Mind sights: Original visual illusions, ambiguities, and other anomalies, with a commentary on the play of mind in perception and art

by Roger N. Shepard

In "Mind Sights", Roger N. Shepard introduces us to his drawings of visual tricks, discusses the origins of his scientific and artistic work, and shares his reflections on the nature of art, perception, and the mind.

Genres: Art, Psychology

Hardcover

First published July 19, 1990

Reviews

[Anne Earney]

This book contains two distinct parts. The first is a collection of illusions drawn by the author, illustrating several different types, with explanations of how they work. The second half of the book looks at how vision works and what makes illusions in particular (and two demensional art in general) possible, given how reliable our visual representation of the world is under normal conditions. This discussion covers biological and evolutionary topics, but I wish it had gone more into the actual psychology of why and how we find illusions so enthralling and exciting. He also touches on another topic I find fascinating, the states of mind that spontaneously generate repeating geometric patterns (which aren't easily seen in the natural world), such as dreaming and psychedelic drug use. I'd like to learn more about the why and how behind that phenomenon. Why would such an ability have evolved and survived?

[Suzanne]

I SO like the visual trickery! Hardly did any of the reading because the puzzles were the most fun.