Power of Place How Our Surroundings Shap

by Winifred Gallagher

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Environment, Health, Architecture, Cultural

Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I certainly would not describe this book as "enormously entertaining." Seriously? But I did like it and felt that it was validating to my belief that there is absolutely power in places. Even more importantly, I have always felt highly sensitive to my surroundings to the degree in which it affects my life and my sanity. I have moved countless times, lived and worked in so many places, dealt with issues of psyche and also worked as a real estate development professional in redevelopment areas that would make most people run for the hills. I can truly say that from my experiences, Gallagher's book is quite accurate and appears to be reasonably researched for a journalist's perspective even if her studies were not well documented. She covers so much of the elements that make up our psycho-social bonds to our places and how important they are to our identities.

It was well and good until the chapter "Different People, Different Worlds." If one could delete this entire chapter the book may be better, I hate to penalize an otherwise interesting book. It was just that parts were ridiculously overreaching in her attempts to stereotype people into neat little type T/t boxes that were just downright silly. And to say that anthropomorphizing is dangerous, ha! Give me a break. Dangerous? The only thing that's dangerous is how obscenely humanity has treated animals. Oh sure, the flow part was fine and I'd never heard the term "pink collar" workers, which was kinda interesting. But the trying to type people in that manner was awfully shortsighted.

That said, the rest of the book did a fine job of arguing the case for environmental awareness, not just in the sense of "green" but in being conscious about how crucial our spaces are to our mental well-being. The next chapter "The Crime of Cities" struck a nerve with me taking me back to the four years I spent in Vallejo, CA, trying to rehabilitate it and investing my heart, soul and net worth into that sinking ship. It never even stood a chance. The psychological effects of blighted environments is insidious and in some places impossible to correct once it's too late. And then other areas are so plastic, the environment and the people, that it's almost more frightening than the opposite spectrum. And what kills me is how America's farmlands are being bulldozed far and wide to build more tract housing the world overpopulates. How do they think we're supposed to feed all these people? More chemicals I suppose. But no one care because they have no clue where there food comes from in the first place. As long as it cheap, fast, easy.

What was particularly meaningful about this is how Gallagher presented the pull of residents to poorer communities because of the sense of community where people ban together over important social reasons; as opposed to uppity cookie cutter neighborhoods with too many rules and too many assholes telling you to do what they say, not what they do.

I had to really think about the sentence, "Modern society focuses almost exclusively on the value of intellect and professionalism, which requires a lot of repression and denial." Speaking as one who grew up on a farm and the land and nature is my church, I have to admit that I too value the intellect and professionalism a great deal. I had to think about my level of repression and denial after denying my true values for most of my adult life as I chased the so-called "American Dream" myth. She also says in relation to societies alienation from the land (my words), "A person doesn't quite know why he's depressed or what he's lost, but he knows there's something wrong, something missing" (p205). She speaks a lot about Native Alaskans but I can relate having been stripped of my family's legacy of the land where I used to work with my hands in the fruit and run my horses at top notch through the orchards, now it's just another sprawling housing development. There's nowhere that's home ever since.

Perhaps that's why I enjoyed this book even a decade after it was written. But also because my life experiences and career in development cause me to appreciate its context. Perhaps this book may not be for everyone's taste, but I think everyone will have something to gain by reading it.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some good questions in it, but I found it lacking from a science perspective. She writes as a journalist, which is nice, but there is a thing that some journalist writers do that drives me crazy. When you write about a study or evidence or a story or an experiment or an occurence of something happening, especially if that something bolsters your case, cite a reference for it there in the text and provide references in the back. This book completely lacks in this regard. I'd like to follow up on some of the research, but man oh man, good luck digging through the limited bibliography in the back to find where the author might have possibly gotten an idea that X effects Y so that Z changes into B.

Other than this huge oversight I liked it.

[Jessica Vacek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this 3.5 stars if I could. I definitely got what I was looking and expecting out of the book and it is 100% worth reading if you're interested in these topics. Winifred certainly sees the huge potential that thinking about our spaces has on our workplace, on the Earth, and on our relationships to others in large cities and small towns. The main reason I lower the rating is because a few chapters seemed only very tangentially related. It reminded me of my freshman year of college where I would include everything in an essay that even 1/12 of the way applied to the topic. MOST chapters though were really interesting. Some of the information and viewpoints don't stand the test of time (gender roles especially).

