Time Travel and Harry Potter: Time-Turning in the Prisoner of Azkaban and its Place in Time-Travel Fiction [Paperback]

Richard H Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2009

All the twists and turns of time travel in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban are fun, but understanding them is also hard. For example, how does Harry get past the Dementor attack so that he can time travel latter and save himself from the Dementor attack? Isn't that impossible? Richard Jones explains how this might in fact be possible and examines more generally how time travel works in the book, along with its problems. For example, did Harry and Hermione change history? Did Harry and Hermione have free will for what they did or were their actions fixed in advance? If we can time-travel to save Sirius and Buckbeak, why can't we time-travel to save others? What did Professor Dumbledore know and when did he know it? Did Hermione get younger by all her time-traveling during the school year? Jones answers these and many other questions. He also extensively discusses fans' competing theories of how time travel works in the Prisoner of Azakaban. Also included is a brief introduction to the theories of time and time travel in physics and philosophy that are utilized in science fiction and other time travel stories, along with a bibliography of relevant works. Do physicists and philosophers think time is real? Is time-travel possible at all? Can we in fact change the past? After finishing this book, you will have a much greater understanding of both J. K. Rowling's work and a better appreciation of the problems of time and time-travel in general.

Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: Outskirts Press (September 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432741942
• ISBN-13: 978-1432741945
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard H. Jones holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the history and philosophy of religion and an A.B. from Brown University in religious studies. He also holds a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He formerly was an attorney. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Potters traveling, September 4, 2011

By 

queenpanda - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Travel and Harry Potter: Time-Turning in the Prisoner of Azkaban and its Place in Time-Travel Fiction (Paperback)

Time Travel and Harry Potter

By Richard H. Jones

Outskirts Press, Inc.

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Time Travel and Harry Potter, explains what the original Harry Potter books did not tell you. As a fan of Harry Potter and characters, I was happy to review this book. I have never thought of a fan to write such an indescribable book. I have reread the original Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban along with this book and found it to be easier. It is made as a reference book for the series of Harry Potter books, wrote by J.K. Rowling. It explains the different scenarios that the original books established for its readers. Richard goes into exact details about the different times, that are made possible with the time-turner. A lot of questions are answered that were not in the originals.

Many book make the idea of changing the past unbelievable but this book has showed it to be almost possible. You can actually make believe the story is real with all the details this book describes. Nothing is more frustrating then other writers trying to prove the knowledge behind the work of others in fiction, when fiction is not real to begin with. Richard Jones, made the book a great read as he did not try and prove that the original story was not plausible since it was fiction to begin with.

The best part of the book is where Richard Jones, included a bibliography giving for the informational purposes, to any who would like to read other books as well. I absolutely love this book and plan to buy more to give as gifts to others. This book is a great accessory for anyone, no matter their age as long as they like the Harry Potter series.

I have to say that, in the end, I would recommend this book to everyone wanting their questions answered or more details. The main idea of this book, was to give the in between the lines, details and that is exactly what it did. I believe that anyone reading this book, could understand the Harry Potter trilogy the first time around, and can get anyone to become a lover of Harry Potter fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Richard H. Jones presents a defense of changing history in time travel, May 12, 2011

By 

Betty Gelean "nightreader" (Smithers, BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Travel and Harry Potter: Time-Turning in the Prisoner of Azkaban and its Place in Time-Travel Fiction (Paperback)

Is it possible to go back in time and make changes to history? Time Travel and Harry Potter - Time-Turning in the Prisoner of Azkaban and its Place in Time-Travel Fiction says it is. Richard H. Jones presents a defense of changing history in time travel, as he puts forward a theory of why and how history was changeable in The Prisoner of Azkaban. How else was Harry able to save himself? How else were Harry and Hermione going to be able to save Buckbeak?

First it must be realized that J.K. Rowling's book is both magic and fiction, and as such her words must be accepted as true in the world of the book. Theorists for hundreds of years have spouted many theories about time and the possibilities that could or could not occur in time travel. Working on this level, the laws of physics are necessarily employed. What does that mean when one thinks of time? Is time from the present going back to the past a straight line? Perhaps, but in this book, the author explores what the possibilities would be if we take Ms. Rowling's words as true in the world she has created.

I found this book quite interesting considering the theories that are argued. I am not a physicist, I am a reader, and therefore while reading I live in the created world of the author. Richard Jones has taken a complicated subject and made it readable. Time travel in this world of wizardry and magic, according to Jones, presents us not just with the possibility that we can change the past, but he also brings forward the equally questioned theory of new time lines created while the old time line remains. Hence, while time traveling to and from the past three times, if I understand this theory correctly, Harry and Hermione would create three time lines, each line leaving them ignorant of their other selves living their lives on their current time lines..

In this book, the author covers a lot of ground, cites many references, and ties the loose ends together cohesively in regard to Ms. Rowling's books. Since time travel is in The Prisoner of Azkaban, that is the book that Jones bases most of this theory on, but he also references later books in the series to help his hypothesis. All in all, I do feel he got his many points across and I'm sure Harry Potter fans will enjoy the way J.K. Rowling inserted time travel into the books and made them believable. I am a great fan of the Harry Potter books and J.K. Rowling, and Richard Jones' book has given a good frame of reference that could be considered an aid to the Potter books, presenting what wording was used and where it fits into his theory.

Disclaimer: I was given this book to review. My review is my own, I was not influenced in any way.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, March 12, 2011

By 

reviewer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Travel and Harry Potter: Time-Turning in the Prisoner of Azkaban and its Place in Time-Travel Fiction (Paperback)

I'm a fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, so I was eager to review this book. The author Richard Jones is a fan of Harry Potter, too, and has written this Literary Criticism/Philosophy book. While reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban by J. K. Rowling, Richard, and many other fans wondered, how does time travel work in the novel?

The author goes in detail about different time travel/time-line scenarios that could explain how Harry and Hermione changed the past with the Time-Turning. Richard also examines the time-line events that occurred in the novel from 8:55 PM to 11:55 PM causing there to be two different versions of Harry and Hermione, one version is in the regular timeline while the other version came from another part of time to change the events. How can all this be possible?

Most science fiction novels, suggest that time is fixed and cannot be changed. Then, how did Harry and Hermione change the events? And how could Hermione use the Time-Turner over and over again to get to class without making multiple copies of her? The author answers theses questions and much more?

It's been years since I have read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but I have seen the movie numerous times. I never thought much about the time traveling in it, until I read Time Travel and Harry Potter. The author easily explains how the time travel works in the Potterverse. I found this to be an interesting read and recommend it to Harry Potter fans.