Publisher's Synopsis
- We spend about one-tenth of our waking hours completely blind
- Only one percent of what we see is in focus at any one time
- We exist in a world we see that's always about half a second behind the real one
- In fact you don't need eyes to see - blind volunteers have been taught to see through their chests
- Wasps can't see, but map their surroundings instead
- If we are stared at, our heartbeat rises and our galvanic skin response alters
- How many generations did it take for the first fish to acquire eyes? Answer: 400,000
- Why dohumans have whites to their eyes when other species don't?
- Could it be that thinking arose as an evolutionary response to seeing?
- Without eyes, would minds exist at all?
Be prepared to have your eyes opened!
Using a spellbinding mix of scientific research, mathematics, philosophy, history, neuroscience, anecdote and language theory, in The EyeSimon Ings unravels brilliantly the never-ending puzzle of how and why we see in the way that we do. From looking at the work of a huge range of theorists and scientists, to myths and personal experiences, and with the help of a beguiling mix of illustrated visual conundrums and enigmas, Ings triumphs with a compelling dissection of the age-old mysteries of the eye that's both seriously interesting and interestingly fun. He tells the eye's whole story for the very first time, fusing eye and sight into a single story - this is popular science of the highest order.
