Coming Soon: April 2027
Heather Mattera’s stunning aerial photographs of Iceland lie at the intersection of beauty, environment, and mental well-being. Seen from above, Iceland’s brilliantly coloured, braided rivers, glaciers, and volcanic plains become spell-binding lyrical abstractions that evoke a deep sense of awe in the viewer. Mattera’s extraordinary images offer a brief reprieve, a quiet pause: a daily dose of awe. Drawing on research in psychology and neuroscience, Mattera uses photography to show how experiencing awe can regulate the nervous system, soften the effects of trauma, and restore our capacity to care, both for ourselves and for the Earth. In an age defined by urgency and noise, The Geography of Awe offers something increasingly rare: immersion in a landscape spacious enough for awe, and stillness large enough to let us catch our breath and heal.
Heather Mattera is a photographer and trained clinical therapist whose counseling work has shaped her understanding of how experience alters our sense of self and belonging. The Geography of Awe is her first book.
Gretel Ehrlich is one of the most admired observers of the natural world and the author of eleven works of nonfiction, including The Solace of Open Spaces and This Cold Heaven.
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson is an acclaimed Icelandic geophysicist, author, mountaineer, and explorer, as well as a former member of the Icelandic Parliament. He has written more than 50 books on Icelandic nature, geology, and volcanology.
Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic author, poet, filmmaker, and environmentalist who has produced a diverse body of work in many genres, including poetry, nonfiction, children’s books, and science fiction. He is a winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize, the 2016 Grand Prix l’imaginaire and the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award Special Citation of Excellence.
Susan Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.