Generally though it's a wonderful perspective that made me feel like I knew why I could change my life just by making simple changes in my surroundings. It addresses class and gentrification, how nature is being eaten up by the rich with vacation homes, how drug addicts can relapse by revisiting spaces they used frequently do drugs in, how they can overdose easier in environments they're not used to, and how more is not more.

"Much of the strength of habitual or compulsive devotion, whether to a person, an intoxicant, or a pursuit, comes from the environments of our past and present, which hover like ghosts beneath the surface of our awareness, haunting us and our behavior."

[Joseph Mais · Rating 1 out of 5]

What an incredible dissapointment. This book was a trite delve into the mysterious and fascinating possibilites of pseudo-science. The book is a journey through Winifred Gallagher's speculative science gallery, where she revells in the thrill of metaphysical hyperbole.

At one point the author says, "Entering a territory where most behavioral scientists fear to tread, Becker speculates that electromagnetic fields may even account for what are usually described as psychic phenomena." This sentence is writen in such a was as to force the discussion down an absurd path while at the same time it make the author seem completely innocent of that decision, as though the choice to journey down a path of intellectual poppycock was beyond her control.

At first I found the book cute and silly, kind of like visiting that Creationist Museum. But eventually I was pissed off by the book. For one reason, because she pokes fun at spiritualism. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy as much as the next person laughing at the absurdities of religious dogma, but the problem in this context is that Gallagher fails to see the parallels between the spirituallist absurdities of the zealots she references and the unsubstatiated "scientific" assumptions she spews forth.

[Kolbrún Matthíasdóttir · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay sko, það eru áhugaverðir hlutir I þessari bók. Ein áhugaverðasti parturinn að mínu mati er t.d.:

"The sherpas generaly seem happy, proud, independent, and well balanced, he says, and it's tempting to attribute that to their incredible environment. But in veru similar conditions, the Peruvians seem kind of chronically depressed.
Perhaps the reason they act oppressed and chrushed is because, unlike the Nepalese, they have been."

En þessi bók er líka oft bara bull, hennar kenningar um electromagnetism létu mig missa soldið mikið traust gagnvart henni.

"it makes sense, although it hasn't yet been proved"

Var flott setning sem var sögð áður en þau reyndu að útskýra mun kynjanna á úreltan hátt

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found randomly in browsing the public library shelves. Would give it 3.5 stars if I could. Excited to find someone writing about a topic I find critical in my daily experience, one I think about all the time, even when others don't seem to respond as viscerally to the surrounding environment. Some pieces of this book offered "aha" moments, some were affirming, some were obvious, some were mediocre pop psychology, and some have been superseded in the last 20 years by much more and deeper literature, as in the last section on "nature." Gallagher generally writes clearly and well, although she has a tendency to insert long quotes from her expert informants without context or analysis, making them sometimes hard to follow. Will continue to look for more recent and more specific books on this topic, now that I know they exist.

[Michael-david Kerns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I celebrate the fact that this book was written. Period. Couldn't give a toss whether it references peer-reviewed science (or not)--&, frankly, am not interested whether the proposition that there is power in place can be operationalised or otherwise subjected to reductionistic & mechanistic scientific methods & study. Perhaps I'll change my mind in the future. But mostly, I am compelled to read on & reflect--& consider...in anticipation that a subsequent author, journalist, philosopher, acute observer or even a scientist will continue the conversation & consideration (of the power of place).

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

"It may be...", "Perhaps...", "It's possible that...". Reading this feels like reading a less-entertaining X Files: it's science-y and it's speculative and it was copyrighted in 1993. It's decently written, but I can't recommend it to anyone. It's outdated and rather than footnotes with citations, there is merely a chapter by chapter suggested reading list at the back of the book, in case a reader wants to explore any of the ideas further.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me. I picked this up from a Little Free Library in my neighborhood, misled by the cover. I thought it was going to be something related to how architecture affects our lives. Umm, No. The topic of the book is how our environment influences our psychological lives/physical lives, but in a much more esoteric form. She had me at first, because I agree that our environments affect us. Noise, light, connections to nature, I agree they all affect our mental health. For me, the author goes to far into the unproven. The author is a fan of feng shui, and was happy when her plumber used a dowsing rod to find her septic tank. She believes in geophysical energies. I don't want to pay a professional to use a dowsing rod; though, it might be something fun to play with when I'm on a ramble. Same for feng shui, might be something fun to think about when decorating, but, again, not something that I'm going to base my psychological happiness on. I do believe our surroundings influence our feelings, but I'm too much of a rationalist for this book. Oh, the author has also written a book about purses, if that indicates her mileau.

