The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions (P.S.)
The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions (P.S.)
There are reasons why most humans love the mountains and why the great outdoors can do so much to soothe the urban jitters. Winifred Gallagher explains the inner workings of environmental psychology in The Power of Place. Traveling from northernmost Alaska, where the need to stay indoors for so much of the year takes a heavy mental and physical toll on the locals, to the artificial canyons of Manhattan, Gallagher strips off one civilizing layer after another to reveal the human animal within us, the creature that requires open spaces and clear air to function as it should. If you ever wondered why mountaineers take the risks they do or why Michael Jackson spent all that money on a hyperbaric chamber, Gallagher has the answer.
Are New Yorkers and Californians so different because they live in such different settings? Why do some of us prefer the city to the country? How do urban settings increase crime? Why do we feel better after an experience in nature?
In this fascinating and enormously entertaining book, Winifred Gallagher explores the complex relationships between people and the places in which they live, love, and work. Drawing on the latest research on behavioral and environmental science, THE POWER OF PLACE examines our reactions to light, temperatiure, the seasons, and other natural phenomena, and explores the interactions between our external and internal worlds.
Gallagher’s broad and dynamic definition of place includes mountaintops and the womb, Alaska’s hinterlands and Manhattan’s subways, and she relates these settings to everything from creativity to PMS, jet lag to tales of UFOs.
Full of complex information made totally accessible, THE POWER OF PLACE offers the latest insights into the many ways we can change our lives by changing the places we live.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Place Matters
I have read this book a few times. I have noticed that I feel and think differently in different places. Personaltiy traits that have not come to the surface in one place come forth in another place. Good luck happens everywhere but how it happens often depends on place. Some amusing insights are included as well.
4 Stars Interesting, informative exploration into the relationship between body and place.
I found this book to be very informative and interesting reading. The author backs up most everything with scientific research, but also isn’t afraid to speculate about things outside the realm of science (or not discovered yet).
I find it a particularly relevant for the US since many of the negative factors (noise, crowding) are on the rise - these aren’t just aesthetic issues, as the book points out.
4 Stars An interesting and thought provoking read
Although I had to read this book in an undergraduate course, I found it extremely interesting and I read it in two days. The information is useful for anyone looking for a new place to live. Overall a very good book although the many topic’s are only briefly touched upon.
5 Stars Psychological Ramifications of Environment
Environment is important, indoors and outdoors. Light exposure is crucial. Environment shapes character and behavior. Well-being is affected by settings.
Mood sickness may be traced back to normal expectations of the environment. Indoor life-styles result in light deprivation. Winter depression has been re-identified.
Cold is a stimulant and heat is a sedative. Moderatedly high altitudes– mountains–seem peaceful. Some of the mountain magic is aesthetic. A sense-presence experience, (sensing that something or someone is present), is a normal response to a bizarre situation. More and more people are spending time in extreme environments.
Inner city children may suffer from chronic sense overload impeding their physical and academic progress. Urbanization is the most important environmental influence of the future. Most of America’s poverty is urban. Pruitt-Igoe thwarted tenants’ needs and opportunities for social networking and had to be blown-up.
Nature-loving varies with ethnicity and class. Nevertheless, even the Swiss weren’t amazed by the Alps until the nineteenth century when nature’s existence could be contrasted with industrialization.
This is a delightful book, causing much thought about issues we hardly ever notice and think about.
4 Stars A solid read
This is the right kind of book when you are looking for something different. To a large degree this is ‘info-tainment’ but it’s certainly fascinating. Gallagher is a solid writer, she organizes her thoughts, there is nothing cryptic or suggestive of her writing beyond the facts she documents. Her research is absorbing, she doesn’t pretend to know more than she does and her focus is on finding a balance between the science she gleans and her understanding.
From Alaska’s difficult emotional/spiritual/physical climate, to the science beyond radiomagnetic energy, to thoughts on the womb, the environments of birth, development, why we love nature, the threat of city life to personal psyche, she covers a great deal of topic ground. Each section, let alone each chapters could have been a book unto itself which makes the reading somewhat cursory. On the whole, the book never falls into a slum, the reading is continually informative and well-written. Gallagher’s journalism is intriguing. The best part of this book is that it not only gives you food for thought but makes you want to go out and investigate more, to read more on the subjects she has touched upon. (That’s the sign of a solid, good book.)
I feel a book is more than just what is contained between its covers. Books about social studies like this make me take notice of the world around me in ways I may not have seen before. An increase in awareness is what I discovered while reading The Power of Place. I’m going to think more about Feng Shui in my life and moreover, what I need to do change some aspects of my life - I do need to get out into nature more.
Books like Gallagher’s are rewarding in that they are pleasant to read, informative, well-researched and entertaining. This is a light read but it will keep you sharp. Truly, this is the book you read at the beach.
Filed under: Mental Health Book Reviews