Answering Questions Through Books

I forget what the process is called, but I was reading a book on the magic in Harry Potter (I forget it's name, too), and it listed all the ways people try and predict the future, or get other answers. One way was through choosing a book, asking your question, randomly opening it to any old page, and randomly putting your finger on any sentence on that page. That sentence would then contain info about whatever you wanted to know about. Or at least the paragraph, but it's supposed to be the sentence itself.

So, naturally I doubted it, and decided to disprove it, by asking it such a ridiculous question, that of course could have no real answer. I asked it how I could fly (you know, like Superman, not in a plane or such). Since I cannot fly, logic dictates the sentence I'd land on could not possibly help me to fly.

So, using the book (which I never read, and had only briefly flipped through, looking at pages here and there), I closed it, and asked how I could fly. I randomly opened the book up, not looking at it, circled my finger around a bit (still not looking at it), and landed my finger in the top 1/4 of the right page. I read about Harry's invisibility cloak. Not the answer I was looking for. Surprise. Surprise.

So, I then read the full paragraph. And it talked about other magic cloaks in fiction. Including a flying cloak from The Wizard of OZ book series (not the movie). There it was. My answer. Get a flying cloak. It had worked. The book had given me an answer to an impossible question.

OK, so flying cloaks are not real. But come on. What are the chances of book predicting being total crud, my asking an impossible question, and I just happen to randomly decide to use the book in my hand (OK, so I was too lazy to grab another book. Maybe that wasn't so random), and randomly opening to one of the pages on Harry's magical items, and randomly landing on the paragraph which mentions a flying cloak (OK, so not the exact sentence, but hey, wild questions require some leeway, right?) All as a coincidence? Astronomical, that's the chances.

To have the right book, and open to the right page, and land on the right paragraph (again, not the sentence as it should have been, but close enough) and it's all mere chance, an accident, a coincidence? Uh uh. This really works. Fate or Destiny or whatever made sure I used the right book, and opened to the right page, and guided my finger to the right paragraph (still missing the right sentence, so it's not an exact science). Book predicting really works.

I also think you can't use fiction. What I used was a comparison contrast of Harry Potter Magic vs alleged real world versions (IE, Runes, arthimacy, etc). Perhaps books specific to your question works best. Medical books for medical questions and such. It might not work all the time, the answer might not be practical, you may even have to interpret it, but it does work. How else can you explain such an impossible question "randomly" leading me to a semi plausible answer (in theory)?

Books, they can help solve your problems in exciting new ways. Give it a try, and see the results for yourself. I'm a believer now.