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Most Helpful Favorable Review
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Obviously Targeted for a Specific Audience
I have a growing collection of Harry Potter analysis books and this is one that I heard about from the Azkatraz 2009 website which stated that the author would be giving a lecture off-site at that conference. I looked up the book and ordered it after some thinking.
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I have a growing collection of Harry Potter analysis books and this is one that I heard about from the Azkatraz 2009 website which stated that the author would be giving a lecture off-site at that conference. I looked up the book and ordered it after some thinking.
This book is good if you like to read about the entire Potter phenomenon - not just the books. So if you like analysis of the canon and Rowling's interviews, this book is not for you. Also, it is published by palgrave-macmillan and has the tone of a textbook (I can see it being used at the college level), and so passages are redundant to drive home points in a student's mind.
Other than that, let me tell you some good thing about this book: it presents pretty up-to-date information on Harry Potter as a brand and its sales records. Instead of focusing on the actual releases of books, it looks at sales strategies: how the embargos worked, the release dates of movies/books/video games, Rowling as brand guardian, etc. However, this is just the latest information. For example, it only has the status of the Potter brand up through the fifth movie release and the Deathly Hallows book release. No doubt this will have to be expanded for a second edition after the release of all eight films based on the seven books and the Deathly Hallows paperback release, as well as the opening of the theme park. The theme park is mentioned, but at the moment it's still being built, so a lot of that information will be needed for another edition. Luckily that will make this book longer than it's 150 pages or so of actual text (there's a long bibliography).
I don't know if you'd want to wait for a newer edition in 2011 after the opening of the park and the release of the last film, but who knows if there will be one. At the moment, hardcover is the only format, and so the book is pricey, but to those of us who just can't get enough of Potter, we know that some of these books are just going to be expensive and that's the way it is.
As a couple of side notes: the author has a video up on youtube.com (just search "Susan Gunelius") in which she talks about this book, and the editing on this book is very well done.Show Less
This book is good if you like to read about the entire Potter phenomenon - not just the books. So if you like analysis of the canon and Rowling's interviews, this book is not for you. Also, it is published by palgrave-macmillan and has the tone of a textbook (I can see it being used at the college level), and so passages are redundant to drive home points in a student's mind.
Other than that, let me tell you some good thing about this book: it presents pretty up-to-date information on Harry Potter as a brand and its sales records. Instead of focusing on the actual releases of books, it looks at sales strategies: how the embargos worked, the release dates of movies/books/video games, Rowling as brand guardian, etc. However, this is just the latest information. For example, it only has the status of the Potter brand up through the fifth movie release and the Deathly Hallows book release. No doubt this will have to be expanded for a second edition after the release of all eight films based on the seven books and the Deathly Hallows paperback release, as well as the opening of the theme park. The theme park is mentioned, but at the moment it's still being built, so a lot of that information will be needed for another edition. Luckily that will make this book longer than it's 150 pages or so of actual text (there's a long bibliography).
I don't know if you'd want to wait for a newer edition in 2011 after the opening of the park and the release of the last film, but who knows if there will be one. At the moment, hardcover is the only format, and so the book is pricey, but to those of us who just can't get enough of Potter, we know that some of these books are just going to be expensive and that's the way it is.
