magic
  • Divination: Ready for a lesson in real-world Divination? Take a seat, Trelawney.
  • Harry Potter: A History of Magic
  • Charms: What are the origins of the word Abracadabra?
  • Harry Potter: A History of Magic
  • Herbology: Earmuffs away—you won’t need them for this real-world lesson on Mandrakes.
  • Harry Potter: A History of Magic
  • Potions: Unicorn horns have long been used in potions and medicines.
  • Harry Potter: A History of Magic
  • Defense Against the Dark Arts: What is the significance of the wand?
Harry Potter The Full Cast Audio Editions on Audible

A message from Natalie Dormer

Natalie Dormer invites you to take an audio journey through the history of real-life magic.
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I really enjoyed this book, very interesting. the experts were great and at times very amusing.

Judging from previous reviews people haven't been reading the summary properly, I don't know about anyone else but having only one credit per month makes me very picky about what I listen to so I always read the summary, listen to the clip and watch any promotional videos. This was exactly as advertised for me, an exploration into the real life stories and history of magic that have inspired Harry Potter.

very enjoyable

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this was rad from start to finish. excellent quality. i really recommend it to anyone who likes Harry potter

Awesome!!!

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Natalie dormer makes this book so easy to listen to with her soft voice. It's a real treat for all HP fans. Recommend 100%

Natalie Dormer makes this book so easy to listen

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While I enjoyed this audiobook, the audio quality is all over the place, it's easy to notice and changing the volume multiple times wasn't something I expected considering the consistent audio volume of the previous books.

Apart from that, nothing spectacular but still a nice listen.

Interesting read, however...

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feel it was written to be a video they refer to drawings and portraits and other visual aids. I was expecting a school textbook like fantastic beasts. would of liked it to be the textbook referenced in harry potter. writing this at 10 mins in

skip to 43 min mark. to get something but...

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Absolutely loved learning about the real history of magic and influences on the Harry Potter world. The majority of the narrators and experts were fantastic. They were informatiVe and enthusiastic about their subject matter and it really drew your attention. The description of the exhibitions was thorough so I could picture what was being described against what I saw when I went to the exhibition. The only negative was that I struggled to hear one of the experts as they spoke in a low quiet voice-almost a whisper- and the recording didn't compensate for it. Other than that, completely amazing

Amazing book, engaging and informative

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I really liked this audiobook. As someone who read all of the Harry Potter books as they were coming out and got incredibly into the series, I've been concerned as to how the series would undoubtedly continue despite the story having concluded. The results have so far been mixed with Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them smartly deciding to tell its own story in the same world without needing to have read the books or seen the previous films (well... the first one at least), and the Cursed Child being glorified fan fiction.

So this takes a different approach. For people like myself who hasn't studied the history of science and only recently started heavily reading about theology, this was a great insight as to the research that J. K. Rowling put into her series whilst still creating her own world.

It was odd having Natalie Dormer doing the narration seeing as I'd expect her to be more likely to do a similar book on A Song of Ice and Fire, but that isn't to say that she was bad. Dormer balanced the right tone of curiosity and education, which helped it feel more like an enjoyable documentary than a condescending lecture.

Some bits are more interesting than others, I found care of magical creatures more interesting than charms for example, but I learned a lot from all of the stories. It was also good to get a sample of the different narrators of the Harry Potter audiobooks to consider what I'd missed by reading them myself and not listening along.

Worth a read but you have to know going in that this is a look at the inspirations that Rowling took from history, not something such as Beedle the Bard where it is an in-universe story.

Accio Real Magic History

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I absolutely love this book, not only about Harry Potter but adding real historic events, people and even historical Kings etc. I am obsessed with history especially Tudor history, I Loved the hints of tudor history in here AND the cherry on the top this audio book is narrated by Natalie Dormer who played an amazing Anne Boleyn in The Tudors series!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!!!! HIGHLY recommended!!!!!!

Addictive and facinating!!!

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Quite in-depth non-fictional book. I would recommend but a book to dip into or you may get overloaded..

Very interesting

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I did expect a bit of a humour, something exciting and new...the audiobook wasn't bad, but quite dull:-/ and did JK even heard it? I mean,there was so many guesses on the origins of ideas of Harry Potter, as if they couldn't straight ask the author, when preparing the content! And so many people talked about the magic: the only voice missing was hers?!?

Interesting audio documentary- not what I expected

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