Leading psychologists delve into the world and characters of Harry Potter in this revealing look at J. K. Rowling's constructed universe, using the characters and their puzzling situations to offer insight into real-world psychology. Designed to appeal to both fans of pop culture and students of psychology, this unique blend of scholarship and contemporary criticism consists of essays by professional psychologists hailing from schools and clinical practices throughout the world. Every major area of psychology is covered as the contributors tackle such heady questions as Is Harry a cranky adolescent or suffering from real post-traumatic-stress disorder?Is Voldemort evil incarnate or a misguided boy now twisted beyond recognition? and Is Snape treacherous or struggling for redemption?, revealing the fictional world's complex psychological brew.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Great cover; bad book:
I bought this book, started reading it, then put it down for 6 months because it was so uninteresting. "An Examination of the Boy who Lived"? Not really. It's a collection of essay about psychology that mention aspects of the Harry Potter series. Maybe one or two essay actually discuss Harry's psyche, and even there the essays are open-ended, non-conclusive, and not wholly correct. Worst of all, it reads like a pile of essays handed in by psychology students. If you want to read it, get it... more info
interesting, not great:
I want to admit up front that I haven't finished reading this book yet... which is because it's a very slow, difficult read. What I HAVE read is interesting, and the titles of the (currently unread) chapters look intriguing. But this is NOT a casual read -- definitely not for teen & younger readers -- because of the complexity of the issues discussed. I've had a college-level psychology course, which helps with the comprehension, but is still not enough to allow me to understand everything they're... more info
An interesting read:
Not too full of psychobabble. Suitable for beginners or those with an interest in psychology, because we already "know" the characters. This book provides an intersting insight into how JKR has structured her world, and as such how we as people interact. A good read.
A solid collection of psychology essays:
This is a nice compendium of essays associating Harry Potter with a range of topics in psychology. It stacks up well to other collections of critical essays and applications that take the Harry Potter books as their starting point. The book is actually 326 pages and has an introduction and 22 chapters. Since the Table of Contents isn't available above, here are the chapters: Introduction
Neil Mulholland, Ph.D. What Do Students Learn from Hogwarts Classes?
Robin S. Rosenberg,... more info
