The Architecture of Life: Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

The Architecture of Life - Christopher K. Travis

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

I am really excited about a new book that is coming out next Spring. It's called Snoop - What Your Stuff Says About You and it's written by Sam Gosling, Ph.D, a University of Texas at Austin behavioral psychologist whose an internationally-known expert on personality.

Sam's been profiled by the New York Times and Psychology Today. He was featured in Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling book, Blink.

Amazon.com says Sam is “...one of the field's most ingenious researchers" and continues "What he has
discovered is astonishing: When it comes to the most essential components of our personalities... the things we own and the way we arrange them often say more about us than our most intimate conversations.”

Sam's got a good sense of humor, and calls his research approach "snooping". The book encourages its readers to become "snoopologists".

Because we share a passionate interest in what our personal environments tell us about personality, behavior and values, Sam and I ran into each other over a year ago while I was out looking for psychometricians for my Internet start-up.

Sam's a brilliant guy with a strong background in researching animal personality who decided a few years back to study how the living and working spaces humans inhabit might offer clues to the personalities of their inhabitants.

Sam Gosling's work is exciting in itself, but what really has me cranked up is that the last chapter of his new book is mostly about the Truehome process I use in our architecture firm to develop designs for homes that fit the unique emotional needs and personalities of our clients.

That's the same process we are taking to the Internet at Truehome.net.

I shared the original workshop I had used for years in my firm with him quite a while back, and surprise! He drove down to the tiny town where I live a while back, interviewed me and some of my clients who have used my process, and next thing you know, the last chapter of Snoop is all about what I'm doing.

Man, is my head getting big! Sam is the third major academic to decide our work has scientific credibility - and since his research specialty focuses directly on my ideas - that is quite a feather in my cap.

Subsequently Sam even decided he was comfortable endorsing our project. Here's what he had to say.

“I have been particularly impressed by how Truehome was built with a sophisticated psychological theory at its core to create a set of exercises that are engaging and intuitive without sacrificing rigor or depth.

“I believe that Truehome, more so than any conventional design process, will help clients create spaces that match their personalities, ultimately resulting in happier, healthier lives."

Snoop can be pre-ordered now on Amazon. I've reviewed part of the book and it's great. Sam's breakthrough ideas are exciting enough, but the guy is also quite funny.

It's written for a lay audience and not overly technical so it will be fun for any level reader. Check it out. You won't be sorry. My guess is it will be a best-seller.

I hope so. I just love attention!

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