A Natural History of Seeing: The Art and Science of Vision (Hardcover)

by Simon Ings (Author)
Key Phrases: visually endowed, adaptable eye, lens cylinders, George Wald, Royal Society, Hermann von Helmholtz (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Ings avoids a conventional approach to his subject, the sense of sight, opting instead for an eclectic presentation. Although he brings in the people who discovered the anatomy, chemistry, genetics, and psychology of human vision, Ings integrates them into a narrative directed more by his own thoughts about the eye, whether prompted by watching his infant daughter’s way of watching things or by musing on the play of light outside his window. This personal train of thought, however, is robustly reinforced by Ings’ engagement with research on vision from ancient times to the present; curiosity and a willingness to challenge whether experts have got it right are the attractive qualities of his book. Packed with illustrations, it unpacks the apparent continuous quality of human vision by exploring the actual discontinuity of the sense, from the blind spot to the saccade, a term for the eye’s twitchy reassembly many times per second of its field of view. Diving into evolution, too, Ings’ excitement about sight will entice science buffs. --Gilbert Taylor

Product Description

The science, history, philosophy, and mythology of how and why we see the way we do. We spend about one-tenth of our waking hours completely blind. Only one percent of what we see is in focus at any one time. There is no direct fossil evidence for the evolution of the eye. In graceful, accessible prose, novelist and science writer Simon Ings sets out to solve these and other mysteries of seeing.

A Natural History of Seeing delves into both the evolution of sight and the evolution of our understanding of sight. It gives us the natural science—the physics of light and the biology of animals and humans alike—while also addressing Leonardo's theories of perception in painting and Homer's confused and strangely limited sense of color. Panoramic in every sense, it reaches back to the first seers (and to ancient beliefs that vision is the product of mysterious optic rays) and forward to the promise of modern experiments in making robots that see.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1 edition (October 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039306719X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393067194
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,542 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An addictive and entertaining education on vision, December 26, 2008

By	J. J. SELL (MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a biology student, I read a lot of science books. While not quite as technical as some, this book is delightfully entertaining, informative, and addicting. I couldn't put it down.

It's well-written, clear and easy reading for a non-scientist, and yet still intriguing for the more science-minded. Technical discussions of the mechanisms, evolution, and development of vision are well-explained. Entertaining optical illusions are presented, along with underlying theory. There are also many fascinating factoids about the vision of many different species of animals.

I'm confused by the earlier reviewer's complaint that notes permeated the text. In my copy (first American edition) the notes are, in fact, lumped into an appendix in the back. They certainly don't clutter the reading.

It has been a while since I was so enamored with a science book, and I highly recommend this to anyone remotely interested in the subject of vision.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye loved it!, January 19, 2009

By	Dave English (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An enjoyable readable romp around the subject of eyes and vision. It's a serious science book (fully referenced) that reads like a fun article. The passion and the excitement the author has for his subject is clear, which means we get to effortlessly learn about this fascinating subject as we bounce around from insect eyes to octopus eyes to color perception and the Mars Pathfinder. The `natural' in the title correctly foreshadows the ecological and biological slant (not much for computational or constructionist fans here), and the `history' part is also covered in a depth not seen in textbooks (that must cover what is known not how we got here).

Highly recommended for general readers interested in how they (and the rest of the world) get to see letters on pages, as well as for graduate psychology students like me looking to broaden/deepen their sensation/perception knowledge.

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A poorly focused book on the eye, December 14, 2008

By	James S. Kelley "bogwood" (BALTIMORE, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Distraction 1/5,instruction 3/5,inspiration 1/5. The author could not discard any of his 3X5 cards. The names,dates,references imbedded in the text make for slow reading. Another example of the nonfiction book as a flawed model,most could be ten page articles. There are some good illustrations(ectopic eyes on the knees of flies) and some interesting observations(human babies responding to light in the womb). Perhaps the hundreds of short biographical notes could be added in an appendix. The reader has to work hard to find the "intriguing nuggets" promised on the cover. Two chapters discuss color-vision, a difficult topic, with only partial success. The genetics seems clear,the chemistry fairly well-defined,the physiology less accessible.