Unofficial "Half-Blood Prince" Update: News and Speculation about Harry Potter Book Six by J. K. Rowling [Paperback]

W. Frederick Zimmerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

An unofficial and unauthorized work of news reporting summarizing what is currently known and speculated about "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (tm), book six in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The author, W.F. Zimmerman, has read, analyzed, and synthesized literally thousands of news articles, Usenet postings, blogs, and on-line chats, including every public comment by J. K. Rowling since 1997. The book is divided into five parts: 1) information specifically about Harry Potter book six; 2) information pertaining to both books six and seven; 3) information pertaining to book seven alone; 4) information about books by J. K. Rowling beyond book seven; and 5) tips on how to have fun while you wait. An Appendix contains the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document from the Usenet group alt.fan.harry-potter, which contains useful information pertaining to all seven books in the series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kudos to the author for... providing a very well written book full of interesting and pertinent information..." -- Mimi Cummins, HP6book.com

"Well done." -- Professor Glitch ErrorWeaver

Great read with lots of analysis and lots of information you won't find on many fansites or most places online. -- Andrew from Mugglenet

HPANA recommended book! -- Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator (HPANA.com)

Very well laid out ... excellent job of summarizing all the information ... organized ... easy to follow. -- Professor Scoots @ HPANA.com

very heavily documented ... an important source of information you'll want to refer to over and over again -- Dave Haber, Executive Editor, WizardNews.com

From the Publisher

Contact publisher directly with proof of purchase and you will receive a *free one-year subscription to PDF updates* of this book. (Don't contact your retailer as they will not know what you are talking about.) Contact info for Nimble Books is available inside the book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Nimble Books (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975447939
• ISBN-13: 978-0975447932
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,721,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have worked at the intersection of computers and publishing for most of my adult life, beginning with a stint as Staff Writer for Sextant, the magazine for Heathkit personal computers, and most recently in product development for LexisNexis, a unit of the professional publishing giant Reed Elsevier plc.

I founded Nimble Books so that I could give myself the "green light" to launch new and interesting publishing projects.

Nimble Books publishes timely, relevant "living books" on a wide variety of subjects ranging from Harry Potter and Dan Brown to health, science, politics, and sports.

I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA with my beloved wife Cheryl and treasured children Kelsey and Parker.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this during the long wait for Half Blood Prince!, October 27, 2004

By 

xmascookielady "xmascookielady" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unofficial "Half-Blood Prince" Update: News and Speculation about Harry Potter Book Six by J. K. Rowling (Paperback)

This book is basically a compendium of all we know about the upcoming installment of Harry Potter, which is to be titled "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince." The author has done his homework. He has compiled his information from comments made by JK Rowling in various interviews and on her website, as well as by carefully reading the preceeding books to tell what is very likely to happen. He also adds what will definitely NOT happen, and peppers the book with interesting tidbits such as the correct way to pronounce "Rowling" and some commentary on the question of "Christianity and Harry Potter."

If you just can't wait for HPB to be published, this book is a great way to pass the time and prepare yourself.

The author acknowledges that the book is up-to-date as of September 30, 2004. For any new information that has come out since then, visit HPBook6.com at http://www.hpbook6.com.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The world's first information shepherd, October 21, 2004

By 

Greg Davidson (Redondo Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unofficial "Half-Blood Prince" Update: News and Speculation about Harry Potter Book Six by J. K. Rowling (Paperback)

Everyone can recognize that the internet brings unprecedented access to information - the key question has been over how humans will adapt to this new capability to extract maximum value. W. Frederick Zimmerman may be one of the first of a new breed, an "information shepherd". He takes a broad range on information available across the web and subjects it to a series of reasonable, logical tests to determine what makes sense and what is most logical. I loved the information in the "Unofficial 'Half-Blood Prince' Update", because I am a Harry Potter fan, and me and my kids will be in that bookstore at 12:01am on whatever day the next volumes emerge, but I was even more interested in the methodology used to sift and assess all those random bits of information (lost sheep?) roaming the internet. This is a pathfinder for a fundamentally new kind of book, and I would be interested in seeing the same methodology applied elsewhere. And as an added bonus the author's prose is both lively and concise, making this a very pleasureable book to read.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always Up-To-Date Book 6 Info, November 4, 2004

By 

"inquiring mind" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unofficial "Half-Blood Prince" Update: News and Speculation about Harry Potter Book Six by J. K. Rowling (Paperback)

The previous reviewer is incorrect in saying that the book is up-to-date as of September 30. I was privileged enough to correspond with the author of this book and he is taking advantage of "Print On Demand" technology to update the book whenever new information has been released. It has already been updated at least once since September 30. This is an excellent example of the merits of Print On Demand technology in that it allows the author to make sure that the book never becomes outdated. Kudos to the author for not only providing a very well written book full of interesting and pertinent information, but also for using new technologies that allows his readers to keep up to date.