Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The last Harry Potter book is all that everyone imagined it would be and much more. After seeing the characters develop and gaining magical powers, now we see them taking their own path in fighting Voldermort. In the magical world, being 17 allows zoung witches and wizards to use their power to the best of their abilities. Achieving this age also means that the magical enchantment which protected Harry from Voldermort will end. In order to protect Harry, Mad Eye Moody, the Weasleys, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Thonks all come to assure that Harry goes into a secret hiding place. Unfortunately the Death Eaters attack them on the night when Harry turns 17 and kill Mad Eye Moody and injure George.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry reach the safe house, which in the first stage is the Weasley residence. There they attend Fleur and Bill’s wedding, a last opportunity to enjoy a pleasant company. On the same night with the wedding, the Ministry of Magic is overthrown and Death Eaters attack the Weasley’s.

Barely managing to escape alive, Ron, Hermione and Harry flee to London, and hide into 12 Grimauld Place.  There, with the help of Kreacher find out that the Slytherin Locket is under the possession of Dolores Umbridge. Using a polijuice potion and concocting a plan to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, they manage to retrieve the locket, but are unable to go back into the house, because one of their attackers saw the location of their hiding. As a consequence, they chose to go into hiding, never staying in one place too long. Unable to destroy the locket, they must carry it on them in turns, and under the dark influence of the locket, Ron starts believing that Harry and Hermione are laughing about him and in a fit of fury decides to abandon them. Both Harry and Hermione are devastated, but they continue the quest for the remaining Horcruxes.

During their quest to find the Horcruxes, they also discover more about Dumbledore’s personal life. Along with new findings, Harry is tormented by thoughts of being used by Dumbledore, but is aware that he must trust Dumbledore’s decision of how and with whom he shared information. Also with the help of Hermione they uncover that Voldermort is after the Deathly Hallows- three magical objects that have the power to make one invincible. The Elder Wand- which was in Dumbledore’s possession, the Resurection Stone- that has the ability to bring back the memory of the dead ones and the Invisibility Cloak. Harry realizes that the Hallows must be real and that he is the happy possessor of the Cloak. He chooses to continue the quest set by Dumbledore: find and destroy the Horcruxes.

Ron returns to his friends, just in time to save Harry from drowning. One night, a Patronus, a silver doe appears and leads Harry to discover the Sword of Griffindor on the bottom of a frozen lake. As he dives to recover the sword, the ice starts forming above and he is trapped. Ron appears, saves him, and also destroys the locket with the Sword. United, the three friends resume their quest. Together the friends piece together the information that one of the remaining Horcruxes is the cup of the House of Huffelpuf, the other one must have something to do with the House of Ravenclaw and one of them is Nagini, Voldermort’s precious snake.

One night, as they attempt to set up camp they are captured and taken to Malfoy residence. Hermione manages to put a transforming charm on Harry’s face, making it unrecognizable. They are imprisoned in the Malfoy’s cellar and Hermione is being tortured. Among the prisoners Harry and Ron find their friends Luna Lovegood and Dean Thomas, Olivander - the wand maker, and Griphook - a goblin working at Gringotts. From Griphook they found out that the cup is held in the Lestranges Vault at Gringotts. With the help of Dobby- the former Malfoy house elf, now a free elf, the group manages a close escape to Fleur and Bill’s Cottage. Unfortunately Bellatrix manages to mortally attack Dobby with a knife. After they arrive at the cottage the little elf dies. Harry is full of sadness as he loses one more friend and after providing Dobby with a proper funeral, he negotiates with Griphook the price to break into Gringotts. Griphook asks for the Sword of Griphindor, and helps the trio get into the vault. After they manage to take the cup, Griphook gets the sword, and they manage to escape using the trapped dragon. Flying on the back of the dragon they exit London and return into hiding. Realizing that the Ravenclaw Diadem might be one of the Horcruxes they plan to return to Hogwarts.

Under the new dark regime, Hogwarts is managed by Snape and is heavily defended by Death Eaters. They manage to get inside Hogwarts through a passage that connects Leaky Cauldron, a place in Hogsmead managed by Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus’s brother, to the secret chamber in Hogwarts. As they enter Hogwarts they find out a couple of Dumbledor´s Army fellows are there in hiding and more return as they prepare to destroy Voldermort. Memebers of the Order of the Phoenix also come and a battle ensues. Trying to find the diadem is hard work, and with the help of the ghost in the Ravenclaw tower Harry manages to find the diadem. Unfortunately he is surrounded by Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, and one of them uses a dark spell sending a consuming fire. The fire destroys the diadem and kills Crabbe. Draco and Goyle are saved by Harry and Ron and Hermione return after destroying the cup using the basilik fang located in the Chambers of Secret. Voldermort puts a siege on Hogwarts, and Harry is called to face him in a face to face duel. Before he goes into the Forbidden Forrest, Harry tells Neville to kill Nagini, and he sets of alone, under the cover of his invisibility cloak.

