Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception (Illusion Works)

I am a voracious reader and my interests are wide and varied. I must say that this book (Optical Illusions: The science of visual perception by Al. Seckel) is one of the most entertaining and informative books I have had the pleasure of reading lately. This huge softcover beautifully illustrated text has more than 275 fantastic illusions. I knew about illusions from my psychology courses in the past, but I never realized the extent of numerous images which can trick our eyes. In this respect, what you see may or may not be accurate. Indeed, it seems after reading this book that your eyes can trick you. After reading and studying this book I understand more clearly why “eye witnesses” do not always accurately relate what they claimed to see. The preface explains how we love to be fooled by viewing things that fool our eyes. “Your mind’s eye” gives the reason why what we see is not always accurate and the fact we are not always in control of what we are seeing. The largest section in this book shows hundreds of illusions. The “what’s going on?” section explains the various things we are seeing in the illusions. There is also a further reading section and an illusion category index. This is really a fun book to read. If you are interested in the psychology of visual perception you will love this book. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never Trust a Politian: A critical review of politics and politicians).

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.

Very interesting with many family members liking this book, The illustrations, artistic variety, and concepts were well presented. A good choice.

This is by far the best optical illusions book I've ever seen. First off, it's MASSIVE, and virtually every page has a full-page image. A lot of books like this take so much time explaining and are very wordy. Not this one! Beautiful pictures, excellent variety of images, and you can never get bored with this book...Great for adults and kids of all ages. HIGHLY RECOMMEND IF YOU HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR OPTICAL ILLUSIONS BOOKS IN PARTICULAR.

A great book chock full of optical illusions. Not hugely in depth about the science of illusions, but a great page turner. Each page has a full size, beautifully printed, color illusion. Like other reviewers, I was pleased and surprised about the size and quantity of illusions in the book. I was also pleased with the quality and construction. It's a book you will want to return to over and over. If buying for children, I have found that ages 7 and up have really taken a liking to this book.

You will return to this book again and again. It makes a great gift. I cannot wait to show it to visitors. Just be prepared to resist their pleas to be allowed to borrow it just for a day or two. The contents are entertaining and educational. Great book sober or stoned.

I wanted a book that went in depth into the science of how we perceive visual illusions. The book is cool with lots of pictures, but it’s incredibly light on the science.

I am amazed at the wonderful mind-bending illusions people have been able to develop. This book was a page turner. I will go back to it again and again.