Curiosities of Light and Sight

Compiled from a series of public lectures, this book offers a clear and engaging overview of the science of light and human vision. It begins with the nineteenth‑century idea of the luminiferous ether, explaining how light propagates and why it displays such striking behaviors, before turning to the eye’s anatomy and its handling of colour, contrast, and motion. The discussion is kept accessible, avoiding heavy mathematics while still conveying the essential physics.

Fifty detailed illustrations accompany the text, showing everything from simple prisms to classic visual‑illusion devices like Zöllner lines and rotating colour‑border disks. The author encourages readers to try many of the experiments themselves, making the material ideal for curious amateurs as well as seasoned experimenters. Listeners will finish with a fresh appreciation of how subtle optical phenomena shape everyday perception.