Head in the Clouds - by Trevor Harley (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Why do most of us feel more miserable on a rainy day? Why are people more likely to commit violent crimes on a hot summer's night? And why on earth are we humans so obsessed with the weather?

Weather affects us all the time--often in surprising ways--but there are steps we can take to work with the weather and not against it, benefiting our mental health in the process.

For Professor Trevor Harley, understanding the weather and how it impacts our well-being saved his life. Here, he draws on this deeply personal journey, the experience of others, and robust research to show how the weather affects our psychology and behavior and, importantly, what we can do about it.

From the rise in climate anxiety to the sweeping impact of Seasonal Affective Disorder, Professor Harley invites you to discover how adverse weather conditions affect different people. He offers practical advice on how to mitigate the negative effects of weather (or at least learn how to accept them) and make the most of the positive ones. After all, you can't change the weather--but you can change how you respond to it.

About the Author

Professor Trevor Harley is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Dundee, with a special interest in the weather, who is often called upon to speak about the connection between weather and human behavior in the media. He is the author of several academic books, including The Psychology of Weather (Routledge 2018); his books have been translated into several languages. He studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge in 1979; followed by a PhD in experimental psychology, also at Cambridge; before pursuing an academic career in psychology, spending 10 years at the University of Warwick before moving to the University of Dundee in 1996, where he was later head of department and then dean.