cover image Optical Illusion Play Pack [With Punch-Outs]

Optical Illusion Play Pack [With Punch-Outs]

Martin Gardner. Sterling, $14.95 (64pp) ISBN 978-1-4027-3338-3

Beautifully made books demonstrating optical illusions are no rarity; this well-designed title goes one better. Packaged with 40-some punch-out puzzle pieces (these come in a resealable bound-in envelope), the book asks readers to test and create visual puzzles, from the very simple (parallelograms that look to be of greatly varying sizes when viewed horizontally and vertically) to the more sophisticated (color theory, although not named as such) to visual tricks that look like pure magic. The ability to re-create an optical illusion, even one with which a reader is previously familiar, provides an ideal learning opportunitykids can experience what they would otherwise simply observe, and when puzzle master and mathematician Gardner (""The Annotated Alice"") offers an explanation, they'll be genuinely curious to master it. Ages 10-up. ""(Apr.)"" .