Read an Excerpt
THE GREAT BOOK OF OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
By Al Seckel Firefly Books Ltd
Copyright © 2002 Illusion Works
All right reserved. ISBN: 1552976505
Chapter One
GALLERY I (1) Shepard's Tabletop: These two tabletops are absolutely identical in size and shape! If you don't believe it, trace only the tabletops and see for yourself.
Previous page: Fraser's Spiral is one of the most powerful illusions known. What you see appears to be a spiral, but it is really a series of perfect concentric circles! This illusion is so powerful that it has been known to induce incorrect finger tracing!
(2) Extent and Perspective: Although they appear to be dramatically different in length, lines AB and CD are equal.
(3) The Scintillating Grid: The disks at the junctions will appear to flash when you move your eyes around this image.
(4) Checker Shadow: The light check inside the shadow is identical to the dark check outside the shadow. If you don't believe it, cut out a peephole exactly the size of each square and test it!
(5) Escher's Impossible Box. Belgian artist Matheau Haemakers, drawing his inspiration from a print by the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Esther, has created a physical model of an impossible box.
(6) Ouchi Illusion: Move the page back and forth. The center section may appear to move in a direction different from its surroundings.The center section will also appear to be at a different depth.
(7) Man on the Moon: This image of Buzz Aldrin's helmet was made out of a collage of space images.
(8) Melancholy Tunes on a Flemish Winter's Day: Flemish artist Jos De Mey captured this incredible scene on a winter's day. How does that left column come forward?
(9) Crazy Nuts: Can you figure out how the straight steel rod miraculously passes through the seemingly perpendicular holes?
(10) Figure/Ground: What is hiding here? Before you check out the answer, search carefully, because once you perceive the hidden image, you will never be able to see this image in its meaningless state again.
(11) Kissing Couple Illusion: An illusory kiss by American artist Jerry Downs.
(12) Impossible Staircase: What happens when you walk around this peculiar staircase? Where is the bottom or top step located?
(13) Ball and Shadow Illusion: Are the balls in the two illustrations in different positions relative to the background?
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE GREAT BOOK OF OPTICAL ILLUSIONS by Al Seckel Copyright © 2002 by Illusion Works
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
