I found this book on Netgalley about a year or two ago, and finally got around to reading it.

I didn't realize the book was originally written in 2004, which was before the final book of the Harry Potter series was released. Since both the books and movies are now complete, the absence of The Deathly Hallows is very much apparent.

I minored in social psychology in college, so I do recall some of the studies referenced throughout the book. In ways, this book felt a little like a refresher crash course with a magical spin to it.

The reason I didn't rate it higher was because some sections were very interesting, while others I struggled to stay present while reading. I can't exactly say anything presented was wrong, but some topics (such as Hogwarts being a metaphor for psychotherapy) felt like a bit of a stretch.

Really very interesting for any HP fan who also has an interest in psychology. This book has a vast amount of essays written by different people, all exploring various points and scenarios regarding the first six HP books and the wizarding world in general. Some of the points and discussions are really quite fascinating.

There are some factual errors littered throughout:

-Astrology is not a subject at Hogwarts, it is Astronomy
-Mad Eye Moody is never actually a professor
-Cho and Harry are not classmates
-Charlie and hippogriff misspellings (hippograff)
-The use of the polyjuice potion to find out the heir of Slytherin is in the second book, The Chamber of Secrets.. not The Order of the Phoenix

...just to name a few

Overall a very interesting read.

As a die hard Harry Potter fan, this was a fun read for me! I was intrigued the whole time and have recommended it to family members who are both HP fans and interested in Psychology.

Who would have thought that you could study Harry Potter from a psychology point of view. I actually learned something

As a big Harry Potter fan, I was excited to read this. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I thought the whole thing was just dry. I also wish the contributors had waited to publish it until after the final book came out. That would have made it more interesting for me.

Full disclosure any knowledge or connection I have to the subject of psychology can be summed up to my junior year psych class, so obviously that is not why I decided to read this book. I was mainly interested in seeing Harry Potter from a different perspective. For most part that is what I got, a new way to see the characters and the wizard world.
After a while though, a few felt like they were overreaching and trying to draw parallels to the simplest thing in the series. It also bothered me that they didn't wait for the final book to be published, I doubt it would have made a huge difference from what was already written, but there were one too many "At this time we don't know what the future holds for Harry."
I found many of the topics discussed interesting and easy to understand but I did end up also skimming a few because there's only so much attention this subject can hold for someone who has no real interested in taking a deep dive into it.

Thank you to BenBella Books, Smart Pop and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

This book was just ok for me. It is a group of essays..some were good, but others not so much.

I am soon to have a PhD in psychology and a huge harry potter nerd.. so therefore i presumed this would be the book i would be buying for all my potter friends..
This book could maybe be called what it is but it references so lightly to the actually dynamics of the harry potter world. I would say this book would be suited better to simply psychology persons and then they can see fictional examples of various psychology aspects. it didnt work the other way round (ie how the book presents itself). it was also not entertaining to read and took me a month to push myself to finis

Picked this up expecting something a little different, but ended up overall enjoying it! This is a fun way to learn psychological concepts about a broad range of topics through the lens of Harry Potter. Because this is a collection of essays / studies, some are much stronger than others. Personally, I found the first section about education most illuminating. My one gripe with the book overall is that I would have liked to see more from the editor to trace through the collection a bit.
I think this is a good read if you're into Harry Potter and Psychology.

This book is older; but some of the topics seemed interesting to me, so I gave it a whirl.

It wasn't quite what I expected; but not a total dispappintment either. Essentially the book takes various psychological ideas or topics and discusses not only what the field has to say on them; but then explain their relevance to the Harry Potter world. It does fairly well presenting the material so that it's understood by the average reader.

There were a few chapters that were quite insightful and provided a perspective that I had never considered or given much time to. The chapters dealing with the structure of the Hogwarts & the magical educational system, and the interpersonal relationships section definitely held my attention. However, there were some chapters that were really grasping on trying to bring the Harry Potter universe into the discussion to make it relevant.

What I find puzzling is when this book was released. It is clear that the happenings in the "Half Blood Prince" novel are known at the time of publication, which was book #6. It was known that a seventh & final novel was coming. Why didn't they wait for this novel to be published before examining the psychology of the Potter Universe? They would have had the complete story. Thus there was an erroneous statement made by Harry, that wouldn't have happened if they had waited for the final novel.

Overall, just an ok read for me. Thanks, NetGalley for a free copy

In interesting view on the reasons behind the love of this series from a psychology standpoint. Fans of the series will enjoy revisiting their favorite scenes and characters from this POV.

Harry Potter fans are many and many among them may enjoy this title. It offers a compilation of articles on topics dear to the hearts of those Muggles who enjoy the wizarding world. There are sections on Hogwarts as a school; Harry’s psychology, including his resilience; Magic, the worlds of Muggles and magicians; and, a final section on learning from Harry.

This is a book that can be read in any order or straight through. Each article begins with an introduction by the editor. Many of the authors are well credentialed and have PhDs, including the author, a therapist. He believes that lessons from Harry’s world may be a helpful focus for young people who are struggling.

I found many of these articles to be intriguing, beginning with the very first one on learning at Hogwarts. It gave me pause as I reflected on the amount of rote learning that was in the curriculum. The author of this piece wonders why curiosity was not more encouraged but rather everything was accepted. One example of this was the owls who always knew where to bring their messages; this author questions why no one ever wondered how this was accomplished. Of course there are notable exceptions to this theory, of whom Hermione is one and given credit here. There are also some professors, especially in Defense Agaisnt the Dark Arts classes who encourage more independent thinking. As this article goes on readers get a crash course in learning and the scientific method. Other entries are equally interesting.

I found the application of psychology to aspects of Harry’s world to be interesting and thought provoking. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. It may be enjoyed by HP fans and psychologists. All opinions are my own.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was very excited to read this! It gave me a while new perspective on one of my favorite book series. It is as interesting as it sounds!

I happen to find myself in a very weird place where I love both fantasy fiction and real fiction (where there are humans interacting and lesser number of magical beings). In no world of mine would I ever think of comparing a fictional world with a real world. This book did just that. Even though I have never been a huge fan of comparing these two worlds, this book did spark a few questions on basic mentality of people in Harry Potter universe. Overall a good read for people interested in psychology and love Harry Potter as well