There are a number of incredible artistic works featured in Masters of Deception, which require movement to appreciate their full impact. Additionally, I had in my possession various interviews with some of the book’s featured artists that I wanted to share with my readership. Unfortunately, the publisher was unwilling to produce a CD to accompany the book. I have created this web site, therefore, to augment and enhance the reader’s experience by presenting those works and interviews that I could not present in book form. It is very surprising how well it can be shown in a Photobook illusions.
Books
“Your collections of illusions are superb and filled with very impressive and sometimes overwhelmingly powerful images. Great stuff!” — Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Gödel, Escher, Bach, Your Mind’s I, and Metamagical Themes.
“What a gorgeous and wonderful collection of illusions. Many of the illusions were startling and unfamiliar to me.” — Martin Gardner, former columnist for “Scientific American”, and author of over 80 books on mathematical recreations, puzzles, and science.
“This is the most striking collection of illusions that I have ever seen. I have taught perception and visual cognition at the university level for decades, but many of the illusions were new to me.” — Dr. Irving Biederman, USC.
“… is very good. I mean very, very good. And so many new illusions.” — Dr. Christoph Koch, Executive Officer, Computational and Neuronal Systems, California Institute of Technology.
“This visually stunning collection will appeal to illusion enthusiasts as well as to art lovers … One could spend hours exploring its thoughtful arrangement and the excellent quality full-color and black and white reproductions. There is factual information about the science behind the illusions, a bit about the artists, and about the different types of illusions. However, this is, by and large, a sophisticated coffee-table book that young people will enjoy poring over and figuring out what they see or think they see.” — “School Library Journal”, Dec. 2002.
# The Art of Optical Illusions. London: Carlton Books, 2000.
In 2001 this book won the prestigious first prize from the American Library Association as the “Top 10 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers”.
# More Optical Illusions. London: Carlton Books, 2001.
The sequel volume won YALA’s first prize in 2002 as the “Best Book for Reluctant Young Readers”.
# The Great Book of Optical Illusions. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2002. But not only in a photo book, as described above, can be represented illusions, no, if I want to have them all year before his eyes, then I can also document the images in a photo calendar. Take a look at the page just once.
This book is a compilation volume of the first two volumes.
# Incredible Visual Illusions: You Won’t Believe Your Eyes. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2004.
This is the most thorough scientific collection of illusions published so far, with once again a great deal of previously unpublished illusions and effects, containing sophisticated and up-to-date scientific explanations. Chapters include: Brightness and Contrast Illusions, Scintillating Illusions, Twisted Cord Illusions, Figure/Ground Illusions, Estimation Illusions, Color Illusions, Stereo Illusions, Relative Motion Illusions, Impossible Figures, Light and Shadow Illusions, Perspective Illusions, Perceptual Ambiguity, Context and Priming Illusions, Illusions of Expression, There’s An Angle to This, Topsy-Turvy Illusions, Composite Images, Anamorphoses and Trompe l’oeil, Natural Illusions, Architectural Illusions.
# Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali, and other Artists of Optical Illusion. New York: Sterling Publications, Fall, 2004.
A collection profiling the work of over fifteen optical illusion artists (Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Salvador Dali, Sandro Del Prete, Jos De Mey, M.C. Escher, Robert Gonsalves, Matheau Haemakers, Ken Knowlton, Scott Kim, Guido Moretti, Vik Muniz, Istvan Orosz, John Pugh, Oscar Reutersvard, Roger Shepard, Dick Termes, Rex Whistler), profiling their work in depth. Most of the work in this volume has not been previously published. There is no comparable volume available. Introductory preface by Pulitzer-winning author Douglas Hofstadter. Check out the content rich on-line appendix of the book, which contains the interactive version of the book (movies of artwork and interviews with the artists).
# Optical Teasers. University Games, May, 2004.
An introductory illusion book for younger children for the University Games Armchair series of books. Contains 90 of the best black and white illusions.
# Ambiguous Optical Illusions. New York: Sterling Publications, Spring, 2005.
The most comprehensive collection (90 images) published so far of ambiguous illusions. Contains many previously unpublished illusions.
# Impossible Optical Illusions. New York: Sterling Publications, Spring, 2005.
The most comprehensive collection (90 images) published so far of impossible figures. Contains many previously unpublished illusions.
# Geometric Optical Illusions. New York: Sterling Publications, Spring, 2005.
The most comprehensive collection (90 images) published so far geometrical illusions. Contains many previously unpublished illusions.
# Stereo Optical Illusions. New York: Sterling Publications, Spring, 2005.
A comprehensive collection (90 images) of stereo illusions. Contains many previously unpublished illusions.
# Topsy-Turvy Optical Illusions. New York: Sterling Publications, Spring, 2005.
A comprehensive collection (90 images) of invertible and rotational illusions. Contains many previously unpublished illusions.
# Action Optical Illusions. New York: Sterling Publications, Spring, 2005.
The most comprehensive collection (90 images) published so far of action illusions. Most of the illusions in this volume have not been previously published.
# Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception. Toronto: Firefly Books, Fall, 2006.
# Your Mind’s Eye: A Comprehensive Scientific Examination of Visual and Sensory Illusions. Boston: The MIT Press, (in progress).
This will have a dual platform (Mac and PC CD Rom) featuring hundreds of interactive illusions, and very rigorous scientific explanations. University level.
# Composite Illusions. New York: Sterling Publishing. Fall 2006.
# Hidden Images. New York: Sterling Publishing. Fall 2006.
# Wacky Pictures. New York: Sterling Publishing. Spring 2007.
Columns
Starting in the early summer of 2004, National Geographic’s KIDS magazine will feature a monthly column of mine on illusions.
Calendars
For the past five years I have also produced some best-selling illusion calendars. Here are the latest ones for 2004:
# Days of Illusions 2004 Calendar: You Won’t Believe Your Eyes!. New York: Workman Publishing; Page per day edition
This calendar has 315 illusions, many of them previously unpublished. There are some fantastic new effects in here!
# Optical Playground 2004 Calendar. New York: Workman Publishing; Wall edition
# Optical Illusions 2004 Calendar. Toronto: Firefly Books