Seeing Through Illusions

From surreal tricks of perspective to static patterns that appear to swirl before our eyes, visual illusions have the capacity to both puzzle and delight.In Seeing Through Illusions, the world-famous scientist Richard Gregory explores not only what visual illusions can tell us about how our brains perceive the world, but also what they may tell us about evolution. As our nervous systems evolved, so the ways in which they perceived the visual world grew more sophisticated. Traces of these earlier stages remain buried within our brains like stratified layers - Gregory explains how the study of different kinds of illusions helps us to glimpse these layers. Interweaving science with art and philosophy, this book reveals that we really can 'see through illusions'.