Harry realizes that he must die in order to defeat Voldermort, and being at peace with this decision uses the Resurrection Stone to see his family and dead friends one last time. Faced with Voldermort, Harry refuses to use any killing curse, and although Voldermort holds the Elder Wand, and casts a killing curse, Harry is not entirely dead; he only visits a temporary link between the dead and the living. In this temporary voyage he encounters Dumbledore, who lets Harry know the secret of the Elder Wand and the fact that Voldermort has simply destroyed the Horcrux that resided in Harry. Harry returns to the living, and resumes the fight against Voldermort. He is the true owner of the wand, and although Snape killed Dumbledore, Draco disarmed him first. Voldermort kills Snape, but Snape manages to give Harry a last memory that forever changed the way in which he sees Snape (he was his protector, due to the deep feelings of love felt towards his mother).  Due to the fact that Harry disarmed Draco he had in turn become the master of the Wand. A consequence of wand’s alliance to a true master is that any spells cast won’t hurt the rightful owner, and so the curse sent by Voldermort backfires and kills him. Neville manages to kill Nagini, and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army defeat the remaining Death Eaters. Unfortunately in the battle Fred, Nymphadora, Lupin and other students are killed, but the world returns to a peaceful state.

In the prologue we find Harry having a happy family with Ginny, together having three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna, and setting his middle child to Hogwarts with words of comfort regarding the allocation of a particular house by the Sorting Hat. Ron and Hermione also have a lovely family with two chidren: Rose and Hugo. All friends meet on the platform of 9^3/4 to see their children off to Hogwarts. So end the book.

The last book of the series is a complex book that deals with the issue of trust, love, death, while managing your emotions. One of my favourite scenes is when Ron rescues Harry. For me this is the embodiment of friendship and it shows the necessary path Ron had to take in order to redeem his moment of weakness. After he chooses to abandon them in a fit of fury, he had to find them again by trying to predict where they will end up. It was an arduous task, but with the help of Snape’s Patronus he manages to find them just in time.  Also the epilogue is beautiful and leaves you with a sense that all is good in the world.

I can only advise you all to read the books for yourself and discover the magic of J.K. Rowling’s writing and the fascination of reading about the transformation of the main characters.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In this book, Harry and his friends are almost grown-up while their fight against Voldermort intensifies. 

After receiving their results on the examinations following their 6^th year at Hogwarts, they choose their own subjects according to the path that they want to pursue after graduation. Harry further take Potions, but on the directional instruction of Horace Slughorn, a professor obsessed with tutoring bright students and creating a web of connection with the most powerful wizards. During his first Potions lesson, Harry is given and old book to practice the day’s lesson and it turns out to be a highly commented book, which belonged to the Half Blood Prince. Following the directions in the book allowed Harry to create a wonderful potion and win a bottle of Felix Felicis- a potion designed to give luck to the one that consumes it. Too much of Hermione’s anger, Harry follows the comments on the book and outshines her in Potions, in the following lessons. Another development of the year is that finally Snape receives the post of Professor of the Dark Arts, alongside with Harry receiving regular lessons with Dumbledore.

Dumbledore gives Harry private lessons in the hope of finding out more about Voldermort’s past and understand how he became obsessed with power. They also find out that in Voldermort’s pursuit of eternal life he had split his soul in seven Horcruxes (objects designed to encapsulate one’s piece of soul). Two of the Horcruxes were destroyed – the Riddle Diary, which allowed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and a ring, of the heirloom of Slythering House. The ring was destroyed by Dumbledore and left him with a slowly progressing dark spell that will ultimately kill him.

The quest to discover the past and understand how Voldermort can be destroyed progresses with the help of Dumbledore’s memories of young Riddle. Harry finds out more about the boy and young man that will become the greatest dark wizard of all time. He is both amazed and shock to find out some similarities between him and the Dark Lord, while also finding out the one important thing that distinguishes him from Voldermort: his power to love and maintain a true friendship with Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione help him make sense of all that Harry finds out during the private discussions with Dumbledore, though they don’t agree with Harry’s intensive use of the Half Blood Prince’s Potion Book. Furthermore, Ron and Hermione develop feelings for each other, but Ron is jealous of the friendship between Hermione and Krum and he ends up dating Lavander Brown, which totally impedes the friendship between him and Hermione. Luckily Harry maintains contact with both and somehow manages to go through the year and his own love life, mostly in one piece. Harry starts fancying Ginny, but fears Ron’s disapproval, so he keeps it a secret.

Upon following Draco Malfoy into the Dark Alley, Harry is convinced that Draco plans to kill Dumbledore, and after couple of attempts to smuggle dark art objects into the school, he starts using his Marauder’s Map and Invisibility Cloak to follow him through the school. Unfortunately this disturbs his ability to recollect a last piece of information vital to finding out how Voldermort can be destroyed. Pressed by time and Dumbledore, one night Harry drinks a portion of his Felix potion and manages to retrieve a vital memory from Slughorn. With this piece of information he and Dumbledore manage to deduce the number and the identity of the last Horcruxes.

In one night, almost at the end of term, Dumbledore asks Harry to accompany him in the journey to destroy one of the Horcruxes (the Slytherin locket). They go to one remote place where the young Riddle was on holiday and there they manage to pass all the charms, only to find out that the locket was a replica, the real one being in the possession of R.A.B.  When they return to Hogwarts, they find the school being attacked by Death Eaters, and in the feath of the Battle, they go up in the Astronomy Tower, where cornered by Draco, Bellatrix, and other Death Eathers, Dumbledore is being attacked. Harry cannot defend his mentor, being immobilized by a spell under his Invisibility Cloak. Then his worst fears come to life: Draco tries to kill Dumbledore, revealing a pact made with Voldermort, but is unable to kill and so Snape kills Dumbledore. Paralysed with pain, Harry tries to scream and fight back, but only when Dumbledore dies the spell is lifted and he can pursue the attackers. The whole school is fighting the Death Eaters, and after Snape and the others escape the premises the whole school turns to Dumbledore’s dead body and mourns the loss of one of the greatest wizards of their time.

