More Optical Illusions (Illusion Works) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Al Seckel (Author) "More optical illusions is a companion volume to [The Art of] Optical Illusions, which was published by Carlton Books in 2000..." (more)
Key Phrases: tilt induction effect, blind spot illusion, color assimilation, Sandro Del Prete, Shigeo Fukuda, Jules Verne (more...)

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

Product Description
Following on the popular success of Al Seckel’s first book of Optical Illusions, awarded the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults 2001 (non-fiction category), this second volume More Optical Illusions offers 160 more bewildering images, the majority of which have never been published.

Static images that flash and scintillate, color and brightness illusions, impossible figures and objects, and geometric and subjective motion illusions among many others, offer fascinating insights into one of science’s greatest mysteries – how we think and perceive. Many of the images come from recent discoveries in vision science and contemporary artwork.

Brief and up-to-date scientific explanations accompany each effect describing how our minds can misinterpret visual indicators, how pictures change depending on context, and how receptors in the retina can give our brain conflicting information.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books LTD.; illustrated edition edition (April 25, 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
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,002,511 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More Optical Illusions, December 18, 2003

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

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...

7 of 7 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)

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

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).