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Optical Illusions: An Eye-Popping Extravaganza of Visual Tricks
"This is a very entertaining collection of optical illusions, full of pictures that will leave you scratching your head as you try to figure out how they've fooled you. There are loads of them, and it's the best optical illusion book I've come across." — Bertass Reviews Anything/World of Children's Books
An image on a page appears to vibrate, a face gradually disappears, and a puzzling cat makes an appearance in this feast of fascinating optical tricks. Children and adults can discover the fascinating intersection of art, science, and magic in a series of geometric illusions, delusions, distortion effects, and other impossible images.
Designed and drawn by a famous puzzle maker, the book is intended to perplex readers, to excite their sense of wonder, and to encourage them to question the nature of reality. The optical illusions, which combine visual interest with elements of psychology and recreational logic, include many original illusions as well as new adaptations of lesser-known visual tricks. Each of the images is accompanied by a simple commentary that explains how it works.
An image on a page appears to vibrate, a face gradually disappears, and a puzzling cat makes an appearance in this feast of fascinating optical tricks. Children and adults can discover the fascinating intersection of art, science, and magic in a series of geometric illusions, delusions, distortion effects, and other impossible images.
Designed and drawn by a famous puzzle maker, the book is intended to perplex readers, to excite their sense of wonder, and to encourage them to question the nature of reality. The optical illusions, which combine visual interest with elements of psychology and recreational logic, include many original illusions as well as new adaptations of lesser-known visual tricks. Each of the images is accompanied by a simple commentary that explains how it works.
- GenresNonfiction
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Gianni A. Sarcone
59 books6 followersMy name is Gianni A. Sarcone. I am a prolific author and visual artist keen about communication. Many international galleries, publishers and agencies have appreciated, used and enjoyed my work to capture the attention and entertain people all around the world. I love to integrate my work with different disciplines and to apply it to all the aspects of our everyday life. I have written many books in several languages on visual thinking, art education, and on the mechanism of vision. What drives me more than anything else is the desire to show and share the wonder and the magic of the world we live in.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 3, 2020
This is a book of optical illusions with explanations as to how they work. We've all seen them and been fascinated as kids (some older kids than others), but what makes this book different is the detailed information about how brain perception works to fool the eyes. An example that I at first thought was a typo illustrates the power of the brain to read even when letters are transposed, but most of the book is about visual illusions. How we are affected by color also features, although some of this was lost on me because my Kindle only reads black and white. I dealt with this by getting a desktop application and it was well worth the trouble.
Some of the illusions deal with sizes and shapes, showing how lines can look wavy when in fact they are straight or things can appear larger or smaller than they are because of other elements of a picture. There are illusions that appear to move when you move your head forwards or backwards.
One of the more fascinating illusions (in my opinion) involves color. It's a grid of squares with dots at the corner that look green... or yellow, to some people. I saw yellow in my peripheral vision but green when looking direct at the spots.
The chapter on ambiguous impossible pictures is great fun. This is the sort of thing where you look at a picture one way and see one image, or you might see a completely different image with a change in perception. It also has images where lines become ambiguous and trying to count how many of something are in the picture becomes impossible. The sort of impossible Physics in Escher drawings are much like some of these examples.
The chapter on tests and experiments could be good for hours of fun. Some cryptic uses of letters are also included to challenge our perception of writing. Mirror images and hidden object in pictures are included along with puzzles to work out. The answers to everything are in the back of course. The book is great fun and will keep kids especially entertained in a way that makes them think about their perception of the world. It's fun for adults too.
Some of the illusions deal with sizes and shapes, showing how lines can look wavy when in fact they are straight or things can appear larger or smaller than they are because of other elements of a picture. There are illusions that appear to move when you move your head forwards or backwards.
One of the more fascinating illusions (in my opinion) involves color. It's a grid of squares with dots at the corner that look green... or yellow, to some people. I saw yellow in my peripheral vision but green when looking direct at the spots.
The chapter on ambiguous impossible pictures is great fun. This is the sort of thing where you look at a picture one way and see one image, or you might see a completely different image with a change in perception. It also has images where lines become ambiguous and trying to count how many of something are in the picture becomes impossible. The sort of impossible Physics in Escher drawings are much like some of these examples.
The chapter on tests and experiments could be good for hours of fun. Some cryptic uses of letters are also included to challenge our perception of writing. Mirror images and hidden object in pictures are included along with puzzles to work out. The answers to everything are in the back of course. The book is great fun and will keep kids especially entertained in a way that makes them think about their perception of the world. It's fun for adults too.
October 1, 2022
Read it in WOW Museum in Zürich…the best place to read it.
June 30, 2014
Full review at http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress... (Aug 1)
I received a digital copy of this title from Netgalley.
Optical Illusions takes the reader on a mind-boggling journey through famous and not-so-famous visual trickery. The book is divided into illusions based around shape, size and distance, colour and apparent motion and impossible figures, with an extra section at the end providing some cheeky tests which the reader can self-administer in the pursuit of personal enlightenment. Each section contains a wide range of illusions paired with a small amount of information and some questions to try out.
I would like you to picture yourself back in the classroom of your youth. Upper primary sort of age. Cast your mind back to the naughtiest kid in your class during silent reading time (it’s a boy, isn’t it?). This is exactly the type of book that that kid would knock people over to grab off the shelf.
The information here is easy to read, easy to follow and yet hard to get your head around. The illusions are simply laid out and interesting to gaze at and puzzle over even if you don’t bother to read the associated text. (Although I do recommend reading the text!!). Again, this is the type of fun, engaging read that will have children and adults alike picking it up for a flip through.