In the aftermath of the fight, Ron and Hermione forget their dispute and rekindle their friendship and also Harry enters a relationship with Ginny, having Ron’s blessing. Without major events, the school-year ends. The friends decide to continue Dumbledore’s quest, to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes.  

What I enjoyed the most in this book is finding the characters developing insights into their own personal life and personal development. You can feel that the characters are growing-up, as they become more aware of others and their feelings alongside with discovering a purpose for their own abilities, and how to use them in their fight against evil.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The fifth book in the Harry Potter series begins with Harry being attacked by Dementors as Dudley and he return home one late summer evening. Forced to use magic in order to ward off the attack, Harry receives a letter from the Ministry of Magic and is accused of underage magic and expulsion from Hogwarts. He is even subjected to a hearing at the Ministry of Magic and only after a witness testifies in his favour he is free to attend to Hogwarts and continue his schooling. At the Hearing, Harry meets the under-secretary, Dolores Umbridge, which will play an important negative role in the new school year.

As a consequence of the dark activity and the Dementor attack, Harry goes to a safe hiding place, the house of his godfather - Sirius Black. There, he meets his friends and is introduced to members of the Order of the Phoenix, a group of witches and wizards led by Dumbledore in attempt to fight Voldermort. At the headquarter, Harry finds out about the extensive campaign to discredit his name and claim that Voldermort is back. His emotions intensify as he experiences more dreams and scar pains related to Dark Lord’s activity. He demands more information from Dumbledore, but is denied in an uncharacteristically cold fashion by the Headmaster. Feeling more and more misunderstood and left out from the Order, Harry’s emotions grow and he finds himself experiencing more and more scar pains, dreams and also Voldermort’s emotions. Sirius becomes his confident and friend and helps Harry to understand the importance of training his mind and restraining from acting impulsively. Sirius is also bound to remain into hiding after Malfoy recognizes him, when disguised as a black dog. On this note of secrecy, Hermione, Ron and Harry begin their fifth year at Hogwarts.

The magical world seems oblivious to Voldermort’s return, and the Ministry of Magic interferes with Hogwarts educational politics, by instating Umbridge as Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Umbridge is an avid power seeker and doesn’t miss any opportunity to gain power in Hogwarts, by forcing stupid decrees and laws. She even bans the use of courses in her class and uses barbaric methods on students that receive detention. Needless to say, she hates Harry and tries to force him to remain silent by having him in a long detention period and ultimately banning him from Quidditch and locking away his broom. As a reaction to all the restrictions set by Umbridge, Hermione, Ron and Harry create a secret group, Dumbledore’s Army, in order to practice Defence against Dark Arts. The group has members from different houses, and they meet in secrecy.

After Harry experiences a dream in which he sees Voldermort attacking Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore urges him to start training Oclumency with Professor Snape in order to close his mind from Voldermort’s influence. Harry ignores the practice of closing his mind and is constantly haunted by nightmares in which he goes in the Department of Mysteries and searches for a weapon. In one of the meetings with Snape he breaks into one of Snape’s early memories, and sees the young professor being tormented by James Potter (Harry’s father) and his group of friends. Feeling the urge to better understand his father’s behaviour he contacts Sirius in order to hear the story from him. Slowly he realises that everyone makes mistakes and nobody is perfect, and he too must try to contain his anger, frustration and negative emotions.

Without the practice of controlling his mind and emotions, Harry believes one nightmare in which he sees Sirius being held captive in the Department of Mysteries. Unable to contact Sirius he decides to go and save him. He is accompanied by Hermione, Ron, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom in their attempt to break into the Ministry of Magic and rescue Sirius. Only after the group succeeds in retrieving a prophecy concerning Voldermort and Harry, did they realize that they have been lured into a trap. Death Eaters appear and try to steal the prophecy and in the fight Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna are injured, and the prophecy is destroyed. Coming to Harry’s help Sirius, Lupin and Mad Eye Moody alongside a group of Aurors appear. Unfortunately, by the time Dumbledore appears Sirius is killed, but he is successful in withholding Voldermort and catching the group of Death Eaters.  Following this battle in the Ministry of Magic, the officials, led by the Minister – Cornelius Fudge, are forced to recognize the return of the Dark Lord and take action.

Losing the closest person he had to a father is proving very painful to Harry and he feels like he needs to avenge him and also to punish Dumbledore for not helping him earlier. Dumbledore finally tells Harry the truth about why he was left in the custody of his aunt and why he wanted Harry to learn Occlumency. Apparently the great spell that enabled Harry to live after his parents were killed is due to the immense love that his mother had for him. This tie of blood must be renewed constantly, thus the need to return and live with his aunt and uncle every summer. Understanding this, but reluctant to the idea of a fun less summer, he goes on to spend his summer holiday in the company of the Dursleys.

In this book, we see the maturation process of emotions and also the need to contain impulses whilst listening to the advice of other. We are forced to trust our loved ones even when they don’t share the full information. Without this trust we are bound to make mistakes, possibly costing us more than just our pride. In Harry’s case his mistake of failing to listen to the advice of his mentor and friends led to Sirius’s death. This left him with a feeling of emptiness and the realisation that he contributed to his godfather’s demise.

