Optical Allusions [Paperback]

Jay Hosler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2008

OPTICAL ALLUSIONS is the cure for all those clamoring for a painstakingly researched, scientifically accurate, eye-themed comic book adventure. WRINKLES THE WONDER BRAIN has lost his bosses' eye and now he has to search all of human imagination for it. Along the way, he confronts biology head on and accidentally learns more about eyes and the evolution of vision than he thought possible. And, as if a compelling story with disembodied talking brains, shape-changing proteins and giant robot eyes wasn't enough, each tale is followed by a fully illustrated, in-depth exploration of the ideas introduced in the comic story. Following in the tradition of the author's first two books, Clan Apis and The Sandwalk Adventures, Optical Allusions uses humor and adventure to weave an unforgettable story about the wonders of seeing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JAY HOSLER is an Associate Professor of Biology at Juniata College and an award-winning cartoonist who writes and draws comic books about biology and natural history. His work has been called "ingenious" (The London Times), "goofily inventive" (The New York Times) and "entertaining and slyly educational," (The Comics Journal). He's a very silly person who lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two sons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: Active Synapse; 1 edition (March 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967725526
• ISBN-13: 978-0967725529
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Optical Allusions, May 20, 2008

By 

C. Watterson (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Optical Allusions (Paperback)

My 9 year old read it straight through. My 5 year old has had me read him a chapter every night a few times through, even though most of it has to go over his head. Lots to appeal to different educational levels than the one it was intended for. Good science, well presented, & highly entertaining.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange in a good way, entertaining, and highly effective., April 24, 2008

By 

Greg "Saganite" (Brooklyn Park, Mongolia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Optical Allusions (Paperback)

"Optical Allusions" is quirky and funny, with plenty of wicked, irreverent wit wed to a compelling, carefully presented case for the evolution of vision. The comic book style episodes used to illustrate natural and sexual selection, the biochemistry of sight, and the like, are punctuated by pages of straight text that, with patience and accessibility, fills in the scholarly blanks left open in the story. It's an ideal marriage of form and function, carbonated with absurd, edgy story-telling. I loved this book, and if I were a high school biology honors teacher, I would not hesitate to use it as a text. My only quibble is that there were a few typos I found distracting--"bosses" rather than the intended "boss's," for example. I expect to see that sort of thing in creationist writing, frankly, but when otherwise brilliant books like "Optical Allusions" and Prothero's stunning book, "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters" have careless mistakes in them, it bugs me--I suppose because I see any imperfection in the arguments for or presentation of evolutionary theory as possible grist for the forces of ignorance.