The Art of Optical Illusions

Covers a tremendous variety of effects, and the over 150 different illusions are so powerful and delightful, that the book should keep you, your family, and friends delighted for hours and hours.

The author, Al Seckel , July 8, 2000

This is the best collection of illusions ever published.

Almost all published books reprint the same classic illusions over and over again, and most of the time without any real or proper scientific explanations.

This is not the case with Optical Illusions, which is now the best collection of visual and other types of sensory illusions ever assembled in book form. The majority of illusions in Optical Illusions have not appeared before. Many of the effects are new, since they come from very recent discoveries in vision science. Of course, the old classic illusions are also represented, but even here, their effects have been greatly augmented.

There is a tremendous variety of effects covered, and the over 150 different illusions are so powerful and delightful, that the book should keep you, your family, and friends delighted for hours and hours. Many of the illusions contained in this book will repeatedly fool your perceptions even though you definitely know that you are being tricked!

Although the book is in a popular format and accessible to all ages, the book is greatly augmented by having brief and up-to-date scientific explanations for each effect. The book can also serve as a stepping stone to some great student projects at any level: from elementary school to graduate school!

Vision science is one of the most exciting areas in current scientific research, and the study of illusions is one that brings great joy. I hope that this book will bring both surprise and delight to both young and old alike, as well as stimulating some thought about the most marvelous mystery in the universe, the human brain.

Al Seckel Division of Computational and Neuronal Systems California Institute of Technology

Books on Optical Illusions at Amazon.com

• Dali's Optical Illusions by Salvador Dali, Dawn Ades (Editor), Wadsworth Atheneum, Antonio Pinchot (Contributor), Eric Zafran (Contributor)
• Even Odder Perceptions by Richard L. Gregory
• Visual Illusions : Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications by Matthew Luckiesh
• Visual Illusions Coloring Book by Spyros Horemis
• Optical Designs in Motion : With MoirE Overlays by Carol Belanger. Grafton
• Triad Optical Illusions and How to Design Them by Harry Turner
• Optical Illusions Coloring Book by Koichi Sato
• Psychology of Visual Illusion by J. O. Robinson
• Now You See It, Now You Don't : The Amazing World of Optical Illusions by Seymour Simon, Constance Ftera (Illustrator)
• Eye and Brain by Richard L. Gregory
• Mind Sights: Original Visual Illusions, Ambiguities, and Other Anomalies, With a Commentary on the Play of Mind in Perception and Art by Roger N. Shepard
• The Science of Illusions Jacques Ninio, Franklin Philip (Translator)
• The Moon Illusion by Maurice Hershenson (Editor)
• Impossible Objects : Amazing Optical Illusions to Confound & Astound by J. Timothy Unruh
• Optical Illusions in Art : Discover How Paintings Aren't Always What They Seem to Be Art for Young People Series) by Alexander Sturgis
• Little Giant Book of Optical Illusions by Keith Kay
• Simple Optical Illusion Experiments With Everyday Materials by Frances Zweifel (Illustrator), Michael Anthony DiSpezio
• The World's Best Optical Illusions by Karl Heinz. Paraquin, Charles H. Paraquin, Paul Kuttner (Translator)
• How to Make Optical Illusion : Tricks and Toys by Richard Churchill, James Michaels (Illustrator), E. Richard Churchill
• Paradox Box : Optical Illusions, Puzzling Pictures, Verbal Diversions (Editor), Jonathan Miller
• Fantastic Optical Illusions & Puzzles by Lagoon Books (Editor)

See also: Illusions