Why Are Human Beings So Shallow?
A few days ago, I was in Porto, Portugal with four friends. One of our stops was a famous library called Livraria Lello.
I hadn’t done any of the planning for our Porto itinerary I was just along for the ride. So when I found out we were visiting a library and paying to get in, I was a little confused.
The Harry Potter Myth
Naturally, I asked, “Why are we paying to enter a library?”
That’s when I learned for the first time that this particular library is rumored to have inspired J.K. Rowling when she was writing Harry Potter. She had lived in Porto for two years in the 1990s, and people say the red staircase inside Livraria Lello sparked her vision for Hogwarts.
Except… that’s not true.
Rowling later clarified that she never stepped foot in the library before writing her books. But the myth had already taken off so did the tourism.
As we approached, I saw a massive line of people waiting to get in. Tickets start at 10 euros just for entry. It felt surreal to see that many people queueing up just to visit a bookstore.
But plot twist: one of my friends had unknowingly purchased the Gold tickets for around 20 euros each because they were the first option she saw. Turns out, they came with fast-track entry and a 16-euro book voucher. So we skipped the entire line and walked right in.
A Magical Scene
The inside was, I admit, magical.
The red spiral staircase really does give you Harry Potter vibes. There were ladders climbing up shelves, wooden carvings, colored glass, and a romantic chaos that made you feel like you were inside a storybook. It was two floors packed with people every square foot was occupied by visitors taking photos.
Especially that staircase. Everyone was slowly going up or down while their friend or partner waited at the bottom, angling their phone for the perfect Instagram shot.
Even I was tempted to take one.
Despite the Rowling myth being debunked, Livraria Lello knew how to capitalize on it. There was a full Harry Potter section. Smart move, honestly.
Before leaving, I used my voucher to buy a small copy of Peter Pan printed by the bookstore itself, complete with a custom stamp that read “The World’s Most Beautiful Bookshop” the title it now goes by, thanks in large part to the Harry Potter buzz.
But It Got Me Thinking...
The library was built in 1906. It’s always been this beautiful. But for decades, it was just… there. A local gem. Nothing extraordinary in the eyes of the world.
And yet, the moment a myth surfaced connecting it to something famous even falsely, people started caring. Flights were booked. Lines formed. Entry fees were paid. Photos were posted. All of this… because of a rumor.
So I started wondering:
Do we actually love things because we genuinely love them? Or do we love them because they’re famous?
Would people be waiting in line for hours to visit this library if no one had ever mentioned Harry Potter?
Would they pay to get in, take selfies on the stairs, and call it magical?
Or do we simply chase what’s trending or what’s “worth” seeing, because someone else decided it was?
A Reflection on Us
It’s not just this library.
Think about how many things we suddenly love because they’re popular: places, celebrities, brands, experiences. We don’t care about the old bookstore until it's attached to a blockbuster. We don’t care about the musician until they hit the charts. We don’t care about the person until they go viral.
It’s like we need external validation before forming our own opinions.
I’m not saying I’m above it, clearly I went, clearly I enjoyed it. But it made me reflect on something deeper:
How many beautiful things do we ignore every day simply because no one told us they were worth our attention?
And how many things do we chase not out of curiosity or joy but out of a shallow need to be part of something recognizable?
I don’t have the answers. But this visit reminded me to start looking for beauty on my own terms, not just where the crowd’s already pointing.
Because sometimes, the most magical places are the ones no one is photographing.
This reminds me of a research area in social sciences. I did some work related to it. It is similar to how and when people like social media posts. If you plot the number of likes or comments with time, you would definitely see a pattern where people tend to like a post if it already has a lot of likes on it. The more the number of likes the higher the chance that a random user will like it. So yeah, I guess we're social creatures programmed this way 🙃