A moral idea of the book is that we need to contain our impulses and also listen to the advice of others even if we think we are misunderstood or nobody feels the way we feel about a particular experience. We are not alone and the greatest power that we have in overcoming any challenge is to love, trust and listen wholeheartedly to our friends and mentors. I believe everyone (myself included) needs to remind her/himself that s/he is not alone and that we can ask for help or receive advice even if we think we don’t need it. Extra knowledge and advice from others are signs that people care about us and our well-being.   

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In the fourth Harry Potter book, as Harry grows he attends the Quidditch World Cup and is a participant of the Triwizard Cup, which is held at Hogwarts. Both events are deemed to foster cooperation between wizards and witches from around the world. Even though in the magical world the returning of Voldermort is kept secret, signs of his return appear.

At the Quidditch World Cup, at which Hermione, Ron, Harry and the Weasley Family are all present, the Dark Mark of Voldermort appears after a group of Death Eaters start killing half-blood wizards and witches. The resulting wave of panic is blamed upon a house-elf belonging to Barty Crouch’s family (an official of the Ministry of Magic) and an unofficial investigation concerning the identity of the Death Eaters begins.

Harry is convinced of the importance of this dark activity, as he experiences pains in his scar and strange dreams about Voldermort’s activity. Dumbledore sets put extra precautions, and he even bans students under the age of 18 years to compete in Triwizard challenge. In order to compete at Triwizard Tournament, participats from two other prestigious schools: Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrive at Hogwarts, alongside Ministry of Magic officials. The guests are received with curiosity and enthusiasm. As a mean of selecting suitable champions from the schools the Goblet of Fire (an ancient magical sorting device) is used. It comes as a surprise that after the election of Cedric Diggory, from Huffelpuff House – Hogwarts, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang and Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, Harry´s name is also selected, without him entering in the competition. With suspicions over the person which entered Harry´s name is trying to kill him, his friends and close professors seem to help him figure out clues on how to overcome the three challenges. As he finds out the nature of the first task he also shares information with Cedric, managing thus to get the golden egg protected by a fierce dragon. In the second task, Cedric repays the help by giving Harry a clue on how to open the egg and understand what the second task will be. Between the first and the second task a great Yule Ball is given, and Hermione attends it with Viktor, leaving Ron to feel for the first time a surge of jealousy and to notice that he has certain feelings for Hermione. Harry and Ron attend the party with the Patil sisters (Padma and Parvati), but end up talking to each other the whole time, as neither really fancies the girls. In the second task they must recue the loved ones from the lake, where they are guarded by Meerpeople. Harry’s need to be assured that all the captives are rescued almost cost him the points, but in the end the judges decide he showed moral fibre and award him points nonetheless, sending him in the second place for the Cup. The last task is a Maze completion and as he and Cedric decide to reach the cup at the same moment they are transported to Voldermort´s whereabouts. The cup was a portkey, bewitched to bring Harry to the Dark Lord.

In the fight to save their lives, Cedric is killed and Harry manages to escape. Harry shows incredible strength when duelling with Voldermort and realizes that his wand and Voldermort’s are sister wands, having been made with magical feathers from the same phoenix bird (Fawks - Dumbledor´s phoenix). After Harry returns with Cedric’s dead body, nobody believes him that he had to duel Voldermort, and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, goes to great lengths to publicly discredit this claim. Only Dumbledore makes the information known to students in the end of the year feast and sends cautionary messages to all witches and wizards who believe him. In this note, the school year finishes and Harry is left to return once again to his uncle and aunt at Privet Drive.

The book follows the same themes such as death, friendship and bravery as the previous ones. It is enchantingly well-written and makes you think twice about the important decisions and trials in one’s life. I am reading it from an adult perspective and I am always amazed at the meanings which appear in the book. For example, how to deal with challenges set ahead of you and also how we tend to regard everything that has come to pass as something that was bound to happen. It seems he have a certain need to think that once we overcome something we were always meant to live it, and how we tend to forget the anxiety and stress that accompanies our struggles. 

The Sleepwalkers - How Europe went to war in 1914

I am always amazed at how decisions taken by a handful of powerful figures can alter the course of humanity. The story of how the First World War started in 1914 fits perfectly in the setting of the early 20^th century Europe, when great monarchies struggle to manage vast empires. The Austro-Hungary Empire appears as the main character in the story, with the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on the 28^th June 1914 igniting a diplomatic and military mobilization. Another important role is played by Serbia, which foster the terrorist movement for the unification of all Serbs and was responsible for the assassination.

Christopher Clark brilliantly presents the course of events that lead to the murder of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Chotek, while detailing the background conflict between alliances forged in the pre-war wars. Great Britain’s alliance with both France and Russia allowed her to maintain vast colonies in Asia and Africa, while not endangering its North African stronghold from France and Germany military advances. On the other hand, the Russian Empire wanted to obtain control in the Bosporus straight and also suzerainty over the newly formed Balkan states: Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbia. Germany was advancing both technologically and economically in the world stage and this enabled the empire to provide assistance for African States in the independence struggle against France and Great Britain. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was ethnically too vast to be united and also employed a slow bureaucratic system that would prove to be a premise of its demise.

When you read about these economic and political subtleties, you cannot stop and be amazed with the way in which the emperor and kings played such an important role in both maintain peace and also engaging in war. Austrian-Hungarian Empire was portrayed by the international press as an oppressor of the newly independent Balkan states and as a dying empire, with Germany as the main supporter for its external policies.

