More Optical Illusions (Illusion Works) [Paperback]

Al Seckel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Illusion Works | Publication Date: October 28, 2002

This second volume of mind-boggling designs combines 160 of the most beautiful, engaging and bewildering optical illusions from the much loved ground/field reversal images to Escherist impossible crates and eternal spirals.

Editorial Reviews

Review

More Optical Illusions" is very good. I mean very, very good. And so many new illusions... -- Dr. Christof Koch, Executive Officer of Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology

About the Author

Al Seckel, formerly of the California Institute of Technology, is a leading authority on visual and other types of sensory illusions. His earlier work, "The Great Book of Optical Illusions" garnered rave reviews, and sold nearly 100,000 copies. He is the author of over 15 books on this subject, and has lectured extensively at many of the world's most prestigious universities. He also designs interactive galleries on illusions and perception for science museums across the country and around the world. Seckel writes an illusion column for "National Geographic Kids" magazine.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842224875
• ISBN-13: 978-1842224878
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #963,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More Optical Illusions, December 17, 2003

By 

Brad Larson (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More Optical Illusions (Illusion Works) (Paperback)

I purchased this book from Amazon.com as a set, paired with "the Great Book of Optical Illusions" by the same author. "More Optical Illusions" is simply the last 4 chapters of "the Great Book of Optical Illusions"!! Why on earth does Amazon sell these as a set, giving the impression that the "More" book is a collection of different illusions than the first book???
If you buy these 2 as a set, you are simply paying extra for another copy of the last half of "Great Book...".
What a rip...

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Rip Off, November 13, 2005

By 

E. Max (Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More Optical Illusions (Illusion Works) (Paperback)

I bought this book along with The Great Book of Optical Illusions by the same author. The "Great Book" was suggested by Amazon as pair for "More," and indeed if you look on Amazon's page for "More Optical Illusions" you find that many people bought both books. However, "More" is just the last half of the "Great Book" so if you buy the "Great Book" you don't get any more with "More." This is especially galling in view of the text by author Al Seckel, who writes in BOTH books: "Many books on optical illusions reprint the same examples over and over again, but this is not the case [in this book]." Amazon's book pages and suggested pairings may be generated by a computer, but this is one case where Amazon should insert a human's touch to make sure its customers understand before purchasing "More" that it is simply a partial version of "Great."

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Seckel Tandem, the King & Queen of Illusions, July 14, 2003

By 

rmac1117 "Ramsay MacInnes" (Cherry Valley, Ma United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: More Optical Illusions (Illusion Works) (Paperback)

The 2 Seckel optical illusion collections (this volume + "Art of...") are the best collaborations I've ever seen on the subject. Not limited by or to the trite everyday old-time "dot-outside-box" stuff relegated to kids, these 2 volumes sample every category in optical-illusion science, including perspective, color, a whole host of 3D/1D impossible objects (including our old friend, the "3-pronged blivet" of 1964), modern/surreal artwork/photography, and op-art psychedelia as well as illusions which are actually experiments that test our other senses. Many you still don't believe even after proof!

I especially had interest in the "face" category, which includes faces hidden within plants and scenery; upside-down faces within right-side-up faces; the mirror-image bilateral split of Hillary Clinton's face; and what I call the "Eyes (& Mouths) of the Beholder" heads (Thatcher & Frakes) in which faces of famous people can be presented upside-down, while only some of their facial features left upright. Photo-cropping software can reproduce such effects. These last 2 ideas could start national fads if the results weren't so unnerving...

The illusions are beautifully presented on each glossed page with enough white-space for breathing room, while not too much to be considered a waste of page area. The paperback books are strongly bound, so pages wouldn't easily become dislodged. Most of the entries have explanatory notes set up as "footnotes" at the end of each "gallery" section (I would have to dock 1/2 star because several of the illusions I questioned were left without explanations).

Get one of the volumes, get both; they complement each other (but the 3rd, larger book, "Great Book of..." appears to be a rehash of the material in both of these).