Leonardo

Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception by Al SeckelReview by: George ShortessLeonardo, Vol. 41, No. 1 (2008), p. 78Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20206524 .

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ubiquity of software and its associated

code, the dearth of social, cultural

investigation is rather surprising. Code is embedded in most devices

we use today, not only personal com

puter software. Each time we fill our

cars with fuel, do banking, buy gro ceries at the supermarket or undergo

medical procedures, code and software

are directly involved. As Mackenzie

points out, code does not simply handle

instructions but is dynamically involved

in creating new and modifying existing social and cultural relations and

processes.

Cutting Code: Software and Sociality has eight chapters, with an excellent

reference section and index. The titles

are as follows: 1: "Introduction: Soft

warily"; 2: "Opening Code: Expression and Execution in Software"; 3: "Algo rithms"; 4: "Kernel: Code in Time and

Space"; 5: "Java: Practical Virtuality"; 6: "'Pits' and 'Traders': Infrastructures

in Software"; 7: "Extreme Program

ming: Code as Prototype for Software"; and 8: "Conclusion." The book is not

especially complex regarding computer

technology or programming language, and any reader familiar with basic Inter

net procedures and general software

knowledge will have no problems in

this area. However, as mentioned, this

is a serious and complex work in the

discipline of social and cultural com

munication studies and as such is

written with this specific readership

principally in mind.

Code is a phenomenon that tends to

remain opaque or hidden behind the

scenes; the stage is the user (-friendly?) interface of software. Most of us never

see the actual code that runs the word

processor or sends the instructions to

the printer to print out our favorite

photos. If you are intrigued to see

what an example of real code looks

like, load any web page from the Net, click on View in the menu bar of your

browser, then click on Source. This

will reveal the actual HTML code

that runs behind all the buttons and

graphics and text of the web page. Adrian Mackenzie researches and

teaches at Lancaster University in the

United Kingdom. He has degrees in

science and philosophy and a Ph.D.

in philosophy. He defines code as

"a multivalent index of the relations

running among different classes of

entity: originators, prototypes and

recipients. These classes might include

people, situations, organizations, places, devices, habits and practices" (p. 169). This book helps us realize just how

important, entrenched and powerful a few lines of letters, word and symbols are in defining our new existence in

the digital age. Just as the introduction

of the clock and electricity into society

dramatically and permanently changed how we live our lives, so too has soft

ware and its associated code.

The publication of this book is

timely, and it will surely become an

essential reference work for all students

and scholars in the disciplines of social

and cultural studies.

An introductory chapter gives some

general background on illusions, fol

lowed by the illusions, each on a single

page with the title and a short com

ment or question. In the back of the

book each illusion is described and

explained in more detail. This is a very

good feature in that it allows viewers to

experience the illusions as visual phe nomena. If viewers then want more

information or an explanation, they can go to this section at the end. There

is a glossary of terms that is also help ful. Furthermore, a listing of the illu

sions by general category allows viewers

to find relationships and commonalities

among the illustrations. A list of refer

ences of some of the major sources in

the literature provides a base for fur

ther reading. The one suggestion that I would

make is a more complete glossary, with terms such as Mach Bands and

fovea defined there, along with a

more complete description of the

visual nervous system. A simple dia

gram of the inverted retina would be

helpful to those less familiar with the literature.

However, the book is a delightful visual feast and a fascinating explo ration of an area of visual perception that can provide important keys to our

understanding of the normal function

ing of the nervous system. The book

provides a source of visual intrigue for

those who enjoy the sheer pleasure of

experiencing puzzling and conflicting

images. It also can serve as a starting

point for those visual scientists inter

ested in uncovering new perceptual mechanisms that can help us to better

understand visual perception.

Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception

by Al Seckel. Firefly Books, Inc.,

Buffalo, NY, U.S.A. 312 pp. ISBN: 1-55407-151-8.

Reviewed by George Shortess, 3505

Hecktown Road, Bethlehem, PA 18020, U.S.A. E-mail: <george.shortess@lehigh.edu>.

This is a wonderful book containing excellent illustrations of over 250 opti cal illusions, with appropriate color as

necessary. Some illusions, of course, are

variations on the same basic effect, but

these variations add to an appreciation of the pervasiveness of the illusion.

Included are the classics, but there are

also new and fascinating illusions and

examples. Some have a certain whimsy about them that makes them very

entertaining. In other instances, the

author has reproduced early examples that provide interesting historical back

ground for the study of illusions.

Included are a number of works by artists who have incorporated illusion

ary effects in their art. There are exam

ples not only by more well-known

artists, such as Salvador Dali, Ren?

Magritte and M.C. Escher, but also by other artists who have expanded the

possibilities in many interesting ways.

The New Typography

by Jan Tschichold. Ruari McLean, trans. Introduction by Robin Kinross; foreword by Richard Hendel. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2006. 286 pp., illus. ISBN: 978-0-520-25012-3.

Reviewed by Jan Baetens, KULeuven,

Faculty of Arts, Blijde Inkomststraat 21, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: <jan. baetens@arts. kuleuven. be>.

Published for the first time in 1928, sold out a few years later, out of print in German for many decades, available

for the Anglophone readership in 1995 (in a facsimile edition by UC Press)

and now reprinted with a new fore

word, Tschichold's The New Typography

78 Leonardo Reviews

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