It was changed because Jo's American editors felt that American's wouldn't buy anything that had to do with a philosopher. For me, if it had the British title then I probably would have read it a lot sooner. My best friend's copy of SS layed around in my room for about six months before Carrie finally prodded me to read it.
I had and interest in alchemy, though, and I knew about the philosopher's stone awhile before I ever heard of SS. Seeing a book about the philosopher's stone would have drawn me in like a magnet.
I also think that they should have published both the American and British version here. Americans deserve to be able to read the British version without having to pay more than twice the price of the book after shipping charges. _________________
What is the difference between a Philospher and a Sorcerer?
They are two completely different things. A sorcerer is a wizard or someone who performs magic, a philospoher is someone who studies philosophy, or theories..
Main Entry: phi·los·o·pher
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English philosophe, philosophre, from Anglo-French, from Latin philosophus, from Greek philosophos, from phil- + sophia wisdom, from sophos wise
Date: 14th century
1 a: a person who seeks wisdom or enlightenment : scholar, thinker b: a student of philosophy
2 a: a person whose philosophical perspective makes meeting trouble with equanimity easier b: an expounder of a theory in a particular area of experience c: one who philosophizes
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/philosopher
Well, he was considered an alchemist, which is someone who studies alchemy...
alchemy
Spoiler:
alchemy
Main Entry: al·che·my
Pronunciation: \ˈal-kə-mē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English alkamie, alquemie, from Middle French or Medieval Latin; Middle French alkimie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kīmiyā', from al the + kīmiyā' alchemy, from Late Greek chēmeia
Date: 14th century
1 : a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life
2 : a power or process of transforming something common into something special
3 : an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting
— al·chem·i·cal \-mi-kəl\ also al·chem·ic \al-ˈke-mik\ adjective
— al·chem·i·cal·ly \-mi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
Supposedly what he discovered was called the "Philosopher's Stone."
Better get off computer, my eyes are getting stuffed.
Well, in a way Nicholas Flamel is a philospher, he did study a theory... but the stone itself was called the Philospher's Stone. _________________
^courtesy of Arabella
Greek Philosophy was a precurser to Alchemy which in turn was a precurser to chemistry. Philosophy back then wasn't exactly the same sort of thing as it is today. Actually, science was all philosophical back then, since it was shunned by the church and outlawed.
People don't know much about alchemy, because it is dead. Since the two goals of chemistry have been proven impossible, there is no reason for people to pursue it. Alchemist did discover a lot of information about elements that might not have been discovered to hundreds of years otherwise, though.
Didn't you ever learn about alchemy in school? _________________
I learned about it in the eighth grade, and we've been talking about it in my science class now. Alchemy was the precursor to Chemistry. It is extremely important. Elements were first discovered to Alchemy. Before Alchemy, people still believed in the four-element explanation of matter.
Wow . . . Now I see why Jo's publisher's decided to change the title. Don't tell me that you didn't even hear of Nicholas Flammel and the philosopher's stone before Harry Potter? _________________
Oh, I know what alchemy is, I just didn't learn about it in school. I never learned about the history of science in any of my science classes, with the exception of the obvious inventors and such. But alchemy never came up. Most American don't learn about alchemy, that's why I sound like a broken record explaining it and providing links to the subject.
I had heard the name Nicholas Flamel before and the word "alchemy" but only randomly. I never actually studied about it in school. _________________
^courtesy of Arabella
Oh, I know what alchemy is, I just didn't learn about it in school. I never learned about the history of science in any of my science classes, with the exception of the obvious inventors and such. But alchemy never came up. Most American don't learn about alchemy, that's why I sound like a broken record explaining it and providing links to the subject.
I had heard the name Nicholas Flamel before and the word "alchemy" but only randomly. I never actually studied about it in school.
It just seems weird to learn the periodic table of elements and the discovery of the atom without learning about Alchemy. Did you have to memorize the periodic table ever? I was always in advanced classes, but I assumed that every one would have had to learn these things some time before getting a diploma. _________________
Oh, I know what alchemy is, I just didn't learn about it in school. I never learned about the history of science in any of my science classes, with the exception of the obvious inventors and such. But alchemy never came up. Most American don't learn about alchemy, that's why I sound like a broken record explaining it and providing links to the subject.
I had heard the name Nicholas Flamel before and the word "alchemy" but only randomly. I never actually studied about it in school.
It just seems weird to learn the periodic table of elements and the discovery of the atom without learning about Alchemy. Did you have to memorize the periodic table ever? I was always in advanced classes, but I assumed that every one would have had to learn these things some time before getting a diploma.
Nope, we didn't have to memorize it. We had to know it, though, and understand it. But we never had to memorize it. I wonder if our teachers even had the whole thing memorized. I can't speak for all the classes in my school district, though.
It doesn't seem weird at all to me to not have learned about alchemy first, I got along in school just fine without it. I don't see why we should need to know that to get a diploma. Plenty of information on history, literature and even mathematicss gets left out of curriculums. And none of that information was ever on our finals, state exams, or even the SATS. _________________
^courtesy of Arabella
It just seems weird to learn the periodic table of elements and the discovery of the atom without learning about Alchemy. Did you have to memorize the periodic table ever? I was always in advanced classes, but I assumed that every one would have had to learn these things some time before getting a diploma.
Not at my school, in fact I never even had to take Chem. We got to choose what we wanted, I took forensics. So now I feel ignorant, because I hadn't ever herd of Nicholas Flammel before. Who knew a HP forum would teach me something new.
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