The book is a monumental work on how the First World War broke in the summer of 1914, and after reading it I gained more knowledge about the intricate political work of empires and states. The external affair cabinets were powerful in dictating directions for alliances and the influence with which the ministers exerted this is astounding. Even though I cannot claim to understand all the reasons for which Europe engaged in a global war, it is clear that all the key decisional figures were ready and anticipating the war as necessary for the establishment of new order. Looking back through the lenses offered by knowing past events it is hard to imagine how such a war was necessary. Sadly it happened and was the deadliest conflict in human history. 100 years later it is necessary to understand how WW1 started, in the hope of preventing such catastrophes from ever happening again. 

Wine: A Cultural History

Having a little more time after finishing my dissertation studies I decided to start cultivating my love of wine and what better way to start than reading about its history? And what a history wine has! It starts sometime between 8500 BC at the earliest and 4000 BC at the latest (p.11). The book is perfect for afternoon readings, especially if you have a glass of nice wine to accompany it.

John Varriano carefully selects historical sources to carry you through the journey of wine making and consumption, from ancient times to modern day times. It is beautifully illustrated with works of art: sculpture, pottery, paintings and lithographs, all thoughtfully inserted to make the reading more enjoyable. It made me aware of the importance of wine in all rituals and aspects of life, in ancient Greece, where the drank wine mixed with water, than in ancient Rome, where members of high class used to feast on wine taking it as a reminder of momento mori and carpe diem, whilst also encouraging the people to drink it for medicinal purposes. Often time throughout the history wine was used to cure various ailments both topically and internally.

Galen’s account of wine usage for treating wounds is one of the most vast and attentively constructed medical books of those times, widely used until late 17^th century, describes mixes of herbs with wine and even usage of wine as a disinfectant for open wounds. It really made me think twice about what natural medicine can do in order to cure diseases, especially those linked to mineral deficiencies.

The story of wine and how it became widely enjoyed by all people also describes the first wine with controlled denomination, Château Haut-Brion – founded by Jean de Pontac- 1550, to be named by the region where it was made. Wine continued to be enjoyed by members of high class, royalties and popes (Châteauneuf “Vin du Pape” – 1316-1334) (p. 103). The pleasure and rituals associated with wine are depicted beautifully in art. Works of art: painting of Michellangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Bellini and Titian, Rubens, Poussins, Vermeer, and sculptures and lithographs embroider the story and make you wish you could see them all first hand.

Modern time abounds with pictures, descriptions and studies all hailing the benefits of moderate wine consumption. Starting with wine’s effect as a means of aiding people suffering from minor social inhibition and continuing with recent studies suggesting that by drinking wine we attain longevity and better health, the list is vast. It makes you wonder why with every meal you don’t appreciate the curative and pleasurable effects of moderate wine consumption. It definitely makes me want to know more about wine and cultivate my taste so I can enjoy both the health benefits and also the small pleasures of life.  

“De ce este Romania altfel?” (Why is Romania different?)

Lucian Boia’s historical account on the causes and political context that influenced current day Romania is insightful and well-written. Browsing through topics, this essay is definitely a piece of history that especially Romanians must be aware. 

It starts with the Dacians - an ancient tribe that was attested here before the Roman Empire expansion in the first and second century, continues with the Great Migration of the Huns and the political and economic reign of the Otoman Empire. Throughout his discourse one can feel that the great things that make up the Romanians: adaptability, cunning determination to stick to their land, and industrious spirit were exactly the key pieces which together kept Romanians on a different route than its neighbouring countries. Boia refutes the claims that only the Communist Regime had a detrimental effect on the modernization of Romania, or that the socialist administration is solely to blame for a lack of political reorganization following the 1989 Revolution. One stringent need that was never prioritized by any Administration, ancient or current, is Education. This is precisely the reason why so many good ideas felt short of achieving success due to a chronic deficit in middle and long term vision of development. Without a vision for a country or without a healthy class a country can never escape some ancient frustration or achieve to stand at the same table with other European countries. Even though Romania joined the European Union in 2007, only this year were the bans of free access to labour market lifted. This is in striking contrast with other countries that have previously joined EU, namely Hungary and Poland. What makes Romania’s case different?

In Lucian Boia’s opinion a key element rises to prominence: the lack of intellectual elite that could question tyrannical decision and set an example for the lower working classes. But where and how could Romania forge an intellectual class when across all time only the powerful minorities (Hungarians, Germans, Jews, and Italians) had access to schools? It is paradoxical to think that under the Socialist Regime there were more Schools and Universities built than previously and yet after the Regime fell they valued little to the majority of people. What is even more baffling is the fact that nowadays there is an inflation of university degrees on the job markets in Romania, yet the Education is not valued. We have come to be a nation of poorly educated university degree holders. Most of the talented young people, bright individuals, choose to study abroad and never come back, as to come back and work in a university lab resembles sometimes the titanic work done by the scientist in medieval times. This is a powerful example of wasted potential and a condemnation to an export of intellectual power. Moreover the curse of Romania’s wasted potential doesn’t stop with the small percentage of the elite. On the contrary, the majority of those that lack education are deemed to work as unskilled workers and migrate to countries with better minimum wage (Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, just to name a few), leaving in the country those that could not go (children and elders) or those that chose to stay for various other reasons.

The picture is grim: a country lacking long-term political/ administrative vision, which is readily opened to emulate the Western Societies, but deemed to be seen as an exploitable country for both its people and resources. Until Romanian Government prioritizes Education, Health and Agricultural Economy things are only bound to become worse.

