The Power of Place (P.S.) [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Winifred Gallagher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1994 | Series: P.S.

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, temperature, 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 subway, 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 any ways we can change our lives by changing the places we live.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In this intriguing but somewhat diffuse look at the impact of physical surroundings on individual behavior, freelance journalist Gallagher ranges from wintry Alaska to a neonatal intensive care unit to diverse neighborhoods in Manhattan. Drawing on interviews with scientists as well as her own observations, she shows that academia has promoted a "false dichotomy" between the influences of biology and of environment. For example, Eskimos may have genetically eliminated seasonal mood disorders from their gene pool. And to overcome grief or kick drug addictions, people require new stimuli and "environmental deconditioning." Inner-city residents, having invested their neighborhoods with hope, often resist being moved from what others would consider a slum, the author notes. She also looks skeptically at such folk wisdom as the purported role of hot weather in fostering crime and romance. QPB alternate.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (March 16, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060976020
• ASIN: B000VYJ13C
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,985,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Evidence that Environment Affects Behaviour, July 28, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Power of Place (Paperback)

In this book, Winifred Gallagher, discusses the various ways that environment can affect human behaviour. Written for the layman, the book does not dwell on the neuroscience data, preferring to interview both the researchers and the affected.

The biggest drawback of this book may also be it's most interesting aspect - the sheer quantity of the material Gallagher must condensed into 228 pages of text. Thus, in less than 100 pages, she discusses seasonal affective disorder, light deprivation, effects of temperature and altitude and geomagnetic phenomena. With
this constraint, Gallagher's prose in necessarily tight, her interviews brief, and each chapter ends before you've had your fill of the effect she's discussing.

A good book for plane-hopping business sorts - not only can it be read on the flight, the effects of time zone changes, sleep deprivation, and fluorescent lights can be recorded as they are taking place.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid read, August 20, 2008

By 

Tebes "Buchlieber" (Niagara Region, ON) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions (P.S.) (Paperback)

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.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychological Ramifications of Environment, June 25, 2008

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions (P.S.) (Paperback)

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.