Book – Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection
Posted on | May 3, 2010 |
mirror book reflecting on mirror
We mentioned this Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection
Amazingly, a simple topic that is mirror produced a 400-page book. Whoever thought that mirror is so complex that one needs to start exploring it with references to the Big Bang Theory, to the hominids possible reaction to mirror, to astronomy, to the myths, arts & religion, and up to nano-technology? I certainly did not.
Make no mistake about this book, this is a science book with bits of cultural, literature, art & religion inserts. After going through some pages of this tech book, I’ll not look at mirror (and my reflection) the same way ever way again. By the way, check out our post about mirror being a decorative piece here.
From the author…
Of all human inventions, the mirror is perhaps the most intriguing, since it is so closely connected to our own consciousness, reflecting both reality and illusion. As our first technology for self-contemplation, the mirror is arguably as important an invention as the wheel and perhaps even more universal (the Incas, who had mirrors, did not invent wheels). Mirror Mirror is the fascinating story of the mirror’s invention, refinement, and use in an astonishing range of human activities – from the bloodthirsty smoking gods of the Aztecs to the fantastic mirrored rooms wealthy Romans created for their orgies, to the mirror’s key role in gathering light from the far reaches of the universe.
Pendergrast spins tales about:
• the 2,500-year mystery of whether Archimedes and his “burning mirror” really set fire to Roman ships.
• the medieval Venetian mirror-makers for whom any attempt to escape their cloistered island was punishable by death.
• John Dee, whose attempts to talk to angels in his magic mirror led to disaster and free love experiments.
• Isaac Newton, the obsessive genius whose intense experiments with sunlight on mirrors that nearly blinded him.
• Renaissance artists such as Jan van Eyck and Albrecht Dürer who used mirrors to revolutionize realistic representations of the world.
• George Ellery Hale, the manic-depressive astronomer, and George Ritchey, the arrogant optician, who joined forces to produce ever-larger telescope mirrors until their friendship shattered.
• Roger Angel, who now spin-casts the world’s largest mirrors underneath the University of Arizona football stadium.
• And many more rivetting stories and quirky characters.
This is the extraordinary tale of the reflective surface that means nothing without an observer – a truly blank slate – and yet has had a remarkable impact on myth, religion, science, psychology, business, and the arts. Like mirrors themselves, Mirror Mirror is a book that provokes wonder and discovery.
Post notes:
- If you want this book, buy here: Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection
- We have mirrors for sale too, please check it out.
- The “PENNYLANE” mirror was used in the shoot of the book.
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