Author: Stefana Sabin
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789144647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
From monocles to pince-nez and goggle-eyes, a cultural and technological history of glasses in fact and fiction. This book examines those who wore glasses through history, art, and literature, from the green emerald through which Emperor Nero watched gladiator fights to Benjamin Franklin’s homemade bifocals, and from Marilyn Monroe’s cat-eye glasses to the famed four-eyes of Emma Bovary and Harry Potter. Spectacles are objects that seem commonplace, but In the Blink of an Eye shows that because they fundamentally changed people’s lives, glasses were the wellspring of a quiet social, cultural, and economic revolution. Indeed, one can argue that modernity itself began with the paradigm shift that transformed poor eyesight from a severely limiting disease—treated with pomades and tinctures—into a minor impairment that can be remedied with mechanisms constructed from lenses and wire.
In the Blink of an Eye
Author: Stefana Sabin
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789144647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
From monocles to pince-nez and goggle-eyes, a cultural and technological history of glasses in fact and fiction. This book examines those who wore glasses through history, art, and literature, from the green emerald through which Emperor Nero watched gladiator fights to Benjamin Franklin’s homemade bifocals, and from Marilyn Monroe’s cat-eye glasses to the famed four-eyes of Emma Bovary and Harry Potter. Spectacles are objects that seem commonplace, but In the Blink of an Eye shows that because they fundamentally changed people’s lives, glasses were the wellspring of a quiet social, cultural, and economic revolution. Indeed, one can argue that modernity itself began with the paradigm shift that transformed poor eyesight from a severely limiting disease—treated with pomades and tinctures—into a minor impairment that can be remedied with mechanisms constructed from lenses and wire.
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789144647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
From monocles to pince-nez and goggle-eyes, a cultural and technological history of glasses in fact and fiction. This book examines those who wore glasses through history, art, and literature, from the green emerald through which Emperor Nero watched gladiator fights to Benjamin Franklin’s homemade bifocals, and from Marilyn Monroe’s cat-eye glasses to the famed four-eyes of Emma Bovary and Harry Potter. Spectacles are objects that seem commonplace, but In the Blink of an Eye shows that because they fundamentally changed people’s lives, glasses were the wellspring of a quiet social, cultural, and economic revolution. Indeed, one can argue that modernity itself began with the paradigm shift that transformed poor eyesight from a severely limiting disease—treated with pomades and tinctures—into a minor impairment that can be remedied with mechanisms constructed from lenses and wire.
Take Off Your Glasses and See
Author: Jacob Liberman
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0307795365
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
This revolutionary new look at vision will broaden your understanding of how you see and how you can see without your glasses or contact lenses. Take Off Your Glasses and See shows you how to free yourself from the crutch of prescription lenses, to build your self-confidence and awareness, and to open up your inner and outer vision in order to see more clearly. Jacob Liberman, an internationally recognized authority on holistic vision care, explains how most vision problems are the result of an unconscious decision to "close your eyes" to emotional discomfort or pain, and how increasingly powerful corrective lenses only encourage eyesight to withdraw even further. By removing lenses and practicing breath- and movement-awareness techniques to shift your perception, you can reintegrate the original disruption in the mind/body system. Dr. Liberman’s approach can help you join the thousands who have escaped from the self-defeating cycle of poor vision.
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0307795365
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 369
Book Description
This revolutionary new look at vision will broaden your understanding of how you see and how you can see without your glasses or contact lenses. Take Off Your Glasses and See shows you how to free yourself from the crutch of prescription lenses, to build your self-confidence and awareness, and to open up your inner and outer vision in order to see more clearly. Jacob Liberman, an internationally recognized authority on holistic vision care, explains how most vision problems are the result of an unconscious decision to "close your eyes" to emotional discomfort or pain, and how increasingly powerful corrective lenses only encourage eyesight to withdraw even further. By removing lenses and practicing breath- and movement-awareness techniques to shift your perception, you can reintegrate the original disruption in the mind/body system. Dr. Liberman’s approach can help you join the thousands who have escaped from the self-defeating cycle of poor vision.
