Yi-Fi Tuan (1930–2022) was one of the world's most influential and decorated scholars who transformed the study and understanding of place through his thirty seminal books in humanistic geography and environmental perception. Among his most notable books was Place, Art, and Self, a small, beautifully illustrated volume first published in 2004 in which Yi-Fu, as he was affectionately known, addressed the questions: "What do place, art, and self have in common? To what extent do place and art define who we are?"

Through memoir and one-of-a-kind insights gained from a lifetime of reading, writing, teaching, and study, Yi-Fu explored how art, in its myriad forms, and an attachment to home and place interact in shaping, defining, and expanding the self—who we are. He explored how a painting, photograph, poem, novel, motion picture, dance, and piece of music kindle a sense of place and how place and art nurture our identity, our soul, our raison d'être.

Place, Art, and Self was one of Yi-Fu's favorite books, and it quickly achieved a kind of cult-like status among its many diverse readers. Thankfully, late in life he agreed to have "a second look" at what he wrote and conveyed in 2004. And so what you now hold in your hands is another gift: Yi-Fu's updated take on how and why the arts are emblematic and revelatory of the self and our place in the world. Integrated throughout this new edition are 32 amazing artworks by contemporary visual artists of places throughout the world, each complementary of Yi-Fu's text with their respective message.