| View Larger Image | Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception (Illusion Works) | Paperbackby Al Seckel (Author)
| List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $16.47 | | You Save: | $8.48 (34%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Firefly Books | | Edition: | Reprintth Edition | | Page Count: | 312 Pages | | Publication Date: | January 01, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 6,691th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9781554071517
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Seeing is not always believing. Optical Illusions is an intriguing collection of baffling images and shapes that change before your eyes: hidden figures, incredible designs and dazzling graphic patterns. The book includes such well-known optical illusions as Shepard's Tabletop, Wade's Spiral, the Floating Finger illusion, Ames Room, and Rubin's Face/Vase illusion. There are more than 275 illusions in all, with explanations of each image and notes about the science of visual perception. Every type of optical illusion is here, among them: - Figure/ground illusions, in which one shape switches into another and back again - Ambiguous figures - Impossible objects - Trompe l'oeil - Stereo illusions. With illusions rendered in photography, artwork and computer imaging, and its huge variety of themes and effects, Optical Illusions dazzles both the mind and the eye. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 3 reviews)
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Fabulous book for children by L. McCormick  5 Stars
August 20, 2009
I provided this book to an 11 and 13 year old. They have looked at every page over and over again. Fascinated by the images.
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Illusions by boardmom (colorado) 5 Stars
May 15, 2008
This is a great book. Very fun for all in the family. Fast shipping.
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Nice book, very misleading title. by David H. Peterzell (San Diego, CA United States) 5 Stars
October 29, 2006
One of the most beautiful and wonderful books I own is Al Seckel's "Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusions" (2004). Unlike most other books on illusions, the book itself is a creative tour de force. And Seckel supplements his creation with visually striking and important media at his website. I think I've already given away as many as ten copies of that book to family and friends since its release.
Another of Seckel's books that I refer to frequently "Incredible Visual Illusions: You won't believe your eyes" (2003). That book has twenty chapters, each containing a different class of illusion. As a sensory scientist who teaches courses on sensation, perception and cognition, I find this book useful because it organizes a nice collection of illusions into meaningful categories that are relevant to me. In this work, as in Seckel's many others, the author acknowledges many renowned vision scientists. I imagine that the book's organization benefited from Seckel's association with these people.
Seckel's new book is "Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Illusions." This is a fine book, with 281 optical illusions (one per page). The book begins with a four page essay on illusions. This is followed 281 pages of illusions, each printed to fill one page. Many of the illusions have been published by Seckel and others previously. A few of the illusions are new. The illustration section is followed by 24 pages containing BRIEF explanations of each illusion. Each explanation is, on average, seven or eight sentences.
I have one major criticism of the new book. The title is highly misleading. The book title suggested to me a book that would delve into science, in a scholarly way, at least at the level of a Sensation and Perception undergraduate textbook. I was hoping for something of a sequel to Masters of Deception (e.g., "The Science of Deception"?). However, this book is not about the science of visual perception or of illusions. It is not even about "optical" illusions, as most illusions are explainable in terms of perceptual and cognitive processes beyond simple optics. Sure there are 24 pages of explanation at the very end of the book, but these are generally not deep, satisfying explanations. And there is no reference list that would allow the casual reader to track down important scientific articles.
One superb, beautiful resource on the science of visual illusions is Michael Bach's website, "Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena". Bach's dynamic site is visually striking, presenting some great illusions. The explanation of each illusion is accessible to the novice, but detailed enough to satisfy and impress other perceptual scientists. Bach generously acknowledges the artists and scientists associated with each illusion, providing scholarly references in each case. Bach lists and explains scientific controversies regarding many of the illusions. I should add that Bach is a first-rate sensory scientist from the University of Freiburg. His electophysiological and psychophysical research is highly-regarded, important, and of high quality. When I have spoken to him in the past (at conferences and at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco), I have always been impressed by his knowledge and intellectual passion. Bach and his website are the real deal.
There are plenty of other excellent scientific sources on illusions. Richard Gregory, for instance, has written and spoken about many illusions, and he is the prime mover, director, and creator of London's Explororey. Another great innovator and scientist is Christopher Tyler, a vision scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Among sensory scientists, Tyler is widely regarded as a genius and computational/theoretical wizard. He's the guy who invented the autostereogram (aka "The Magic Eye"), and who makes unique observations about art and symmetry. He contributed considerably to San Francisco's Exploratorium. He presents a variety of interesting things at his S-K website. The Exploratorium has a wonderful website on illusions and their explanations that is definitely worth a look. Project Lite and Viperlib are two other impressive, important sites related to the science of illusions.
Seckel mentions at his website that he has even more books on illusions that are coming soon. The one that got my attention is the following:
"Your Mind's Eye: A Comprehensive Scientific Examination of Visual and Sensory Illusions. Boston: The MIT Press." Seckel writes, "This will have a dual platform (Mac and PC CD Rom) featuring hundreds of interactive illusions, and very rigorous scientific explanations. University level." I hope that this book lives up to its billing. There's no doubt that Seckel's work, combined with a healthy dose of good science, would be an important contribution. I'd love to see Seckel promote scientists and their explanations with the same enthusiasm that he promotes their illusions. Moreover, I feel confident that Seckel has important insights into illusions, and that his ideas have scientific importance. I'm not sure that Seckel has succeeded in expressing these ideas... yet.
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| The Ultimate Book of Optical Illusions
by Al Seckel (Author)
Prepare to be amazed! Inside the covers of this incredible, colorful collection are hundreds of the world’s most powerful optical illusions. They’re beautiful to behold, and stunning in their trickery. Some of the mind-boggling images seem to spring into action, vibrating, pulsing, and spinning like a hula hoop. Other ambiguous illusions feature two subjects in one: the fun is in finding them both in the single picture—including a mouse playing hide and seek in a cat’s face and a...
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| Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion
by Al Seckel (Author), Douglas R. Hofstadter (Foreword)
Rings of seahorses that seem to rotate on the page. Butterflies that transform right before your eyes into two warriors with their horses. A mosaic portrait of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau made from seashells. These dazzling and often playful artistic creations manipulate perspective so cleverly that they simply outwit our brains: we can’t just take a quick glance and turn away. They compel us to look once, twice, and over and over again, as we try to figure out exactly how the delightful...
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| SuperVisions: Impossible Optical Illusions
by Al Seckel (Author)
They defy the rules of space, but captivate the mind. Most of these visions can't exist in the real world--only here, where artists play with perspective in the most remarkable ways. "An Impossible Staircase" goes up and down endlessly, with no highest or lowest step. How is that possible? And take a look at a very unique elephant: would it have trouble walking on its unusually-constructed legs? From the strangely three twisted rings in "Cosmic Wheels" to a meandering Celtic knit that you can...
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| Amazing Optical Illusions
by Illusionworks (Author)
A child's introduction to the world of optical illusions. Optical illusions are a window into how the brain perceives. Part of the fun is being fully aware that you're being tricked, fooled and misled. This collection of illusions will definitely do that! Amazing Optical Illusions features thirty of the most fascinating images guaranteed to dazzle the eye and trick the mind. It includes examples of every type of optical illusion: - Ground/field reversal images where one shape...
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| SuperVisions: Action Optical Illusions (Super Visions)
by Al Seckel (Author)
How can a flat page have pictures that actually seem to move? That's what these 90 action illusions--the largest such compilation ever assembled--succeed in doing. Through the magic of visual effects, including the careful use of color and brightness, static images become animated and solid shapes deform right before your eyes. Some of the illusions appear to hover in the air; others produce afterimages of bright color or produce a sensation of swirling. In a number of cases, it's necessary to...
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