A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions

Overview

An unusual history of sight across 500 million years

'A remarkable achievement' - Stephen Fry

In 2015 #thedress captured the world’s imagination. Was the dress in the picture white and gold or blue and black? It inspired the author to ask: if people in the same time and place can see the same thing differently, how did people in distant times and places see the world?

Jam-packed with fascinating stories, facts and insights and impeccably researched, A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions investigates the story of seeing from the evolution of eyes 500 million years ago to the present day. Time after time, it reveals, inventions that changed how people saw the world ended up changing it altogether.

Twenty-first-century life is more visual than ever, and seeing overwhelmingly dominates our senses.

Can our eyes keep up with technology? Have we gone as far as the eye can see?

Author Biography