Perception ("Scientific American" Library) [Paperback]

Irvin Rock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0716760118 | ISBN-13: 978-0716760115 | Publication Date: August 1995

Out of the ever-changing stimuli that is projected onto our retinas, how do we fashion coherent images of the world, perceiving constancy in the shape, shading, size and orientation of objects? This book provides a tour of the mysteries of visual perception, covering such topics as the intrigues of both correct and illusory perception, the cues that enable us to construct a three-dimensional world, the nature of our perception of works of art and our perception of motion.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rock gives human perception a thorough analysis in this 1984 title. Although written as a psychology text, this book is also of great value to artists and photographers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 243 pages
• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716760118
• ISBN-13: 978-0716760115
• Product Dimensions: 85 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,383 in Books (See Top 100 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 Many insights into sight , interpretation and comprehension, December 23, 2003

By 

Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perception ("Scientific American" Library) (Paperback)

This is a great work on something rarely considered - how do we perceive the physical world? When you think about it, the very act itself is incredible - almost magical. Cells that were sensitive to light developed, over eons, into the amazing organ we call the "eye". But how does the eye work, or perhaps more important, what are the mental and physical processes that allow us to view reality?

The first essay describes comprehension as a process, not a series of unrelated events. He compare comprehension to a melody which is not simply a series of single notes but a sum, a quality. Our consciousness involves much more that merely noting shape, color and size - it involves the way we associate those elements with the human experience.

The author discusses many aspects of sight itself - constancy, detecting motion, depth, color, patterns and organization. An excellent essay on art explains how we perceive a 3-D world from a 2-D image. Finally, a chapter on geometric illusion and the point that we perceive what we think we perceive and this may not always be reality.

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, October 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Perception ("Scientific American" Library) (Paperback)

How much do you know about what you perceive? This book helped answer a lot of my questions about this topic. A must read for people interested in Human Perception.