Eyes and spectacles
Making a Spectacle
Author: Jessica Glasscock
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0762473436
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 414
Book Description
From 13th century Franciscan monks to Beyoncé in Black is King, Making a Spectacle charts the fascinating ascension of eyeglasses—from an unsightly but useful tool to fashion's must-have accessory. The power of glasses to convey a range of vivid messages about their wearers have made them into a billion-dollar business that appeals to cool kids and rock stars, and those who want to be like them, but the fashionable history of eyeglasses is fraught with anxiety and drama. At the beginning of the 20th century, the assessment in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar was that spectacles were "invariably disfiguring." Invisibility was the best option, and glasses were only to be put on once the lights at the opera went dark. While variations of that glasses-shaming sentiment appeared at regular intervals over the next 100 years or so, eyeglasses continued to evolve into an endless array of shapes, colors, purposes, and personalities. Once sunglasses took off in the 1930s, the magazine editorial made glasses a conspicuous part of the fashion narrative. Eyeglasses went to the ski slopes, the stables, the beach, the Havana hotel. Plastic innovations made a candy-colored rainbow of cat-eyes and "starlet" styles possible. Suddenly, everyone had the opportunity to look like Jackie O on vacation in Capri. Making a Spectacle traces contemporary high fashion frames back to their origins: the military aviator, the glam cat eye, the nerdly Oxford, the high-tech shield, the fanciful butterfly, the lowly rimless, and other styles all make an appearance. Featuring interviews with influential designers, makers, and purveyors of glasses including Adam Selman, Kerin Rose Gold, and l.a. Eyeworks, Making a Spectacle also takes a look at today's most cutting edge eyewear, showing the reader the latest and most innovative ways to see and be seen.
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0762473436
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 414
Book Description
From 13th century Franciscan monks to Beyoncé in Black is King, Making a Spectacle charts the fascinating ascension of eyeglasses—from an unsightly but useful tool to fashion's must-have accessory. The power of glasses to convey a range of vivid messages about their wearers have made them into a billion-dollar business that appeals to cool kids and rock stars, and those who want to be like them, but the fashionable history of eyeglasses is fraught with anxiety and drama. At the beginning of the 20th century, the assessment in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar was that spectacles were "invariably disfiguring." Invisibility was the best option, and glasses were only to be put on once the lights at the opera went dark. While variations of that glasses-shaming sentiment appeared at regular intervals over the next 100 years or so, eyeglasses continued to evolve into an endless array of shapes, colors, purposes, and personalities. Once sunglasses took off in the 1930s, the magazine editorial made glasses a conspicuous part of the fashion narrative. Eyeglasses went to the ski slopes, the stables, the beach, the Havana hotel. Plastic innovations made a candy-colored rainbow of cat-eyes and "starlet" styles possible. Suddenly, everyone had the opportunity to look like Jackie O on vacation in Capri. Making a Spectacle traces contemporary high fashion frames back to their origins: the military aviator, the glam cat eye, the nerdly Oxford, the high-tech shield, the fanciful butterfly, the lowly rimless, and other styles all make an appearance. Featuring interviews with influential designers, makers, and purveyors of glasses including Adam Selman, Kerin Rose Gold, and l.a. Eyeworks, Making a Spectacle also takes a look at today's most cutting edge eyewear, showing the reader the latest and most innovative ways to see and be seen.
The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses
Author: W. Bates
Publisher: Mary I. Oliver, Clark Night
ISBN: 1463687818
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
(Black & White Version.) Dr. Bates Original book. Natural Eyesight Improvement. Better Eyesight Magazine; July, 1919 to December, 1919 and Eyecharts attached in this Paperback book.Ophthalmologist William H. Bates discovered and perfected Natural Eyesight Improvement, The Bates Method'. He discovered the natural principles, true, normal function of the eyes (visual system) and applied natural methods, relaxation to return the eyes, eye muscles to normal function with healthy eyes, clear vision. He cured; unclear close and distant vision, astigmatism, crossed, wandering eyes, cataracts, glaucoma & other eye conditions. Natural Eyesight (Vision) Improvement was practiced years before Dr. Bates discovered it. It is the normal, natural function of the eyes. Hidden from the public by eye surgeons, Optometrists, optical businesses for over 100 years because this method works, is easy, anyone can learn, teach it, including children. It produces healthy eyes, clear vision and frees the patient from the need to purchase eyeglasses, drugs, unnecessary eye surgery. This book includes 12 Free PDF E-Books; Natural Eyesight Improvement Training; Do It Yourself-Natural Eyesight Improvement-Original and Modern Bates Method. 100+ Color Pictures. Less reading; Easy to learn steps-Read the short directions on the pictures to quickly learn, apply a treatment, activity for Fast Vision Improvement. (All of Dr. Bates, Clark Night's Kindle, Paperback books are in this E-Book.)+ Better Eyesight Magazine by Ophthalmologist William H. Bates - (Unedited, Full Set -132 Magazine Issues - 11 Years-July, 1919 to June, 1930.) Illustrated with 500 Pictures and additional, up to date Modern Natural Eyesight Improvement Training.+ Original Better Eyesight Magazine by Ophthalmologist William H. Bates - Photo copy of all his Original Antique Magazine Pages in the 1900's Print. (Unedited, Full Set 132 Magazine Issues-11 Years-July, 1919 to June, 1930.) A History Book. Learn Natural Eyesight Improvement Treatments directly from the Original Eye Doctor that discovered and practiced this effective, safe, natural method! Magazines &Method Hidden from the public by eye surgeons, Optometrists, optical businesses for over 100 years because this method works and frees the patient from the need to purchase eyeglasses, drugs, unnecessary eye surgery. Yes, it can and has reversed cataracts and other eye conditions!+ The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses by Dr. Bates (Photo Copy of the Original Antique Book Pages) with Pictures. Dr. Bates First, Original Book. (Text version with Modern Treatments included.) 2nd Printing Title: Perfect Sight Without Glasses.+ Medical Articles by Dr. Bates - with Pictures.+ Stories From The Clinic by Emily C. A. Lierman/Bates. (Dr. Bates Clinic Assistant, Wife.)+ Use Your Own Eyes by Dr. William B. MacCracken M.D. (Trained with Dr. Bates.)+ Normal Sight Without Glasses by Dr. William B. MacCracken M.D.+ Strengthening The Eyes by Bernarr MacFadden & Dr. Bates - with Pictures and Modern Training. (Trained with Dr. Bates. One of the First Physical Fitness Teachers.)+ EFT Training Booklet - with Acupressure, Energy balance, strengthening, Positive Emotions.Easy step by step directions with Pictures.+ Seeing, Reading Fine Print Clear, Clear Close Vision (Presbyopia Treatments) with Videos.+ Eight Correct, Relaxed Vision Habits- A Quick Course in Natural Eyesight Improvement.+ Astigmatism Removal Treatments+ Eyecharts - 15 Large, Small and Fine Print Big C, E Charts for Close and Distant Vision, White and Black Letter Charts, Tumbling E Chart, Astigmatism Test and Removal Charts, Behavioral Optometry Charts. Eyechart Video Lessons.+ Audio & Video Lessons in Every Chapter - Learn a Treatment, Activity Quick and Easy.+ Videos Page; Links to 35+ Natural Eyesight Improvement Training Videos.See 'William H. Bates, Author's Page', for Video of internal book pages, full description of the Paperback & 12 free E-books.
Publisher: Mary I. Oliver, Clark Night
ISBN: 1463687818
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
(Black & White Version.) Dr. Bates Original book. Natural Eyesight Improvement. Better Eyesight Magazine; July, 1919 to December, 1919 and Eyecharts attached in this Paperback book.Ophthalmologist William H. Bates discovered and perfected Natural Eyesight Improvement, The Bates Method'. He discovered the natural principles, true, normal function of the eyes (visual system) and applied natural methods, relaxation to return the eyes, eye muscles to normal function with healthy eyes, clear vision. He cured; unclear close and distant vision, astigmatism, crossed, wandering eyes, cataracts, glaucoma & other eye conditions. Natural Eyesight (Vision) Improvement was practiced years before Dr. Bates discovered it. It is the normal, natural function of the eyes. Hidden from the public by eye surgeons, Optometrists, optical businesses for over 100 years because this method works, is easy, anyone can learn, teach it, including children. It produces healthy eyes, clear vision and frees the patient from the need to purchase eyeglasses, drugs, unnecessary eye surgery. This book includes 12 Free PDF E-Books; Natural Eyesight Improvement Training; Do It Yourself-Natural Eyesight Improvement-Original and Modern Bates Method. 100+ Color Pictures. Less reading; Easy to learn steps-Read the short directions on the pictures to quickly learn, apply a treatment, activity for Fast Vision Improvement. (All of Dr. Bates, Clark Night's Kindle, Paperback books are in this E-Book.)+ Better Eyesight Magazine by Ophthalmologist William H. Bates - (Unedited, Full Set -132 Magazine Issues - 11 Years-July, 1919 to June, 1930.) Illustrated with 500 Pictures and additional, up to date Modern Natural Eyesight Improvement Training.+ Original Better Eyesight Magazine by Ophthalmologist William H. Bates - Photo copy of all his Original Antique Magazine Pages in the 1900's Print. (Unedited, Full Set 132 Magazine Issues-11 Years-July, 1919 to June, 1930.) A History Book. Learn Natural Eyesight Improvement Treatments directly from the Original Eye Doctor that discovered and practiced this effective, safe, natural method! Magazines &Method Hidden from the public by eye surgeons, Optometrists, optical businesses for over 100 years because this method works and frees the patient from the need to purchase eyeglasses, drugs, unnecessary eye surgery. Yes, it can and has reversed cataracts and other eye conditions!+ The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses by Dr. Bates (Photo Copy of the Original Antique Book Pages) with Pictures. Dr. Bates First, Original Book. (Text version with Modern Treatments included.) 2nd Printing Title: Perfect Sight Without Glasses.+ Medical Articles by Dr. Bates - with Pictures.+ Stories From The Clinic by Emily C. A. Lierman/Bates. (Dr. Bates Clinic Assistant, Wife.)+ Use Your Own Eyes by Dr. William B. MacCracken M.D. (Trained with Dr. Bates.)+ Normal Sight Without Glasses by Dr. William B. MacCracken M.D.+ Strengthening The Eyes by Bernarr MacFadden & Dr. Bates - with Pictures and Modern Training. (Trained with Dr. Bates. One of the First Physical Fitness Teachers.)+ EFT Training Booklet - with Acupressure, Energy balance, strengthening, Positive Emotions.Easy step by step directions with Pictures.+ Seeing, Reading Fine Print Clear, Clear Close Vision (Presbyopia Treatments) with Videos.+ Eight Correct, Relaxed Vision Habits- A Quick Course in Natural Eyesight Improvement.+ Astigmatism Removal Treatments+ Eyecharts - 15 Large, Small and Fine Print Big C, E Charts for Close and Distant Vision, White and Black Letter Charts, Tumbling E Chart, Astigmatism Test and Removal Charts, Behavioral Optometry Charts. Eyechart Video Lessons.+ Audio & Video Lessons in Every Chapter - Learn a Treatment, Activity Quick and Easy.+ Videos Page; Links to 35+ Natural Eyesight Improvement Training Videos.See 'William H. Bates, Author's Page', for Video of internal book pages, full description of the Paperback & 12 free E-books.
Hyperopia and Presbyopia
Author: Kazuo Tsubota
Publisher: Taylor & Francis US
ISBN: 0824755235
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
Examining established and emerging treatments for the correction of hyperopia and presbyopia, this reference offers guidance on technologies such as thermal or conductive keratoplasty, corneal implants, laser scleral relaxation, scleral expansion rings, intraocular lenses, and LASIK modifications.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis US
ISBN: 0824755235
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
Examining established and emerging treatments for the correction of hyperopia and presbyopia, this reference offers guidance on technologies such as thermal or conductive keratoplasty, corneal implants, laser scleral relaxation, scleral expansion rings, intraocular lenses, and LASIK modifications.
The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses
Author: William H. Bates
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
ISBN: 1429997915
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
Better Eyesight Without Glasses is not only the definitive source for the classic Bates Method, it is in itself a remarkable phenomenon. Dr. William H. Bates’s revolutionary and entirely commonsensical theory of self-taught improved eyesight has helped hundreds of thousands of people to triumph over normal defects of vision without the mechanical aid of eyeglasses. If you think that your eyesight could be made better by natural methods, you are right. After years of experimentation, Dr. Bates came to the conclusion that many people who wore glasses did not need them. He gradually and carefully developed a simple group of exercises for improving the ability of the eyes themselves to see, eliminating the tension caused by poor visual habits that are the major cause of bad eyesight. These exercises are based on the firm belief that it is the natural function of the eyes to see clearly and that anyone, child or adult, can learn to see better without glasses.
