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Books related with "The Eye"
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On Reflections How can we tell the difference between a reflection and the real thing? How does a reflection betray its identity? Why is is that when we look at a mirror we can see either our reflection or the mirror but not both at the same time? How and when do we learn to recognize our own reflection? What does a reflective surface look like and how can we distinguish it from a non-reflective surface? Why is it that certain paintings may be turned upside down and still be visually acceptable? How are the various qualities of reflection represented in art –from the diffused sheen of burnished copper to the realism of silvered glass? In this innovative book, published to accompany the exhibition Mirror Image at the National Gallery, London, Jonathan Miller discusses these puzzling questions and investigates the pictorial representation of reflection -‘sheen, shine, glimmer and gleam’- through a wonderfully varied selection of paintings and photographs, covering nine centuries, drawn from the National Gallery and other international collections. Dr. Miller also examines our perceptual capacity to recognise real-life mirrors as well as those in pictures, a complex psychological process of which we are usually unaware. He also traces the ambivalent imagery of mirrors from neutral aids to representing the self as in Rembrandt’s Self Portrait or Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus , through metaphors of either virtues or vices in allgorical paintings as senn in Le Tournier’s Allegory of Justice and Vanity. This exciting and beautifully illustrated book provides a guide to reflecting on reflections, enhancing the reader’s enjoyment both of visual art and the role of light in everyday life. |
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How the Mind
Works
In this extraordinary book, Steven Pinker, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists, does for the rest of the mind what he did for language in his 1994 best-seller The Language Instinct . He explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life. And he does it with the wit, clarity, and verve that earned The Language Instinct worldwide critic acclaim and awards from major scientific societies. Pinker explains the mind by “reverse-engineering” it -figuring out what natural selection designed it to accomplish in the environment in which we evolved. The mind, he writes, is a system of “organs of computation” that allowed our ancestors to understand and outsmart objects, animals, plants, and each other. How the Mind Works explains many of the imponderables of everyday life. Why does a face look more atractive with makeup? How do “Magis-Eye” 3-D stereograms work? Why do we feel that a run of heads makes the coin more likely to land tails? Why is the thought of eating worms disgusting? Why do men challenge each other to duels and murder their ex-wives? Why are children bratty? Why do fools fall in love? Why are we soothed by paintings and music? And why do puzzles like the self, free will, and consciousness leave us dizzy? |
