Winifred Gallagher

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

Millions of Americans are finding it more and more difficult to apply the traditional demands of organized religion to their lives, and yet a complete absence of spirituality leaves them uneasy. Working on God is a book for and about such intelligent, independent people, who are seeking to reconcile their spiritual yearnings with their skeptical intellects. Winifred Gallagher, a behavioral-science

An award-winning journalist and science writer provides a fascinating, beautifully written explanation of why we are and who we are--the biological and environmental determinants of that most elusive of human qualities: individuality.

In Spiritual Genius , journalist Winifred Gallagher, the acclaimed author of Working on Go d, asks Rabbi Lawrence Kushner to define holiness. "Standing in the presence of God," he says. "Everyone has it, but some people seem to have more of a knack for accessing it." Like holiness, the gift that Gallagher calls "spiritual genius"--which she defines as "the uniquely human ability to search for and

The time is perfect for a short, smart purse book. The "good bag" has nudged out shoes, jeans, and jewelry as the must–have fashion possession. Despite price hikes –– $1,445 for a Prada bowler bag that once cost $940 –– the craze for high–end purses helps fuel the booming luxury–goods market and, via knock–offs, hugely influences the $6 billion–a–year mainstream handbag industry. But purse mania i

“A fascinating book that investigates and explains the emotional impact our homes have on our lives. House Thinking . . . guides the way for us to live out our most creative selves at home.” —Wendy Goodman, interior design editor, New York magazine IKEA, Ethan Allen and HGTV may have plenty to say about making a home look right, but what makes a home feel right? In House Thinking , journalist and

Winifred Gallagher revolutionizes our understanding of attention and the creation of the interested life In Rapt, acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher makes the radical argument that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it. Gallagher grapples with provocative questions—Can we train our f

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

In her carefully staged photographs of domestic spaces, Sarah Hobbs (born 1970) explores phobias and obsessive-compulsive behavior with affection and even celebration, filling rooms with (for example) meticulously arranged color swatches or hundreds of pieces of scrunched-up paper. This volume compiles three photographic series.

A masterful history of a long underappreciated institution, How the Post Office Created America examines the surprising role of the postal service in our nation’s political, social, economic, and physical development. The founders established the post office before they had even signed the Declaration of Independence, and for a very long time, it was the U.S. government’s largest and m

A riveting history of the American West told for the first time through the pioneering women who used the challenges of migration and settlement as opportunities to advocate for their rights, and transformed the country in the processBetween 1840 and 1910, hundreds of thousands of men and women traveled deep into the underdeveloped American West, lured by the prospect of adventure and