You will get sucked into this book if you do pick it up, so make sure that you have time to devote to it. Similarly, it may do to have a break while you are reading, because after a while your eyeballs might feel like they’re revolving of their own accord. Particularly during the section on apparent movement.
This is a thorough introduction to visual illusions and the ways that they have been used in art, design and architecture through the ages. It is simple in format, but will no doubt provide endless entertainment for kids (and their adults) as they puzzle over the various images.
I received a digital copy of this title from Netgalley.
Optical Illusions takes the reader on a mind-boggling journey through famous and not-so-famous visual trickery. The book is divided into illusions based around shape, size and distance, colour and apparent motion and impossible figures, with an extra section at the end providing some cheeky tests which the reader can self-administer in the pursuit of personal enlightenment. Each section contains a wide range of illusions paired with a small amount of information and some questions to try out.
I would like you to picture yourself back in the classroom of your youth. Upper primary sort of age. Cast your mind back to the naughtiest kid in your class during silent reading time (it’s a boy, isn’t it?). This is exactly the type of book that that kid would knock people over to grab off the shelf.
The information here is easy to read, easy to follow and yet hard to get your head around. The illusions are simply laid out and interesting to gaze at and puzzle over even if you don’t bother to read the associated text. (Although I do recommend reading the text!!). Again, this is the type of fun, engaging read that will have children and adults alike picking it up for a flip through.
You will get sucked into this book if you do pick it up, so make sure that you have time to devote to it. Similarly, it may do to have a break while you are reading, because after a while your eyeballs might feel like they’re revolving of their own accord. Particularly during the section on apparent movement.
This is a thorough introduction to visual illusions and the ways that they have been used in art, design and architecture through the ages. It is simple in format, but will no doubt provide endless entertainment for kids (and their adults) as they puzzle over the various images.
August 2, 2014
If you are interested in exploring a wide variety of optical illusions, this is probably the book for you! There are different categories of illusion and, much further in the book, explanations of the illusions including information on how they work. The range of illusions is impressive and the answers concerning how they work is detailed. On Net galley it was described as children's non-fiction and children will be fascinated by the illusions but they will need a very high reading ability to stand any chance of understanding most of the 'answers' explaining how the illusions work. The vocabulary used in some of the 'answers' includes relatively technical terms which most children (and some adults) will need simplifying and elaborating on to help develop their understanding, maybe the marketing teams need to change the age range to which this is being targeted? As a children's book I would only give this 3 stars (possibly being generous) because children will struggle to comprehend the answers but will enjoy the illusions . . . . for a teenage or adult audience it would have an extra star rating!
July 15, 2014
Optical Illusions, An Eye-Popping Extravaganza of Visual Tricks by Gianni A. Sarcone and Marie-Jo Waeber is a optical eye-full. When I started looking at the optical illusions, my first thought were, I have seen some of these before, but yet some are new. This book is filled with amazing pictures.
My favorite puzzle is How to Become a Giant. This puzzle shows a man at one end of a hallway with column's and it looks like the man is extremely small in comparison with the column's. The next picture shows the man at the end of the hallway and he looks like a giant in comparison to the columns. The book shows you the illusion and then at the end of the book, it gives you the answer of why this illusion is possible.
The only part I don't like is that the only reference to the answers is in the front of the book. I would like individual references on each page saying where the answer to the puzzle can be found. Otherwise this is a great book and I would recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.
My favorite puzzle is How to Become a Giant. This puzzle shows a man at one end of a hallway with column's and it looks like the man is extremely small in comparison with the column's. The next picture shows the man at the end of the hallway and he looks like a giant in comparison to the columns. The book shows you the illusion and then at the end of the book, it gives you the answer of why this illusion is possible.
The only part I don't like is that the only reference to the answers is in the front of the book. I would like individual references on each page saying where the answer to the puzzle can be found. Otherwise this is a great book and I would recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.
September 25, 2014
'Optical Illusions: An Eye-Popping Extravaganza of Visual Tricks' is a good introduction if you aren't familiar with optical illusions, and it's fun to look through. I liked how it was presented, but it does take the approach that you've never seen these sort of things before.
After a short introduction, the book is divided into four sections: Shapes, Distances and Sizes; Color and Subjective Motion; Ambiguous and Impossible Figures; and Tests and Experiments. Each figure has an answer key entry at the back of the book. Some of the answers seemed to be a bit condescending, and some figures don't specifically need an answer key entry so they seem superfluous.
I liked the variety of illusions given in the book, but I've seen more spectacular types of optical illusions. I didn't like the tone of the book.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
After a short introduction, the book is divided into four sections: Shapes, Distances and Sizes; Color and Subjective Motion; Ambiguous and Impossible Figures; and Tests and Experiments. Each figure has an answer key entry at the back of the book. Some of the answers seemed to be a bit condescending, and some figures don't specifically need an answer key entry so they seem superfluous.
I liked the variety of illusions given in the book, but I've seen more spectacular types of optical illusions. I didn't like the tone of the book.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
August 5, 2014
An "Eye-Popping Extravaganza" is exactly what this is. I'm a big fan of these kinds of books so, of course, I had to sit down and devour every page. Sarcone covers many different types of "effects" with explanations about each one at the end of the book.
While some of these puzzles require a solution, others are just marvelous to look at.This is a good way to train your brain to look beyond the obvious.
While some of these puzzles require a solution, others are just marvelous to look at.This is a good way to train your brain to look beyond the obvious.
December 1, 2017
Some of the illusions did not trick my eye. Some did and the ones that did, I enjoyed.
December 7, 2017
My students are fascinated by optical illusions and this book has great examples of many I have never seen before. Sure to be a hit in the library.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews