Visual Tastes: How to Use Your Eyes

Author: James Elkins (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Let us open this book with the heart of opening a gift. Grass, night sky, stamps, the cracks on the road, shoulders—ordinary things in everyday life. When we look—really look at them—what can we see? In this book, Professor James Elkins invites us to observe—perhaps to see the world around us for the first time—and make breathtaking discoveries. This book brings the lens to the everyday things (including artifacts) that people often overlook or misinterpret. It tells you that you can identify a butterfly by its wings, that a cloudless sky will gradually change colors in layers at sunset, that a bridge can reveal the relationship between people and that place, and that the cracks in an oil painting can tell you its age, while the cracks in the road also reveal some secrets. With the sharp eyes of an artist and the passion of a detective, Elkins also examines complex things, such as Buddhist and Hindu mandalas, the periodic table of chemical elements, hieroglyphs, etc., turning the world into a treasure trove for observers. Let us open this book with the heart of opening a gift. Grass, night sky, stamps, the cracks on the road, shoulders—ordinary things in everyday life. When we look—really look at them—what can we see? In this book, Professor James Elkins invites us to observe—perhaps to see the world around us for the first time—and make breathtaking discoveries. This book brings the lens to the everyday things (including artifacts) that people often overlook or misinterpret. It tells you that you can identify a butterfly by its wings, that a cloudless sky will gradually change colors in layers at sunset, that a bridge can reveal the relationship between people and that place, and that the cracks in an oil painting can tell you its age, while the cracks in the road also reveal some secrets.