In the eve of a new electoral mandate I am left with a century old question: “And me, whom shall I cast my vote?!?” (Paraphrasing I.L. Caragiale, 1884).

The Hobbit

This one is one of the hottest books in the last century. The creation of feature movies made it more desirable as a book. I am lucky to have received it as a gift from my boyfriend, as a sign of appreciation and surprise.  Though it is a children’s book is by no means childish.

The Hobbit is one of those books that really spark your imagination. One of those books that lead you into a world full of magic, where you feel as if you were always a part of, then you can be a member of a party set to have amazing adventures. Of course if I were to have read it as a kid I would have imagined it differently, but know I can appreciate it for what it is. A wonderfully written book, where the author is both a confident and all knowing, letting you wonder through his imaginary world, but keeping you on track, by not letting you go astray and forget the main purpose of the book.

Being a part of Bilbo Baggins adventure is great, watching unfold some great feats of courage as part of one’s development, makes you realize that you have more courage in you and only by going in adventures you unlock it and use it. It really made me think more about my life, taking it as a quest into the unknown. Because I really believe that our own lives are just journeys to save our world, to reclaim our title, to reclaim some fortune and in turn to find our home. When I realized that sometimes journeys are not set from the beginning, that the end result is just a probable consequence of all the decisions taken during the journey, it made me anxious and yet at peace with my own journey.

Like most people I have dragons to slay, friends to help me through that, building trust along the way and never forgetting where I am from. Although my home might not be as magical as under the hill, it is still the place that made me what I am today, and set the foundations for the greatest adventure of my existence, living my life.

The Hobbit is, to me, the journey and tale of a fragment of life, when you have the courage to step outside your comfort zone into the unknown and never lose fate in your abilities. It is magical, and a must read in everyone’s development, at no matter the time in life.

Working Memory, Thought and Action by Alan Baddeley

As it is with the interesting things, it started with a desire to find out more about this human ability of ours to manipulate knowledge, concepts and information in the present, to integrate them and to retrieved them in order to do all our mental processes. All this is amazing when you ponder on it, especially when you realize that even pondering and planning your future lies on this ability.

Upon reading the book I realized I was drawn to the field and that it is something that might taunt me for life. I deeply enjoyed the history of research that sustained the conclusions and made me think about new ways to improve the current knowledge on the topic. Having prof. Robert Logie explaining misunderstandings in a working memory course at the university really helped me grasp the concepts and clarify my mind. It was this co-occurrence of fortunate events that I credit for the spark and development of my interest in the field.

Anyone interested in psychology or memory would love to read a short scientific history about the development of one of the most fruitful and influential theory and models on working memory. 

Working memory is viewed as consisting of specialized systems: the visuo-spatial sketchpad (deals with visual and spatial information), the phonological loop (deals with auditory material, and it helps with the rehearsal of material), the episodic buffer (integrates and stores in the short term memory all the information from multisensory systems), the central executive (an attentional controller of resources, and monitors the implementation and continuous adaptation of  plan); all of which are in continuous communication with long term memory , the depositary of information and knowledge. This active construction and reconstruction of knowledge through use is one of the most astonishing abilities we possess. Only when it goes wrong, as in the case of neurodegenerative disorders ( Alzheimer’s disease, some form of frontotemporal dementias) we begin to realize what a great ability we have.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone practicing psychology and to all of those who want to find out more about how human mind is being unraveled through scientific inquiry and continuous research. Even though the field of working memory has distinctive theories and it will evolve as a result of research it is useful to know the process by which this multimodal model of working memory has guided research for more than three decades.  

Far from the Madding crowd - Thomas Hardy

This book is one that found its way to me in a day of rain of meditative stance.

From the first pages it appear clear that something powerful and yet wonderful would be encapsulated in the book. I don't consider myself to be the type that reads romantic novels, but I found this book to be a very accurate account of what love and pride can do to people caught in its strings.

Batsheba Everdene is a woman who takes life by it's strings, values honesty, integrity and independence. All this are on top of her beauty and feminine power that makes Gabriel Oak, Boldwood and Troy fall in love with her and try to win her heart. In the developing of the story it becomes clear that only one man endowed with perseverance and wisdom will be able to be a perfect match for her. This is more clear to the reader than the characters and so a long chain of tragedies unfolds until the happiness that all people want takes place.

Without wishing to spoil the action of the novel, I will limit myself to some brief remarks. It is wonderful to get an idea of the English countryside and to see a powerful women in times when it was thought that a women's best role was to be a good wife to her husband. One can almost sense the power and vigor of her actions, and see her transformed from a youthful, intelligent and impulsive woman to a more mature and wise one. At the end of the book it seemed as if it was the only realistic possibility: her inner force would not have allowed her to drown in the harshness of life.

The novel is a really nice and enjoyable read and one could easily see the messages that are still applicable today and will be as long as men and women are in love while struggling to keep their independence. In the end independence might not be the value that gives you happiness so one must be wary and wise when the time to put it aside comes near, because otherwise she/he will find herself/himself in unwanted troubles and pain.

The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making

When I received the book (that came among a collection of great books) I thought it will help me get a few research ideas stick and take me to another level. It has helped me in that sense. :)

Scott Plous’s account of some of the most intriguing and striking cognitive biases and implications of decision heuristics on everyday life has helped me rethink all the classes on Social Psychology.  From a hindsight bias “it was clear” that all the information is context dependent, that I have an attribution error, that memories are reconstructed and above all that I make prediction based on facts scrambled together by my mind in search of meaning, not taking into account some actuarial evidence, therefore setting and actuarial prediction regarding future events.

