The eyes have it

Irvin Rock’s Perception (Scientific American, $19.95, ISBN 0 7167 6011 8) examines the near miraculous – the co-operation between the brain and the eye that turns the flat picture received by the retina into the three dimensional scene we understand without conscious effort. Tricks of perspective and orientation, optical illusions, light and shadow and other fascinating aspects of the mystery are crowded into a remarkable and exhilarating book.