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

?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

?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 ofHappy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

Our surroundings can powerfully affect our thoughts, emotions, and physical responses, whether we’re awed by the Grand Canyon or Hagia Sophia, panicked in a crowded room, soothed by a walk in the park, or tempted in casinos and shopping malls. InPlaces of the Heart, Colin Ellard explores how our homes, workplaces, cities, and nature—places we escape to and can’t escape from—have influenced us throughout history, and how our brains and bodies respond to different types of real and virtual space. As he describes the insight he and other scientists have gained from new technologies, he assesses the influence these technologies will have on our evolving environment and asks what kind of world we are, and should be, creating.

Colin Ellardis the author ofYou Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall. A cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo and director of its Urban Realities Laboratory, he lives in Kitchener, Ontario.

Colin Ellard's profile page

Colin Ellard, who works at the intersection of neuroscience and architectural and environmental design, is the author ofYou Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall andPlaces 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.

Advance Praise forPlaces of the Heart

?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 ofHappy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

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 and exhaustive.” “Globe and Mail

?Smart, deeply satisfying.” “ClevelandPlain Dealer

?Delightful, dense and illuminating.” “Publishers Weekly

?Ellard writes with admirable clarity.” “Kirkus Reviews

?Ellard makes it clear that the space around us has made us the species we are. . . . Witty and engaging and crammed with profound insights.” “MICHAEL BROOKS, author of13 Things that Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time

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

?[Ellard] provides . . . an impassioned argument for finding our true place in the world we inhabit.” “TOM VANDERBILT, author ofTraffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)