This is a very cool post on today’s NY Times.
Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/03/movies/harry-potter-timeline.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28.
You can track the dates from when J.K. Rowling got the idea for her boy-wizard on a train ride, to writing that first book, to finally being accepted by a publisher, to the first books becoming instant hits, to the Times starting a Children’s Best-seller list, and so on. And all this before the movies! Clips included. There’s even a lawsuit in the timeline. Phenomenal.