[PG · Rating 1 out of 5]

Accidentally got a first edition, copyright 1993. Unsure of how much was updated and edited in the 2007 second edition, but the first is full of a little (very dated) reviews of scientific topics like SAD mixed with a whole lot of woo and way too many personal anecdotes. Didn’t expect or want multiple passages about aliens. So I’m not even interested in reading the updated edition.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised, about two thirds of the way through this book, to realize that it was written 30 years ago - it has aged well. The author discusses the ways that place plays into our mental and physical health, from cold therapy for depression to the effect of socio-economics on concern for the environment.

[Marmariposa · Rating 2 out of 5]

At one time I was interested in what Winifred Gallagher had to say and I still am somewhat except I don't have time to delve into this now, other than checking out a few pages for reference. I'm in the process of incorporating setting into my fiction these days.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stopped in chapter 3. This book was recommended to me, and I don't understand why. It's 30 years old, and it shows - junk science and psychology, casual bigotry, and climate change denial.

[Jet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read it for school and didn’t really read it so ignore my rating

[Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, And Actions” is a fine piece of journalism by Winifred Gallagher describing how our environment influences not only our moods but our way of experiencing the world.
Gallagher sums up the findings in her book by writing in her introduction: “Throughout history, people of all cultures have assumed the environment influences behavior. Now modern science is confirming that our actions, thoughts, and feelings are indeed shaped not just by our genes and neurochemistry, history and relationships, but also by our surroundings.”
The 15 chapters in this 1993 book look at how humans are shaped by light and dark, changing seasons, heat and cold, extreme climates, city living vs. country living, and the interior design of the buildings we live and work in.
Of particular interest to me is that basic environmental factor in the lives of humans and almost all plants and animals: sunlight.
“The origins of the influences of light on our activity are rooted far back in the evolutionary past,” Gallagher writes. “Because it changes through the course of the day and the year in such a predictable way, sunlight is an ideal stimulus for the synchronization of our biological rhythms.”
While the increases and decreases of sunlight during different seasons in different parts of the world seem to have an effect – little or great – on human behavior, one group seems especially affected.
“One particular group of people – musicians, writers, painters, sculptors, and their relations – is especially prone to both the highs linked to abundant light and the lows caused by too little.” Gallagher pointed out that composers George Frederick Handel and Gustav Mahler experienced highs in the summer and lows in the winter but were most productive in spring and autumn. Van Gogh probably suffered from Seasonal Affected Disorder, among other things.
Along with light and dark, the cycles of hot and cold are basic to human lives. While it is all too easy – but wrong – to say hot and cold climates determine the character of various world civilizations, it is true that climate is one of many factors in human societies.
Individually, humans and other animals are influenced by higher or lower heat in their environments. As Gallagher puts it, “Just as cold is a stimulant, heat is a sedative.”
Humans’ ability to maintain stable indoor temperatures (such as with fireplaces) has not been properly emphasized as an important reason for the advances of civilizations worldwide during the last three millenniums. I would maintain that central heat and air conditioning are big factors in the staggering technological advances of the 20th and 21st centuries.
My only criticism of the book is that it is limited to science, quoting numerous studies and interviews with scientists and researchers. “The Power of Place” would have been more interesting if it had gone beyond science and touched on world literature and cinema in which climate and weather almost always play a significant part, to the degree that weather can be seen as a character. Also missing is any discussion of the metaphoric uses of light (“see the light,” “enlighten”) and dark (“dark” humor, “dark night of the soul”) and hot (“warm” personality, “hot” item) and cold (“cold” shoulder, “frigid” response) in the English language and other languages.
Notwithstanding this proviso, this book is a valuable summation of the latest scientific investigations of the effect of climate on the human psyche and body, a subject that affects everyone to some degree or other.

