Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1. The Nature in Space
Chapter 2. Places of Affection
Chapter 3. Places of Lust
Chapter 4. Boring Places
Chapter 5. Places of Anxiety
Chapter 6. Places of Awe
Chapter 7. Space and Technology I: The World in a Machine
Chapter 8. Space and Technology II: The Machine in the World
Conclusions: Coming Home Again
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Promotional Information

Co-op available
Significant bound galley printing for media and booksellers. Additional bound galley giveaways at Book Expo America and the American Library Association Annual conference. eGalley distribution to media, booksellers, and librarians through Edelweiss
National print, public radio, and online campaigns, including a special focus on popular science, psychology, travel, technology, and architecture and design outlets. We will also seek high-profile author op-ed placements around the time of publication
Tour will include at least two residencies and walking tours (at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn and at Urbanspace galley in Toronto, Sept./Oct. 2015), with more TBD, and an author presentation at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) conference (La Jolla, CA; Sept. 2015)
Postcards available
Possible promotion through the Scientific American book club
Academic marketing plans include Consortium Required Reading newsletter advertising and development of supplementary teaching resources, including a practical guide with exercises related to the book’s content that will be available for free online and regularly updated
Giveaways through Goodreads and LibraryThing
Blurbs possible from authors Esther M. Sternberg, Charles Montgomery, Nicholas Humphrey, and Susan Pinker as well as Maria Nicanor, Curator of the BMW Guggenheim Lab and Associate Curator, Architecture at the Guggenheim Museum; David van der Leer, Executive Director of the Van Alen Institute; Ethan Kent, Senior Vice President, Project for Public Spaces; and Robert Gifford, Director of the Environmental, Social, and Personality Psychology Lab at the University of Victoria, editor of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, and former President of the Environmental Psychology division of the International Association of Applied Psychology
Promotion through the author’s website (www.colinellard.com) and Psychology Today blog as well as BLP’s social media networks and website (www.blpress.org)
Marketing and publicity efforts supported by Molly Mikolowski of A Literary Light

About the Author

Colin Ellard, who works at the intersection of neuroscience and architectural and environmental design, is the author of You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall and Places of the Heart: The Psychogeography of Everyday Life (forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press). He has published scientific work in international journals in North America, Europe, and Asia for the past twenty-five years and has also contributed to the public discussion of environmental psychology through his work with museums and the media. A cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo and director of its Urban Realities Laboratory, Ellard lives in Kitchener, Ontario.

Reviews

Praise for Places of the Heart

Library of Science Book Club selection
Discover magazine “What to Read” selection
Book Riot “Small Press Book to Read” selection

“A really great book.” —IRA FLATOW, Science Friday

“A great read.” —RUDY MAXA, Rudy Maxa’s World

“From Neolithic monuments that awe to ‘playground casinos’ that empty wallets, Ellard argues that a scientific understanding of how our surroundings affect us must be the foundation on which we build the cities and homes of tomorrow.” —Discover

“Meshing recent findings with thoughtful appraisals of their implications, Ellard looks at spaces and the awe, lust, boredom, affection or anxiety that they trigger. He is richly insightful, particularly on digital encroachments into the experience of place.” —Nature

“Wide-ranging and absorbing. . . . Powerfully and comprehensively written. . . . An exceptional introduction to a vital part of the human experience.” —Colorado Review

“Ellard breaks down psychological and neurological information in an accessible way. . . . Highly recommended.” —Book Riot

“Aren’t architects and urban planners trained to design buildings and cities? Why should a psychologist have a say in this? Because Ellard brings tools to the design board that should help ensure more positive responses to urban environment, from a mundane alleyway to an awe-inspiring cathedral or city hall. . . . Places of the Heart should stimulate debate about how our cities are shaped and how they shape us.” —Waterloo Region Record

“Ellard shows that simple distinctions between nature and culture tend to collapse where many modern technologies are concerned. . . . Many of the trends with which Ellard engages—such as virtual reality technology that would allow individuals to live in a curated, mediated, personalized, and highly commodified bubble—sound as if they were pulled from the pages of Ray Bradburyesque science fiction.” —Quill & Quire

“If you care about your city and your happiness, read every page of this fascinating book. Places of the Heart offers a thrilling journey through the pathways of our cities and the human mind. This is no flight of fancy. It’s an evidence-based exploration of how the places we inhabit change our minds and bodies. Colin Ellard is one of the world’s foremost thinkers on the neuroscience of urban design. Here he offers an entirely new way to understand our cities—and ourselves.” —CHARLES MONTGOMERY, author of Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

