How to Use Your Eyes (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "This is a diagram of the first postage stamp, the "Penny Black, " showing the young queen..." (more)
Key Phrases: central symmetry system, craquelure pattern, bellcrank lever, Penny Black, Milky Way, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

How does one read an X-ray? What do the markings on a butterfly's wings mean? Why do the colors in a sunset always come in a certain order? Elkins (What Painting Is) answers these and other questions in this engaging guide to little-noticed and little-understood elements of the natural and technological worlds. "It's about stopping and taking the time to simply look," explains Elkins. If you learn to look at things in the right way, Elkins believes, the world around you "will gather before your eyes and become thick with meaning." Much of his book focuses on such "universally unnoticed" objects as twigs and stamps; in one chapter he demonstrates how to identify trees in winter by the leaf scars on their twigs, while in another he shows how stamp artistry reveals crucial details about the time and place of its use. Elkins also probes more esoteric subjects such as mandalas and Chinese characters (which are vastly more complicated than popularly thought in the West). This variety of topic seems intended to catch a wide array of reader interests, but it eventually feels like a thin pretext for discussing wildly dissimilar material. Still, most of the topics are interestingDespecially the chapter on "ice halos" (magical rainbow-like rings that form around the sun during the winter)Dand Elkins proves himself an enthusiastic, fun guide. With dozens of full-color photographs, this is a great book for the coffee table. (Nov)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American

Elkins, associate professor of art history, theory and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, says that our eyes are too good for us, taking in so many things that we tend to focus only on what is important at the moment. "What happens if we stop and take the time to look more carefully? Then the world unfolds like a flower, full of colors and shapes that we had never suspected." Whereupon he takes close looks at 31 things and at "nothing." (Looking at nothing, he observes, turns out to be quite hard to do: "Our eyes will not stop seeing, even when they have to invent the world from nothing.") Among the 31 things are an old painting (not for its picture but for its craquelure, which reveals much about the history of the painting), an x-ray, the periodic table and a sunset. The result is a book that is visually stunning and mentally stimulating.

Editors of Scientific American

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415922542
• ISBN-13: 978-0415922548
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #787,032 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting book, but not what the title implies..., June 9, 2001

By	Steven M. Rayle "Srayle" (Tucson) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I eagerly looked forward to this book after reading a review in the local paper. However, the title is very misleading. Although it is well done for what it is, it is not a book (right brain) about how to see, but rather is a (left brain) book about the rather interesting details of the object that you are seeing ...like what automobile forces have created the irregularities in pavement, or what the anatomy is behind a chest x-ray, or the geologic history of grains of sand... interesting, but not really a book about the process of seeing, and how to actually see objects. You may actually enjoy this book if you are interested in unusual facts and details about the world, but its not a book about the process of awakening your awareness...

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An etertaining user's guide to seeing, January 23, 2001

By	Jeff Abell (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

James Elkins has written a number of engaging books, and is an excellent example of a scholar who can be appreciated by the layman. His last book, "The Object Stares Back," was dark and provocative, an unsettling exploration of how we look at images. His new book is as uplifting as the previous was distressful. The book is divided into 2 sections, the first focused on man-made objects, the second to 'natural" phenomena. In part one, Elkins dissects such diverse things as cracks in old master paintings, or culverts, or special effects, and how to discover how they're made by simple observation. The section on nature includes some terrific information on sunsets, twigs, and the night sky. Never bossy or high-fallutin' in tone, Elkins conveys a sense of the wonder of vision, and the remarkable balance of simplicity and complexity in the world. There's an old quote about seeing the universe in a grain of sand; James Elkins can tell you how you, too, can look at sand and learn something about the universe in the process.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I OFTEN REREAD THIS, December 22, 2004

By	William Meisel (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...particularly the chapter "How to Look at Oil Painings". The chapter is about looking at the crack pattern on the back of an oil painting and how you can tell a lot of information about the type of painting, and when it was painted, just from that crack pattern. Lots of the other chapters are excellent as well, but this one tickles me each time I reread it. I would recommend a prospective buyer pick up a copy at a bookstore, and read a chapter at random. If you like that chapter, chances are you will be delighted with the entire book.

P.S. Another book worth looking for that approaches this topic from a different viewpoint is THE AWAKENED EYE by Ross Parmenter.