PRAISE FOR
Rapt
Attention and the Focused Life

Bookmarks Magazine
Gallagher’s fascinating book, which analyzes the latest research in psychology and neuroscience, easily translates difficult concepts into layman’s terms. She includes contemporary and historical examples of men and women, including Mozart and Tiger Woods, whose ability to concentrate led to their successes. Gallagher’s writing is engaging and accessible, and her suggestions for a more focused life range from the mystical (meditation) to the ordinary (separating oneself from distractions.) Critics did, however, have a couple of complaints: her focus on the conscious mind overlooks the subconscious and the veiled effect it can have on thoughts and feelings, and she sometimes tries too hard to relate all of life’s experiences back to her topic. However, readers who choose to concentrate on Rapt will not be disappointed.
-- Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

Booklist
Although attention-deficit problems are much discussed, attention itself is not well understood. A writer who pays uncommon attention to such aspects of our lives as our definition of the self and the design of our dwellings, Gallagher has become adept at tracing the links between neuroscience and psychology, a skill essential to elucidating the study of attention and how it shapes our lives. In clear and lively language, Gallagher defines different types and styles of attention and explains how attention orders physical stimuli (all that our senses gather) and thoughts and feelings. Drawing on sources as far-flung as Darwin and This American Life, Gallagher describes the role attention plays in culture, relationships, creativity, work, and health. She explains why negative thoughts and feelings obsess and isolate us and how paying rapt attention to positive emotions and ideas “literally expands your world.” She also advocates attention training as an alternative to behavioral drugs. Gallagher reinvigorates our understanding of a crucial cognitive function in a fluent and fascinating blend of cutting-edge science and thoughtful guidelines for living an attentive life.
--Donna Seaman

PRAISE FOR
Spiritual Genius

Publishers Weekly
This is an astonishing, engrossing introduction to 10 human beings who seem to live with one foot in another plane. Gallagher, journalist and author of several books (Working on God; Just the Way You Are), defines spiritual genius as the "ability to seek life's meaning" and proposes that "all of us use spiritual genius some of the time, but some of us use it all of the time." From a goddess on an obscure Indian island to passionate scholars (Huston Smith), community activists (Tony Campolo), hermits and healing doctors, the individuals she highlights are deeply religious men and women with a gift for "combining mysticism and activism." These living saints are not household names, but they clearly belong in the same class as more famous individuals such as Mother Teresa. Each has emerged from major religious traditions (Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity), but this book is not a primer on world religions. Each chapter plunges the reader into deep, rich veins of religious thought and experience. The disciplined devotion and seemingly boundless compassion of these geniuses, combined with their indifference to limelight, make them utterly convincing and magnetic witnesses to the divine. Gallagher manages to insert enough of herself to draw out humor, irony and humility and to let the reader taste what an encounter with these geniuses might be like without inserting any kind of obscuring religious bias. Her reverence, curiosity and appreciation of these individuals flow from the pages.
-- Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

PRAISE FOR
Working on God

Publisher's Weekly
A self-described "neoagnostic," Gallagher (Just the Way You Are) takes her readers with her as she "works on God," her phrase for trying to find where religion fits in her life. On one hand, she finds the traditional Roman Catholicism in which she was reared too embarrassing for an intellectual to profess. On the other hand, she feels she needs some kind of spirituality to find meaning in life. Her approach is an eclectic one. Sampling Zen Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, she tries to construct a religion tailored to her individual needs. Ultimately, she discovers her life is so saturated by Christian language and images that she must use them as her starting point. However, she refuses to accept the doctrine of Christ's atonement. Pointing out that many of Christianity's central tenets -- Christ's divinity, Christ's participation in the Trinity -- were not codified until the 3rd century, Gallagher feels justified in taking for herself the title "Early Christian," as someone who can say only, "Jesus is special, but I'm not sure just how special." Gallagher's honesty and integrity will resonate with those who can acknowledge a "resurrection experience" but who can't quite profess the Resurrection.

New Age Journal
[An] extensive exploration of American spirituality at the crossroads. Gallagher is writing for all people...who fit in the steadily growing category of what Gallagher calls 'neoagnostics.'... If you are seeking to explore some of those seemingly inexplicable metaphysical feelings, read Working on God. Gallagher has written your book.

Library Journal
Gallagher (Just the Way You Are: How Heredity and Experience Make You Who You Are, Random, 1997) takes the reader on her own journey of religious and spiritual discovery. Describing herself as "neoagnostic" or skeptical but searching, she participates in Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist worship or meditation and dialogs with well-known spiritual leaders. She also visits monasteries, seminaries, and the Holy Land (focusing on the Christian sites), struggles with "Jesus Seminar" ideas about the Jesus of history, and records her feelings of both "home" and estrangement in Roman Catholicism, the religious tradition of her childhood. Her conclusion is commitment to "working on God" rather than to a specific tradition. Recommended for public libraries.

PRAISE FOR
The Power of Place

Gallagher, a journalist, writes in a style that will be understood by general audiences. However, she has also relied on the support of scientific investigation, rather than hearsay and speculation, so the book provides a good review for an academic audience as well. . . . There is a list of from 6 to 12 suggested readings for each chapter. A readable, entertaining, and informative book.
-- L.A. Meserve - Choice

The New York Times Book Review
{This book} pays particular attention to art, artists and esthetic issues. On the basis of recent psychiatric research, for example, {the author} posits that Vincent van Gogh's career as a painter followed the trajectory of his efforts to find an environment that would cure a recurring form of depression he suffered that is now known as seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD). . . . Artists are simply an extreme case of the deep biological effects our esthetic perception of the world has on our well-being. Ms. Gallagher's special strength is her ability to make the link between environment and emotion, while drawing on current scientific research.
-- From Karal Ann Marling

Publisher's Weekly
In this intriguing but somewhat diffuse look at the impact of physical surroundings on individual behavior, freelance journalist Gallagher ranges from wintry Alaska to a neonatal intensive care unit to diverse neighborhoods in Manhattan. Drawing on interviews with scientists as well as her own observations, she shows that academia has promoted a "false dichotomy'' between the influences of biology and of environment. For example, Eskimos may have genetically eliminated seasonal mood disorders from their gene pool. And to overcome grief or kick drug addictions, people require new stimuli and "environmental deconditioning.'' Inner-city residents, having invested their neighborhoods with hope, often resist being moved from what others would consider a slum, the author notes. She also looks skeptically at such folk wisdom as the purported role of hot weather in fostering crime and romance.

PRAISE FOR
I.D.

New York Times Book Review
In introducing us to the groundbreaking research on why we are the way we are, as well as its personal, moral, political and social implications, Ms. Gallagher's fascinating book has broadened our capacity to wonder.
-- Martha Manning

Booklist
The question of why people are the way they are is intrinsic to the ever-perplexing human condition. Gallagher, an engaging science writer and author of The Power of Place (1993), presents various theories of temperament, from the humors of Hippocrates to the current understanding of genetics, adaptive behavior, and neurotransmitters. Along the way, she offers some stirring descriptions of distinctive personality types, illustrated by examples as diverse as Ty Cobb and Sylvia Plath, and presents fresh approaches to the age-old paradox of nature versus nurture. Her benchmark throughout this engaging survey is the remarkable story of a woman, Monica, who was rendered all but catatonic in early infancy by neglect. The details of Monica's recovery illuminate all the issues Gallagher raises regarding the myriad vicissitudes of temperament and behavior. In conclusion, Gallagher reminds readers that even in this era of readily available psychoactive drugs, they mustn't forget that the "wealth of dispositions is our species' glory."
-- Donna Seaman
Copyright© 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved