Escher, Illusions & Perception
The Magic Mirror of M. C. Escher
0 906212 45 6 Bruno Ernst
This magnificent book is a revealing study of the life and works of one of the most astonishing artists of our time. Copiously illustrated with his finished works, it also shows many of the sketches, studies and diagrams which he made while creating his magical effects. Escher always claimed to know nothing of mathematics, but he was fascinated by it and it inspired so much of his exploration into the nature of perception. His unique contribution to our understanding of perception and what we regard as possible or impossible is fully discussed and explained in this book.
£7.95
M. C. Escher Kaleidocycles
17 full colour models of Escher's designs and the story of how they were devised
0 906212 28 6 Schattschneider & Walker
Combining interesting explanations with three-dimensional models to cut out and glue together, this book is an exploration of the symmetries of Escher's plane tilings. By experiencing the designs in a practical way, it is possible to appreciate them more fully. Some designs fold to make polyhedra and there is the delight in how the motifs fit together at the vertices and along the edges. Others make into kaleidocycles, models of linked tetrahedra which will turn through their centres. As they are rotated Escher's interlocking patterns form and reform in endless procession. It is said that 'everyone loves surprises' and this book is full of them.
£6.95
Adventures with Impossible Figures
0 906212 54 5 Bruno Ernst
Bruno Ernst describes the methods which are used to construct intriguing impossible figures which can tease the eye and baffle the imagination. Copious examples and illustrations are drawn from his own work and from the fertile imaginations of Escher and Oscar Reutersvard.
£4.95
Images of Infinity
0 906212 89 8 Leapfrogs Group
This book is a collection of drawings, writings, photographs, stories, poetry, and cartoons revolving around the problems, paradoxes and theories about the infinite and the infinitesimal - ideas that people have grappled with throughout the centuries. It is a book for people of any age who find wonderment and fascination in pursuing the simple realisation that the counting numbers follow each other without end; or in peering at the reflections and the reflections-of-reflections when two mirrors face each other. Can a drawing of a hand drawing itself and the thing it is drawing, ever be finished?
£6.95
Red & Blue Illusions
How to create 3-D drawings and other optical tricks
1 899618 05 8 Mark Hiner
The idea of printing two overlapping images in red and blue and then viewing them through coloured spectacles is a very old one, but this book breaks new ground in a very creative way. It provides a clear and precise explanation of how to construct this type of illusion and there are special glasses to make which illustrate the principles. It shows how different information has to be presented to each eye in a carefully controlled way and how to construct the correct perspective views. While mostly thought of as a method of generating three-dimensional images, there are plenty of ideas for surprising two-dimensional illusions as well. There are suggestions on how red & blue images can be used to produce original and amusing cards.
£5.95
Colour Perception
A practical approach to colour theory
0 906212 74 X Tim Armstrong
This unconventional introduction to the mysteries of colour vision uses spinning tops, coloured discs, spoked wheels and transparent filters to make its points. All these devices are cut from certain pages and they then neatly store back in the book to be used to accompany the text. It is intended to amuse but clear scientific explanations are given. We learn how the retina responds to the spectrum, how colour is printed and how colour illusions can be used to understand the nature of colour vision. The author is a practising artist interested in kinetics and in new ideas of vision and he explains how some artists choose colours by the rules of harmony.
£5.50
