Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception - Hardcover

Seckel, Al

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554071720 ISBN 13: 9781554071722

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2009

Synopsis

This intriguing collection contains more than 275 optical illusions that appear to change before your eyes. Al Seckel carefully selected both well-known images, such as Shepard's tabletop, Wade's spiral, Ames room and Rubin's face/vase, and many lesser-known, but no less effective, illusions.

Every type of optical illusion is here, along with notes about the science of each visual perception and how the illusions work. Among the baffling images and shapes are:

Figure/ground illusions, in which one shape switches into another then back again

Ambiguous figures

Impossible objects

Trompe l'oeil

Stereo illusions.

With illusions rendered in photography, artwork and computer imaging, and a huge variety of themes and effects, Optical Illusions dazzles both the mind and the eye.

About this title

About the Author

Formerly at the California Institute of Technology, Al Seckel is a leading authority on visual and other types of sensory illusions. He is the author of 15 books on this subject, including the classic The Great Book of Optical Illusions. He is also well-known for his illusion column in National Geographic Kids magazine.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

Part of the fun of this book will involve being tricked, fooled, and misled. Being fooled has nothing to do with how smart you are, how cultured you are, how artistic you are or how old. You will be tricked. In fact, many of the illusions are so powerful you will doubt the written description. Others are so convincing, you will not know what the illusion is until you read the caption.

This volume is by far the most comprehensive collection of illusions ever published. A good number come from recent work in vision and perception laboratories and others come from a variety of modern artists who have deliberately incorporated an illusion into a drawing, photograph, or sculpture. There are also quite a few illusions that have been created specially for this book. I have tried to provide a variety of different perceptual experiences. Many of the illusions in this book appear here for the first time in print. Of course, you will find the familiar classics here too.

The chapter "Your Mind's Eye" puts the illusions into a framework of modern understanding. At the back of the book you will find a chapter "What's Going On?" that provides brief scientific explanations of our best guesses for why these effects occur and how they are consistent with the processes that mediate normal perception. There is also a glossary of technical terms that are used throughout the text, a category index so you can compare similar examples of the same type of illusion as well as suggestions for further reading.

Edition details

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1554071720
• ISBN 13: 9781554071722
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 312