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
ISBN: 1429997915
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
Better Eyesight Without Glasses is not only the definitive source for the classic Bates Method, it is in itself a remarkable phenomenon. Dr. William H. Bates’s revolutionary and entirely commonsensical theory of self-taught improved eyesight has helped hundreds of thousands of people to triumph over normal defects of vision without the mechanical aid of eyeglasses. If you think that your eyesight could be made better by natural methods, you are right. After years of experimentation, Dr. Bates came to the conclusion that many people who wore glasses did not need them. He gradually and carefully developed a simple group of exercises for improving the ability of the eyes themselves to see, eliminating the tension caused by poor visual habits that are the major cause of bad eyesight. These exercises are based on the firm belief that it is the natural function of the eyes to see clearly and that anyone, child or adult, can learn to see better without glasses.
Relearning to See
Author: Thomas R. Quackenbush
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1556433417
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 585
Book Description
In this accessible presentation of the famous Bates method, Thomas R. Quackenbush (who teaches the Bates method in California and Oregon) describes how eyesight can improve naturally, at any age and regardless of heredity. This book is a wonderful tribute to the genius of Dr. Bates, who was a pioneer in discovering how vision becomes blurred and how it restores itself naturally to clarity and acuity. Now 80 years later, his findings and teachings remain light years ahead of our contemporaries. His approach to treating vision problems was truly holistic and the theme throughout this book is very much an extension of that holistic approach. Dr. Quackenbush is to be commended for his dedication in getting the truth out and keeping the torch burning in this "bible" on vision improvement.
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1556433417
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 585
Book Description
In this accessible presentation of the famous Bates method, Thomas R. Quackenbush (who teaches the Bates method in California and Oregon) describes how eyesight can improve naturally, at any age and regardless of heredity. This book is a wonderful tribute to the genius of Dr. Bates, who was a pioneer in discovering how vision becomes blurred and how it restores itself naturally to clarity and acuity. Now 80 years later, his findings and teachings remain light years ahead of our contemporaries. His approach to treating vision problems was truly holistic and the theme throughout this book is very much an extension of that holistic approach. Dr. Quackenbush is to be commended for his dedication in getting the truth out and keeping the torch burning in this "bible" on vision improvement.
Vision for Life, Revised Edition
Author: Meir Schneider, Ph.D.
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1623170095
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
All parts of the body need exercise for optimal health, and the eyes are no different. Vision for Life presents an approach to eye health for people with 20/20 vision who wish to maintain their perfect vision as well as people who see poorly and would like to improve their eyesight. Clients of the Meir Schneider Self-Healing Method experience their own capacity to bring about recovery, reversing the progress of a wide range of degenerative conditions including eye disease. Based in part on the established Bates Method of eyesight improvement and in part on his own professional and personal discoveries, Meir Schneider's pioneering approach has helped thousands of people successfully treat a host of eye problems, including near- and farsightedness, astigmatism, lazy eye, double vision, glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, retinitis pigmentosa, and nystagmus. This revised edition includes a new chapter on children's eye health and new research and exercises for specific conditions, i.e., glaucoma and nystagmus, near- and farsightedness. Born blind to deaf parents, Schneider underwent a series of painful operations as a young child and was left with 99 percent scar tissue on the lenses of his eyes, resulting in his being declared incurably blind. At the age of seventeen, he discovered how to improve his vision from less than 1 percent to 55 percent of normal vision with the eye exercises presented in this book. Today Schneider drives a car, reads, and enjoys the benefits of full natural vision. He and his clients prove time and time again how much vision can improve with exercise. His contributions to the field of self-healing are recognized by alternative health practitioners and medical doctors alike. In Vision for Life, Schneider shares forty years of discoveries made on his personal and professional journey. The book details simple but effective techniques to gain great vision such as sunning and palming. Such exercises are not only strengthening but also restorative and deeply relaxing. The reader learns how to reverse developing issues before they cause damage or to remedy existing problems, including pathologies such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and optic nerve neuropathy.
