Great news Potterheads!
Believe it or not, there are STILL some people out there who have never embraced the world of Harry Potter.
We know, we know. They'll never know the joy of spotting hidden Harry Potter references in Game of Thrones (who doesn't love a fandom cross-over) or discussing the latest Harry Potter theory with fellow wannabe wizards. They're loss.
Well, it seems a new study has given another very good reason behind why everyone and anyone should sit down and spend time reading J.K. Rowling's magical franchise.
Yes, according to research in a paper called The Greatest Magic Of Harry Potter: Reducing Prejudice, people who have read the series are actually nicer than those who haven't.
Why? Well, the study found that reading the books 'improves attitudes towards stigmatised groups'.
The findings actually make quite a lot of sense when you consider the fact Harry is often allied with the minority groups in the wizarding world - think muggle borns, half giants, house elves and so forth.
In fact, J.K. Rowling has even said as much about the impact of including of minority groups in the series herself.
In a blog post last year, she said: 'The expressions 'pure blood', 'half blood' and 'muggle born' have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter and express their originators' prejudices'.
J.K. Rowling then went on top make comparisons to the charts the Nazis used to use.
'I saw one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'muggle born' definitions and was chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as the Death Eaters.'
So, maybe those of you who haven't yet picked up Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone should consider doing so...