It was an informative book, and although it was written in 1993 it felt very up to date. This feeling might be due to the fact that I feel that I need to read more about decision making process and partly because I strive to make the basic ideas of research more clear and relevant to research laboratories. The fact that each chapter finishes with a set of conclusion that offer some guidance in how to avoid the negative outcome of some biases is of great help. For instance, concerning representativeness heuristic, I have to take into account the tips offered (Plous, 1993, pag. 119):

•  don’t be misled by highly detailed scenarios;
•  whenever possible pay attention to base rates;
• remember that chance is not self-correcting; and
• Don’t misinterpret regression toward the mean (especially useful when considering that we all would like to have an exceptional performance all the time).

Another set of useful suggestion is that offered in relation to probability and risk. I must remember to: - always think back at the actual probability that something I envision in my future is only a desirable event and it is no more probable than un undesirable but unforeseen event; and most importantly perhaps to break compound events into small events in order to see that is something has a small rate of probability or risk than an accumulation of small events with their respective small risks might lead to catastrophes (pag. 143-144).

The most relevant information to remember is that concerning correlation, causation and control, and to remember to take into account the illusory correlations and the invisible ones, after all, Holmes was very keen on addressing things which ought to happen and failed to be seen, not just sticking to the obvious events that might validate hypotheses.

There are many biases which seem to help or hinder us when trying to go through this motion we call life. We may be entrapped in different situations and fail to see the reward of exiting the situation just because we have invested so much that we feel as we stand to lose too much. Many times the decisions we take are not the most accurate by mathematical standards or prove to be economical correct, yet they help us in everyday tasks and therefore prove to be useful. After all, we have limited resources, cognitive and otherwise, to make the best decisions we can make.

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

One of the few writers that can convey such moments of pure transcendental awareness that you are left feeling utterly amazed. It has helped me realize that some problems are bigger than others (mainly how I would feel about the subject of Earth being what it is and therefore here, not demolished).

I read the entire trilogy and found it refreshing and delightful. The first book is about discovery and the rest of them are about being completely and continuously perplexed at the things that are in the Galaxy. Ford Prefect (one of my literary models) acts so nonchalantly in just about everything and manages to get Arthur Dent in all sorts of adventures throughout the Galaxy. Trillian and Zaphod only add to the rich context of stories that engulfs your imagination whilst at the same time enhancing your creativity.

Threading through the book, big questions like “how”, “why” and “where” receive different answers which fail to provide a sense of knowing, let alone comfort or cognitive stability. The only way to take the book and its characters is just to read it and enjoy it for what it is. I did that and at the end of the last book, “Mostly Harmless” I felt that something beautiful was laid in front of me and now it was fully unraveled and that I’m not capable of thinking like that on daily basis. I sure know I’ll try. The book has helped through some serious life events and provided me the opportunity to change perspectives and therefore to grow in an exponential manner in which I did not think I was capable of.

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy had become one of my favorite books so far and the style of the author, Douglas Adams, charmed me and made me longing for more.

I warmly recommend it to anyone who feels at time life is just too much. Take a ride in the Total Perspective Vortex, imagine a multitude of parallel universes in which Earth and its inhabitants live and you will end up feeling a lot more at ease with whatever you have to deal with.

The Satanic Verses

There are a lot of things which can be said of a novel that has caused religious debates

I found the novel interesting, and to sum it in a word, brilliant. I must confess, reading about the fact that a death sentence was issued to the author for writing it, made me curious and willing to pay great attention to every metaphor or other stylistic approaches to literature. I found the book to be a clear account of the lives of two main characters, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin (Salahudin) Chamcha. I couldn’t find any remarks or any passage that could indicate any mockery towards any religion.

The story seems very awry and is filled with mythological references and historical facts that could be attributed to the period in which the Prophet made the revelation. The main characters are the only survivors of a plane hijack and both are trapped in Britain trying to rebuild their life after the plain crash. Because they are listed as dead by the official statement of the aviation company they seem to have a period in which they must prove to themselves and other that they are in fact alive. Gibreel Farishta finds this to be much easier than Saladin Chamcha because he was a great Bollywood superstar and apparently is recognized be many. Saladin Chamcha goes through a series of transformations in order to regain his identity. The characters are presented in an antithetic fashion, Gibreel, for whom any mistakes are forgivable, and Saladin a man who is seen as threatening and must prove himself as a British citizen through times of abuse and maltreatment.

Due to the way in which Rushdie builds his novel, the plot and its tension seem to gradually arch and bend in each episode, as the characters go through metamorphosis and transformation. The author constructs the novel be creating narrations in narrations, using the metaphor of revelation to provide continuity. Gibreel assumes the role of the Archangel Gabriel and Saladin is sometimes perceived as Shaitan (the devil) especially through his ordeal in London in order to regain his old life and identity. Both characters seem to have problems with identity, Gibreel presenting episodes of recurring schizophrenia and Saladin having problems with British authorities. Although the characters are Indian they seemed to me to be universal, because I could relate to them and the problems which they sought to solve are universal. Both seek love and a way of living it with the person they love. Each of them seems to have a distorted view of love (one due to mental illness and the other due to an illusion regarding the British way of life and his wife’s morality). In fact their ethics about love and morality are tested and in the end one of them manages to construct himself and live accordingly while the other succumbs to his misinterpretation and distortions of reality due to mental illness.

