false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171234475m/91749.jpg 91749 3 <div><b>Astonishing creations by masters of the art, such as Escher, Dali, and Archimbolo; amazing visual trickery; and an illuminating foreword by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author Douglas R. Hofstadter make this 320-page, breathtaking collection the definitive book of optical illusions.</b> <br><br>Rings of seahorses that seem to rotate on the page. Butterflies that transform right before your eyes into two warriors with their horses. A mosaic portrait of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau made from seashells. These dazzling and often playful artistic creations manipulate perspective so cleverly that they simply outwit our brains: we can&#8217;t just take a quick glance and turn away. They compel us to look once, twice, and over and over again, as we try to figure out exactly how the delightful trickery manages to fool our perceptions so completely. Of course, first and foremost, every piece is beautiful on the surface, but each one offers us so much more. Some, including Sandro del Prete&#8217;s charming &#8220;Window Gazing,&#8221; construct illusionary worlds where normal conceptions of up, down, forward, and back simply have no meaning anymore. Others, such as Jos De Mey&#8217;s sly &#8220;Ceci n&#8217;est pas un Magritte,&#8221; create visual puns on earlier work. From Escher&#8217;s famous and elaborate &#8220;Waterfall&#8221; to Shigeo Fukuda&#8217;s &#8220;Mary Poppins,&#8221; where a heap of bottles, glasses, shakers, and openers somehow turn into the image of a Belle Epoque woman when the spotlight hits them, these works of genius will provide endless enjoyment and food for thought.<br></div> 88515 2002 Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion total:54|5:33|4:14|3:5|2:2|1:0| 54 240 90 7 5 0 false false Fri Jan 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 10 20:56:03 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 11 09:54:35 -0800 2009
(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

This book is a delightful treat to anyone who loves optical illusion.

Here's a quote from the author, Al Seckel, in the introduction:

In researching and presenting optical illusions to wide audiences, I have found that thei...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 14:07:20 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 14:07:20 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Wed Aug 03 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Aug 02 12:46:04 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 12:47:20 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 08:30:36 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 08:40:37 -0700 2008
For students of the Renaissance or Rosicrucian history, the section on Giuseppe Arcimboldo makes this book worth a look.
]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Dec 11 06:43:21 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 11 06:45:01 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Fri Nov 09 16:40:12 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 09 16:42:15 -0800 2007 Illusions and working with strange materials to create images/eg, through shadows.]]> 5 0 false false Wed Sep 05 17:45:56 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 17:46:19 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 10:03:41 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 10:03:41 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 15 04:29:30 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 04:29:30 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Oct 14 20:35:34 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 20:35:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 05 15:36:57 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 15:36:57 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri Oct 02 09:53:37 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 09:53:37 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 27 18:55:42 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 18:55:42 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Sep 24 11:29:45 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 11:29:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 24 01:57:46 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 01:57:46 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 21 21:16:38 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 21:16:38 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 17 21:13:24 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 21:13:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 17 19:02:28 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 19:02:28 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 20 12:53:43 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 12:53:43 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 17 10:42:33 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 12 12:29:43 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=91749