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?

Winifred Gallagher explores the complex relationships between people and the places in which they live, love, and work. Drawing on the latest research in behavioral and environmental sciences, 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.

Edifying, accessible, and enormously entertaining, The Power of Place offers the latest insights into the many ways we can change our lives by changing the places we live.