The book made me think about my own struggle with my identity and made me realize that part of the resolution lies in the persons you manage to have around you, because if you have people around you which can offer support when you need it, you can grow and become stronger and therefore a step closer to living your life in a full and enjoyable manner.

If a Lion Could Talk - How Animals Think

In my pursuit to understand how cognition appears it seems natural that I would be inclined to read about how animals process the information around them. It was indeed necessary to take into consideration the idea that all the research and study into animal intelligence carries a powerful bias, that of anthropocentrism. The fact that we as humans are bound to our own experience of consciousness, of how we perceive the world around us, limits the understanding of other experiences, namely of that which other animals might have. 

Budiansky’s account of cleverly designed experiments is a proof that we need to take into consideration a lot of factors and conditions before we can state something about the way in which a different species reacts based on the stimuli it receives. The very nature of our sensory organs bounds us “to see” only a part of the environment, the one that is the most important to our own survival. Because we are social specie we put emphasis on the accurate perception of those signals that can offer information about other members of our specie (the social position, symbols of power or wealth, relations amongst ourselves) much like other social species: monkeys, chimpanzees, dogs, horses etc. We tend to consider these signs as those of greater intelligence, just because we are used to intelligence being expressed in this manner. 

Every organism learns through associations during its lifetime. Animals do that all the time and it’s a big advantage to their survival to do so. Learning and responding appropriately to the environment guarantees a better chance at transmitting the genes, and continue the legacy of every species. Only those organisms that adapt can maintain a competitive edge against other members of their species. Associations between stimulus and a response from environment (reward: food, water, sex, inclusion in the social environment etc., or punishment: food deprivation, injuries etc) are a powerful tools in learning. Dogs and other social animals exhibit this feat mostly because we know how to perceive it, but other animals do to. Budiansky offers a great amount of evidence to support this.

Some remarks are so true that I feel compelled to mention them. For instance: “Many animal researchers are fairly confident that more-sensitive experiments will show that apes, at least, do possess some ability to attribute mental states. But the entire search has been a vivid reminder of the dangers of anthropocentrism. The things that apes are good at are the things they evolved to do to survive in their particular ecological niche. And the things an animal is good at generally do not require three decades of ambiguous experiments to discover.”(p. 188) This particular point made me think of all the implications in every aspect of scientific research, mainly the idea that when we set ourselves to test a hypothesis we limit the perceived reality to only a narrow bit, the one that fits into our experimental instruments.

The final passage of the book is another idea that made me think, mainly because it manages to sum up different ideas about evolution. “It is always dangerous to draw moral lessons from the blindly amoral process of evolution. But if there is a lesson here, it is that all of the creatures that evolution has fashion are remarkable in their own right. All have hit upon unique ways to make a living against all probability. And that is something to respect, and to treasure.”(p. 194)

The God of Small Things

Living doesn’t seem to require much thought or any cognitive effort, I thought. When reading the book I realized that all the time we see things, we imagine alternatives, we correlate different images, we see much more than we perceived. It was wonderful. 

As a psychologist, I try to keep in touch with myself and  see how the events affect me and in what way I change with every challenge or task, and still find myself unable to grasp the concepts that could help me better understand my life. Roy’s language and mastery of words has helped me find a new way into looking at things around me, and made me much more willing to use words in a synesthetic way, thus compelling more meaning than before. Somehow the language was inside me and I needed a push to bring it into use, a model of some sort, and that model came from a brilliantly written book.

The subject of the novel transcends culture, and speaks to the inner human nature of us all. Although the cultural background of the characters is different, because they live in India, the torment of trying to find a way to live life in the most meaningful way possible is universal. The story of love, of stereotypes and prejudices towards other people, the story of how we can make social barriers so tall that we cannot climb or overcome during a lifetime, is one that needs to be read over and over again until we are left with only the truth about human life. That is to see that we need love, that love is different throughout our life, that it evolves from one pure, almost demanded, love possessed by children, into an ideal that eludes everyone who happen to be in a society which dictates how love must be and who can live it.

That pure connection often thought of as true love might come in different shapes, one between two twin brother and sister, one between a single mother and her children, one between a divorced man and his ex-wife and daughter, and one between an old woman and a twisted notion of love. We can see the pursuit of love throughout the book, mainly through the pains which accompany the feeling of fear of losing it. Rahel, the main character, a view-point narrator, takes a journey back to the house where she discovered love and felt she lost it. It’s a detailed account of events in which grief takes many forms, starting with the grief of losing a loved someone, to the grief of losing a sense of love and trying to find it once more. Rahel and Estha, the twin dizygotic brother and sister, represent in a way a metaphor of trying to live a life only half-filled with love, because they need the presence of each other in order to feel complete. 

The great charm and mystery of the book was, for me, the ability to pin point certain raw aspects of relationships between humans, how we let our fears rule society, or how we can let our fear rule our life in a way that can only bring us sadness and pain. It is after all our decision about how we want to live our life.

One of the fragments that I enjoyed mostly from the novel is: “D’you know what happens when you hurt people? (…) When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”

I end my review with this brilliant conclusion:

“It is after all so easy to shatter a story. To break a chain of thought. To ruin a fragment of dream being carried around carefully like a piece of porcelain.

To let it be, to travel with it,(…), is much the harder thing to do.”