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1623170095
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
All parts of the body need exercise for optimal health, and the eyes are no different. Vision for Life presents an approach to eye health for people with 20/20 vision who wish to maintain their perfect vision as well as people who see poorly and would like to improve their eyesight. Clients of the Meir Schneider Self-Healing Method experience their own capacity to bring about recovery, reversing the progress of a wide range of degenerative conditions including eye disease. Based in part on the established Bates Method of eyesight improvement and in part on his own professional and personal discoveries, Meir Schneider's pioneering approach has helped thousands of people successfully treat a host of eye problems, including near- and farsightedness, astigmatism, lazy eye, double vision, glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, retinitis pigmentosa, and nystagmus. This revised edition includes a new chapter on children's eye health and new research and exercises for specific conditions, i.e., glaucoma and nystagmus, near- and farsightedness. Born blind to deaf parents, Schneider underwent a series of painful operations as a young child and was left with 99 percent scar tissue on the lenses of his eyes, resulting in his being declared incurably blind. At the age of seventeen, he discovered how to improve his vision from less than 1 percent to 55 percent of normal vision with the eye exercises presented in this book. Today Schneider drives a car, reads, and enjoys the benefits of full natural vision. He and his clients prove time and time again how much vision can improve with exercise. His contributions to the field of self-healing are recognized by alternative health practitioners and medical doctors alike. In Vision for Life, Schneider shares forty years of discoveries made on his personal and professional journey. The book details simple but effective techniques to gain great vision such as sunning and palming. Such exercises are not only strengthening but also restorative and deeply relaxing. The reader learns how to reverse developing issues before they cause damage or to remedy existing problems, including pathologies such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and optic nerve neuropathy.
Through The Looking Glasses
Author: Travis Elborough
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1408712830
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
'Elegant and multi-focal. Glorious!' Simon Garfield The humble pair of glasses might just be one the world's greatest inventions, allowing millions to see a world that might otherwise appear a blur. And yet how much do many of us even really think about these things perched on the ends of our noses? In this eye-opening history Travis Elborough traces the fascinating true story of spectacles: from their inception as primitive visual aids to monkish scribes right through to today's designer eyewear and the augmented reality of Google Glass. And taking in along the way such delights as lorgnettes, monocles, pince-nez, tortoise-shell 'Windsors' and Ray Ban aviator shades. Peering into early theories about how the eye worked, he considers the theological and philosophical arguments about the limits of perception by Greek thinkers, Roman statesmen and Arab scholars. There are encounters with ingenious medieval Italian glassmakers, myopic Renaissance rulers and spectacle-makers and opticians, brilliant, mad, bad and dangerous to know, in the Londons of Samuel Pepys, Dr Johnson and Sherlock Holmes. We learn how eyeglasses were the making of the silent movie star Harold Lloyd and the rock n roller Buddy Holly and helped liberate an exasperated John Lennon from Beatlemania. Get hip to horn-rims with Dizzy Gillespie and Michael Caine And see girls in glasses through the lenses of the crime fiction by Dorothy L Sayers and Raymond Chandler and the full-screen figure of Marilyn Monroe. Through the Looking Glasses is about vision and the need for humanity to see clearly, and where the impulse to improve our eyesight has led us. The society of the spectacle may finally be upon us . . . but how much of it do we really see?
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1408712830
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
'Elegant and multi-focal. Glorious!' Simon Garfield The humble pair of glasses might just be one the world's greatest inventions, allowing millions to see a world that might otherwise appear a blur. And yet how much do many of us even really think about these things perched on the ends of our noses? In this eye-opening history Travis Elborough traces the fascinating true story of spectacles: from their inception as primitive visual aids to monkish scribes right through to today's designer eyewear and the augmented reality of Google Glass. And taking in along the way such delights as lorgnettes, monocles, pince-nez, tortoise-shell 'Windsors' and Ray Ban aviator shades. Peering into early theories about how the eye worked, he considers the theological and philosophical arguments about the limits of perception by Greek thinkers, Roman statesmen and Arab scholars. There are encounters with ingenious medieval Italian glassmakers, myopic Renaissance rulers and spectacle-makers and opticians, brilliant, mad, bad and dangerous to know, in the Londons of Samuel Pepys, Dr Johnson and Sherlock Holmes. We learn how eyeglasses were the making of the silent movie star Harold Lloyd and the rock n roller Buddy Holly and helped liberate an exasperated John Lennon from Beatlemania. Get hip to horn-rims with Dizzy Gillespie and Michael Caine And see girls in glasses through the lenses of the crime fiction by Dorothy L Sayers and Raymond Chandler and the full-screen figure of Marilyn Monroe. Through the Looking Glasses is about vision and the need for humanity to see clearly, and where the impulse to improve our eyesight has led us. The society of the spectacle may finally be upon us . . . but how much of it do we really see?