The Harvard Necromancer

“The Harvard Necromancer” tells how scientists would behave if magic really existed. It’s science fiction with the emphasis on the first word. The author writes both about real and fictional scientific research, but the fictional ones are described in a way that satisfies all the criteria of real scientific papers. In this sense, the book is somewhat reminiscent of the mysterious “Voynich Manuscript”—a code written in an unknown, most likely nonexistent language using an unknown alphabet, but hard to distinguish from an authentic ancient manuscript. Scientific miracles don’t appear as burning bushes and voices in your head; they appear as unexpected readings from instruments, statistical deviations in the lifespan of test worms and mice, and other results of experiments and observations that can be objectively analyzed.