As a couple of side notes: the author has a video up on youtube.com (just search "Susan Gunelius") in which she talks about this book, and the editing on this book is very well done.Show Less
posted by Demarest on April 12, 2009
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3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Save your money
I think this book offers interesting tidbits about J.K. Rowling, but that's about all it can garner for praise. It is extremely repetitive, particularly on interrelated entries about Rowling. Half of the a-to-z list comprises of non-magical entries (such as "Scholasti...Read More
I think this book offers interesting tidbits about J.K. Rowling, but that's about all it can garner for praise. It is extremely repetitive, particularly on interrelated entries about Rowling. Half of the a-to-z list comprises of non-magical entries (such as "Scholastic" or "Jessica"). It's pretty skimpy when it comes to actually explaining the things mentioned in the Harry Potter books (such as descriptions of different spells; they rarely get a comlete sentence). At times, it was even painfully inaccurate; I cringed when Professor Sprout was consistently referred to as "he." As an avid Harry fan, I bought this hoping for a detailed list that could perhaps teach me more about the world of Harry Potter, but I think I should have saved my money, as I felt that I knew more about the things on the list than the author of the book did.Show Less
posted by 9455503 on December 20, 2011
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Anonymous
Posted December 20, 2011
Save your money
I think this book offers interesting tidbits about J.K. Rowling, but that's about all it can garner for praise. It is extremely repetitive, particularly on interrelated entries about Rowling. Half of the a-to-z list comprises of non-magical entries (such as "Scholastic" or "Jessica"). It's pretty skimpy when it comes to actually explaining the things mentioned in the Harry Potter books (such as descriptions of different spells; they rarely get a comlete sentence). At times, it was even painfully inaccurate; I cringed when Professor Sprout was consistently referred to as "he." As an avid Harry fan, I bought this hoping for a detailed list that could perhaps teach me more about the world of Harry Potter, but I think I should have saved my money, as I felt that I knew more about the things on the list than the author of the book did.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 9, 2011
43$ really
So much money
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 5, 2011
Not a good price
Bad!!!
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted November 28, 2011
:(
:(
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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5994826
Posted July 22, 2011
....
I find it sad that there are more harry potter analysis books than harry potterbooks themselves. They are making it difficult to find a decent harry potter book of your nook :(
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted April 29, 2012
Hi
Two words: RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 25, 2012
Waste of your frecen money and time
H
1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 21, 2012
Retarded!!!!!!!
Stupidets book on planet
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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9223317
Posted July 31, 2011
Sucked
Sucked hated the price
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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5876803
Posted March 24, 2011
Suckage
seriously
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 1, 2011
too spensive
book suck big time
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Obviously Targeted for a Specific Audience
I have a growing collection of Harry Potter analysis books and this is one that I heard about from the Azkatraz 2009 website which stated that the author would be giving a lecture off-site at that conference. I looked up the book and ordered it after some thinking.
This book is good if you like to read about the entire Potter phenomenon - not just the books. So if you like analysis of the canon and Rowling's interviews, this book is not for you. Also, it is published by palgrave-macmillan and has the tone of a textbook (I can see it being used at the college level), and so passages are redundant to drive home points in a student's mind.
Other than that, let me tell you some good thing about this book: it presents pretty up-to-date information on Harry Potter as a brand and its sales records. Instead of focusing on the actual releases of books, it looks at sales strategies: how the embargos worked, the release dates of movies/books/video games, Rowling as brand guardian, etc. However, this is just the latest information. For example, it only has the status of the Potter brand up through the fifth movie release and the Deathly Hallows book release. No doubt this will have to be expanded for a second edition after the release of all eight films based on the seven books and the Deathly Hallows paperback release, as well as the opening of the theme park. The theme park is mentioned, but at the moment it's still being built, so a lot of that information will be needed for another edition. Luckily that will make this book longer than it's 150 pages or so of actual text (there's a long bibliography).
I don't know if you'd want to wait for a newer edition in 2011 after the opening of the park and the release of the last film, but who knows if there will be one. At the moment, hardcover is the only format, and so the book is pricey, but to those of us who just can't get enough of Potter, we know that some of these books are just going to be expensive and that's the way it is.
As a couple of side notes: the author has a video up on youtube.com (just search "Susan Gunelius") in which she talks about this book, and the editing on this book is very well done.1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 12, 2012
Worst book ever
NEVER GET IT!!this book is horrible. Actual series of hp is good
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Anonymous
Posted April 4, 2012
NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its not!!!!!!¿¿
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Anonymous
Posted March 10, 2012
This book is not retarted
This book is about how harry potter got to be the bestselling book in the WORLD. Soo not retarted.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted February 13, 2012
Confused
Is this a reall harry portter book?
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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8919037
Posted August 11, 2011
Not worth it
Who buys that
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7974568
Posted July 10, 2011
Is this evin Harry Potter?
Or is it the guy in rohde* island *sorry for the bad spelling
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 19, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
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Anonymous
Posted April 6, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
