Product Description: Follow a crawling baby around and you’ll see that right from the beginning, nothing excites us more than something new and different. Our unique human brains are biologically primed to engage with and even generate novelty, from our ancestors’ first bow and arrow to the latest tablet computer...read more

Product Description: Why are we attuned to the latest headline, diet craze, smartphone, fashion statement?  Why do we relish a change of scene, eye attractive strangers, develop new interests?  How did Homo sapiens survive near-extinction during an environmental crisis 80,000 years ago, while close cousins very like us have died out?  Why is your characteristic reaction to novelty and change the key to your whole personality?  Why do we enjoy inexpensive pleasures, like fresh flowers or great chocolate, more than costly comforts, like cars or  appliances?  How can a species genetically geared to engage with novelty cope in a world that increasingly bombards us with it?    Follow a crawling baby around and you’ll see that right from the beginning, nothing excites us more than something new and different...read more

Presents a personal study of Americans' quest for a religion and spirituality that meets the needs of a complex world, examining new approaches to Western faiths, the impact of Eastern traditions, the influence of science and psychology, and the democratization of authority

Product Description: Apoyandose en los ultimos descubrimientos en neurociencia, la escritora Winifred Gallagher realiza una investigacion apasionante sobre el papel de la atencion a la hora de definir la conducta, la experiencia y la identidad humanas...read more

Product Description: A revolutionary look at how what we pay attention to determines how we experience life Acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher's Rapt makes the radical argument that much of the quality of your life depends not on fame or fortune, beauty or brains, fate or coincidence, but on what you choose to pay attention to...read more

Product Description: Your world, and even your self, is largely constructed from the thoughts and feelings, people and things you’ve focused on throughout your life. Much more than you probably suspect, you can, as you move forward, actively direct your attention to create the kind of experience you want and become the person you want to be...read more

Product Description: 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...read more

Bringing together elements of behavioral science, cultural history, and interviews with designers and architects, a journalist and cultural critic provides a psychological tour of the American home--past, present, and future--that explores how our homes express how we feel about our families, jobs, bodies, status, and selves. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

Explaining how handbags have supplanted all other accessories as a consumer symbol of wealth and fashion, a historical and cultural survey draws on psychological, sociological, and economic sources to evaluate how purses reflect their owner's belief systems and emotions. 40,000 first printing.

An inspirational, ecumenical volume presents thought-provoking profiles of eleven modern-day men and women celebrated for their remarkable spiritual gifts, ranging from a devout Muslim professor who crusades for women's rights, to a woman recognized as a Hindu goddess, to an Italian-American Evangelical minister who publicly bucks the religious right. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

An inspirational, ecumenical volume presents thought-provoking profiles of eleven modern-day men and women celebrated for their remarkable spiritual gifts, ranging from a devout Muslim professor who crusades of women's rights, to a woman recognized as a Hindu goddess, to an Italian-American Evangelical minister who publicly bucks the religious right. 40,000 first printing. (view table of contents)

The author of The Power of Place explores the mysteries of self-identity to reveal what defines an individual, explaining how both genetic and learning determine who we are. Previously published as ID: How Heredity and Experience Make You Who You Are. Reprint. 20,000 first printing. NYT. (view table of contents)

The author of The Power of Place explores the mysteries of self-identity to reveal what defines an individual, explaining how both genetics and learning determine who we are. 30,000 first printing. Tour.