[Erika RS · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Power of Place looks at the effect of different environmental factors on our well being and actions. Part one looks looks at effect of the external environment including how heat, light, and various electrical forces affect our well being. Part two looks at our human environment by looking at how relationships provide a particular physical as well as emotional environment that is import. One focus of this section is the relationship, both before and after birth, of a mother to her child. Part three takes a larger scale look at environments and discusses cities, over stimulation, and the importance of nature. At times, this book ventured off into hypotheticals, but Gallagher generally clear about when this was happening. Overall, The Power of Place is an entertaining introduction to environmental psychology.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was interesting but mostly focused on more of the extreme environments than the typical, perhaps because of the available and/or conclusive research. Consequently I only found some of the sections particularly interesting. For me, the most intriguing ideas were linked to the concept of people as environment, even if that sounds a bit hokey. I would have liked it if the research had gone the next steps to see if anyone had addressed adoptive mothers and/or biological mothers who were not in contact with their offspring. In general the book feels dated but for me it seems to mostly be in terms of the topics of interest. Also of note, the book is more of a topically oriented research review than either how-to, self-help, or in-depth literature review.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not quite what I expected judging from the title, cover description and cover picture. I thought it would be more about finding a good place to live, but after reading it, I had no clearer picture of what place is ideal. This is a book very much about psychology--it has a chapter or two just about how the womb environment can affect babies. It is chock full of pyschology experiments and studies of how surroundings affect people. It's interesting info, but the writing style is text-bookish--a little on the dry side. Ultimately, it was worth reading, but I wouldn't recommend it to most readers.

[Stephen Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

An uneven book with no real transitions between wildly divergent ideas. Premature babies, electromagnetic fields, telepathy, and feng shui might all coexist on the same page, meaning this was not the focused, enlightening work I expected from Gallagher after having read RAPT. There's a handful of interesting information scattered here and there, but nothing terribly fascinating. Part of the problem may be that this book is two decades old and by now we all know about Seasonal Affective Disorder and some of the other subjects which may have been groundbreaking back then. Unfortunately, this book is not especially worth reading. (But her other book, RAPT, most certainly is!)

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had some interesting insights in a 'these are the things that are sacrificed because life is so complicated' way, but often repetitive and 'all over the place'. The book also turned out to be different from what I expected. I was hoping there was less of "study shows" and "so and so says". It kind of read like a long survey of related literature where the author just grabbed everyone who wrote about her topic and just jammed it all in one book. Somehow I find it hard to appreciate the book entirely, aside from some bits of facts.

[Sara Abdulla · Rating 2 out of 5]

The implications grasped from the title is much more than the real content of the book. In short, the book was so below my expectations. There are no clear scientific methodologies. In other words, it is more descriptive than scientifically oriented. My advice to people who are interested in deep and profound practical ideas in the environmental effects of buildings, this book is a waste of time and money!

[Elizabeth Archers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too out of date to be relevant, I'm afraid. The book was a gift and I'm currently very interested in the metaphysical/emotional significance of place and personal environments. However, the author's intention was to present scientific studies on the effects of light deprivation, primarily. I lost interest quickly.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

More technical than I expected, and while there were many interesting points, I skipped entire chapters of the book that didn't interest me. Maybe I expecting more of a self help type of book on choosing the ideal type of environment to live in. What I got instead were studies on our human needs for light, quiet, companionship, peace and nature.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the topic and the idea of the book. The writing, though, felt like homework. Unfortunately, college students who are just starting to discern ideas critically, read this book and think it confirms every superstition from ESP to the spiritual magic of nature.

[adllto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right back in the early 1990's I came to the conclusion that landscapes and weather shape peoples behaviour and identity. Last year I read this book published in 1993 which describes how and why and where.

[Adam Meek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Speculations about the impact of the local environment on the psyche. Thought provoking, but written by a journalist not any sort of scientist. If you dig the philosophy, be sure to check out the Front Porch Republic website.

[Joan Michalcik Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, shallow me was hoping for an easier read on this subject--not necessarily dumbed down, but just more readable. So, true confession time--I skimmed through some of it. It's a really interesting subject. I just couldn't say that the presentation was.

[Melody Warnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some skippable chapters (geophysical oddities?), but also really interesting stuff about our ability to handle big cities, the restorative powers of nature, and how our personalities draw us to places.

[Julius Hinton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book.

The discussion quickly diverges away from the power of place to a lot about spirituality. It reads as off topic and ill informed.

More of a journalistic opinion piece than an interesting discussion.