The ridiculous thing is that, everywhere but in the US, the title of the book is “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” — the philosopher’s stone being the element or formula that alchemists sought to turn lead into gold and create an elixir of youth (as Nicholas Flammel did in the book). Apparently, Scholastic publishing house thought Americans too stupid and lazy to know what the philosopher’s stone was or look it up.
The ridiculous thing is that, everywhere but in the US, the title of the book is “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” — the philosopher’s stone being the element or formula that alchemists sought to turn lead into gold and create an elixir of youth (as Nicholas Flammel did in the book). Apparently, Scholastic publishing house thought Americans too stupid and lazy to know what the philosopher’s stone was or look it up.