TIL Trinity College Dublin’s oldest PhD graduated at 84 with her thesis “Harry Potter and the Unconscious Dimension” She wondered, why are the Harry Potter books, which are written for children, so popular with adults?

12 comments

1. why are the Harry Potter books, which are written for children, so popular with adults?

   Loneliness

2. I’d guess..cause when they came out, most of the adults who loved Harry Potter were children, and it was enough of a cultural phenomenon that the love stuck with them 20 years latter.

3. The woman wrote a thesis and people here and in the original post are trying to answer in a paragraph on reddit

4. Thats incredible, hopefully in my old age I’ll be cognicent enough to branch of the main story and start into my side quests.

5. “Young adults-Teens” will always be my favourite genre of books.
   The inheritance cycle,Darren Shan, Artemis fowl, Skullduggery pleasant, Narnia.
   Obviously classics like LOTR or a song of Ice and fire are brilliant too but maybe aren’t as easy to get into at a younger age.

6. Because most of us read Harry Potter in 1998 when we were kids? Vast majority of youngish adults grew up with Harry Potter and it became a cultural staple throughout our lives further when the movies started coming out.

7. I missed out on the whole Harry Potter craze even though I was the perfect age for it.

   I like the fantasy genre, and I loved reading.

   However there was a girl in my primary school that I hated (like actually hated not secretly liked) and she was obsessed with Harry Potter. I petulantly decided if she liked it I had a duty not to like it.

   My poor uncle got me the audio book (on tape!) for my birthday and I never bothered with it.

8. You’d think in an article literally about her receiving her doctorate the Times might have called her Dr. Pyle, instead of *”Mrs Pyle, the widow of former Irish Times editor Fergus Pyle who died in 1997″*.

9. I follow this todayilearned reddit and nicely surprised at just how often irish posts come up given the scope of the forum. Seemingly an Irish bias , a quick search for Ireland, irish, Dublin etc should show just how often

10. Gotta love all the folks here trying to answer the question, nobody asked.

11. Is it because adults are morons and think that reading an endless screed of absolute drivel is how to have a good time?

12. Excellent. An invaluable addition to the workforce!