The Science of Illusions

What is illusion? In his thoroughly fun book The Science of Illusions (trans. from the French by Franklin Philip), Jacques Ninio (Molecular Approaches to Evolution), senior research scientist at Paris's Centre National des Recherches Scientifiques, teases his readers with the following possibilities: ""The illusion of always being right""; ""The sound of the ocean in seashells""; ""The brilliant spray of fireworks, after the explosion, goes out in all directions. But all the bursts seem to stream back toward us."" This animated work about our fascination with illusions from the age of Euclid to today is filled with witty and accessible explanations accompanied by more than 100 mind-boggling visuals that will keep readers turning the book upside down and sideways again and again. ( June)