Product Review

With the original release of Vision and Art in 2002, Harvard professor Margaret Livingstone successfully bridged the gap between science and art, exploring how great painters fool the brain: why Mona Lisa's smile seems so mysterious, or Monet's Poppy Field appears to sway. In the revised and expanded edition, Livingstone presents two new chapters of her latest observations, has substantially expanded other chapters, and updates the rest of the existing text with new insights gleaned from her ongoing research, bringing the book to the cutting edge in the field of neuroscience. Accompanying Livingstone's lively prose are many charts and diagrams that lucidly illustrate her points, as well as in-depth analyses of the phenomena found in major works of art. Be it the explanation of common optical illusions or the breakdown of techniques painters use to create those illusions, Vision and Art provides a wealth of information for artists, scholars, and scientists alike.