Incredible Visual Illusions [Paperback]

Al Seckel (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chartwell Books (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785820566
• ISBN-13: 978-0785820567
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,012,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a visual feast, June 28, 2005

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Incredible Visual Illusions (You won't believe your eyes!) (Paperback)

I'm not sure I'm reviewing exactly the right book here by Dr. Seckel, but it was the only current one that came up on my Amazon book search, so I thought I'd post the review here. Anyway, if it's the book I have, here are my comments, but I just wanted to mention that in case there's some confusion on my part (not unlikely given the state of my aging brain these days :-)).

This book is truly a visual feast for the eyes, a fun book just to browse and look at or to learn about visual illusions. At over 200 pages, the author presents many illusions, which are divided up into different categories. I notice there are some new illusions that have been discovered, and the drawings for others have been improved on and refined even further since I last looked at a book on the subject probably 20 years ago. The illusions by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a name new to me and a Japanese op artist and visual researcher, are especially noteworthy here. He has designed and improved many powerful versions of old illusions and has created one or two new ones himself, which is very impressive.

Each chapter presents the plates showing each illusion, and at the back of the chapter in finer print there are brief, paraphraph long explanations of each illusion. The author also provides a brief, usually one-page long introduction to each chapter. The author is is a well known expert on visual and optical illusions who is a professor at Caltech or MIT, can't recall which at this point, but anyway, he's apparently very well known although I hadn't heard of him. But I was studying illusions 20 years ago, so he probably came along since.

By the way, the theory about how each optical illusion works can be very simple, or very complex, sometimes requiring advanced neurophysiology and even mathematics and calculus to understand, so there's great variation in terms of the range of difficulty and complexity. For example, some of the movement illusions are thought to be due to inhibition between orientation sensitive cells in the neural cortical columns in the cerebral cortex. Other movement illusions, such as the moving pendulum illusion known as the Pulfrich illusion, are due to differing propagation times or time latencies between two different neural pathways, and the field distortion illusions can require advanced math just to describe.

Anyway, that's as nerdy as I'm going to get in this review, and for now I'll just say it's a truly fascinating field, and I was fortunate enough to take a class in perceptual psychology in college with a terrific instructor, Dr. Eskildsen, who gave great lectures on the subject. (I had to give a plug for my old professor here, since he gave me an "A" in his class and he was a great prof. and it was a very enjoyable class).

But getting back to the present volume, this is a very enjoyable book on truly fascinating subject. After reading the explanations in this book, you could pick up a more technical book on perceptual psychology and get more background in the subject if you wanted. There are a number of these around by well known professors and researchers covering the field of perceptual psychology and psychophysics, of which the theory of visual illusions is an important topic. I've noticed there are also some webpages devoted to different optical and visual illusions, and if you do a search on the subject, you can even find more information there. Whatever you decide to do, happing illusioning and good luck with your reading, and may all your visions in life be as pleasant as this book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent companion to J Richard Block's Can You Believe Your Eyes!, March 20, 2006

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Incredible Visual Illusions (You won't believe your eyes!) (Paperback)

Visual illusions have always fascinated me.

This coffee table size book contains close to 300 different visual illusions. I believe it is the most comprehensive & amazing collection of visual illusions ever assembled. This collection has been created by Al Seckel, a cognitive vision scientist of the CALTECH.

The best learning experiences I got out of visual illusions are a greater understanding - & appreciation - of how the brain really works & its innate abilities.

I often use many of the visual illusions to demonstrate the principal operating principles of the brain, particularly the salient aspects of selective recognition and patterning. I have also found that some of them have been very useful in demonstrating cognitive traps & pattern interrupts, especially in the context of personal creativity.

Although the visual illusions are fun to play with, I find them very educational, just as what I have elaborated.

I reckon this stunning collection can serve as an excellent companion to J Richard Block's 'Can You Believe Your Eyes', which is unfortunately printed in Black & White.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is an "Optical Illusion" in itself !, December 5, 2010

By 

J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Incredible Visual Illusions (You won't believe your eyes!) (Paperback)

When I came across this book;I as elated as I thought,"Oh,Boy,a new book of Optical Illusions by Al Seckel.
When I got home I checked my library and found I already had it,but it didn't have the same cover.My copy is identical in every way,same chapters,every page the same and also 256 pages.It was published in 2007,but on the cover is "Visions of Don Quixote" from page 159; the "Rubik's Cube" from page 72;"Kitaoka's Spinning Wheel Illusion" from page 107; and "The Ames Room from page 250.
It may not be an Optical Illusion;but certainly proves the old adage;

"You can't tell a book by it's cover."

BUYER BEWARE!!