Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception (Illusion Works) Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Jan. 2009

This is one of those books you pick up and cannot put down. There is a huge range of visual tricks here looking into symmetry, shapes, colours, perception and abstract images within images. 279 in total. Some of them are so good (particularly the colour tricks) you simply cannot believe it until you read the accompanying notes in the back of the book to prove it by covering parts of the image! I'm a big fan of these illusions but only wanted one book on them (as the other reviewer has said, they do get repeated from book to book) and this was a great choice. There are some classic old favourites you've seen before but these are kept to a minimum, most of the content I had not seen before.

The range of different illusions.

I teach about visual illusions and in my opinion Seckel definitely offers the most extensive and well-illustrated collections currently available. At the time of writing this one is probably the best of Seckel's collections. However, if you buy more than one of his collections, beware - these are an extreme example of recycled material (not in the sense that you may have seen some versions before in collections by other authors - that is inevitable in this territory - indeed, he offers some very good new versions of old favourites). If you want a single good collection of visual illusions, Seckel usually offers the best, so buy whatever is his current latest. The major problem is that each new one he brings out tends to contain up to around about 85% of the material he has already published under another title/with a different cover. I have even had to return books because they were nearly identical to others of his which had a different title and cover. If you collect books of illusions, be alert to this danger. Seckel does also offer a few specialised, themed collections that are also useful.

A++

Comprehensive review of Optical Illusions, with attempts at explanations. Probably the most complete available. Understanding the basis of many illusions is, scientifically, not well understood, however, the book does seek to summarise that which is known.

This book was lost in the post which is a first for me. Very annoying as it was the only copy available. The refund from the supplier was prompt and unquestioning, but I really wanted that particular book !

Marvellous stuff