“This beautifully written book grabs the reader from the start, with personal stories from the author’s life interwoven with history, archaeology, technology, and design.” —ESTHER M. STERNBERG, MD, author of Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being

Praise for Colin Ellard

“One of the finest science writers I’ve ever read.” —Los Angeles Times

“Delightfully lucid. . . . Ellard has a knack for distilling obscure scientific theories into practical wisdom.” —New York Times Book Review

“[Ellard] mak[es] even the most mundane entomological experiment or exegesis of psychological geekspeak feel fresh and fascinating.” —NPR

“[Ellard] entertain[s] us with an explanation of the cold, hard science [and] artfully constructed exploration[s] of how our relationship to spaces plays a huge part in making us human.” —Quill & Quire

“Fascinating.” —Globe and Mail

“Smart.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Delightful.” —Publishers Weekly

“Ellard writes with admirable clarity.” —Kirkus Reviews

“As an architect . . . [Ellard] took me on a journey to places I’d never even considered before.” —SARAH SUSANKA, author of The Not So Big House

Praise for Places of the Heart

Library of Science Book Club selection
Discover magazine “What to Read” selection
Book Riot “Small Press Book to Read” selection

“A really great book.” —IRA FLATOW, Science Friday

“A great read.” —RUDY MAXA, Rudy Maxa’s World

“From Neolithic monuments that awe to `playground casinos’ that empty wallets, Ellard argues that a scientific understanding of how our surroundings affect us must be the foundation on which we build the cities and homes of tomorrow.” —Discover

“Meshing recent findings with thoughtful appraisals of their implications, Ellard looks at spaces and the awe, lust, boredom, affection or anxiety that they trigger. He is richly insightful, particularly on digital encroachments into the experience of place.” —Nature

“Wide-ranging and absorbing. . . . Powerfully and comprehensively written. . . . An exceptional introduction to a vital part of the human experience.” —Colorado Review

“Ellard breaks down psychological and neurological information in an accessible way. . . . Highly recommended.” —Book Riot

“Aren’t architects and urban planners trained to design buildings and cities? Why should a psychologist have a say in this? Because Ellard brings tools to the design board that should help ensure more positive responses to urban environment, from a mundane alleyway to an awe-inspiring cathedral or city hall. . . . Places of the Heart should stimulate debate about how our cities are shaped and how they shape us.” —Waterloo Region Record

“Ellard shows that simple distinctions between nature and culture tend to collapse where many modern technologies are concerned. . . . Many of the trends with which Ellard engages—such as virtual reality technology that would allow individuals to live in a curated, mediated, personalized, and highly commodified bubble—sound as if they were pulled from the pages of Ray Bradburyesque science fiction.” —Quill & Quire

“If you care about your city and your happiness, read every page of this fascinating book. Places of the Heart offers a thrilling journey through the pathways of our cities and the human mind. This is no flight of fancy. It’s an evidence-based exploration of how the places we inhabit change our minds and bodies. Colin Ellard is one of the world’s foremost thinkers on the neuroscience of urban design. Here he offers an entirely new way to understand our cities—and ourselves.” —CHARLES MONTGOMERY, author of Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

“This beautifully written book grabs the reader from the start, with personal stories from the author’s life interwoven with history, archaeology, technology, and design.” —ESTHER M. STERNBERG, MD, author of Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being

Praise for Colin Ellard

“One of the finest science writers I’ve ever read.” —Los Angeles Times

“Delightfully lucid. . . . Ellard has a knack for distilling obscure scientific theories into practical wisdom.” —New York Times Book Review

“[Ellard] mak[es] even the most mundane entomological experiment or exegesis of psychological geekspeak feel fresh and fascinating.” —NPR

“[Ellard] entertain[s] us with an explanation of the cold, hard science [and] artfully constructed exploration[s] of how our relationship to spaces plays a huge part in making us human.” —Quill & Quire

“Fascinating.” —Globe and Mail

“Smart.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Delightful.” —Publishers Weekly

“Ellard writes with admirable clarity.” —Kirkus Reviews

“As an architect . . . [Ellard] took me on a journey to places I’d never even considered before.” —SARAH SUSANKA, author of The Not So Big House