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Details
Title
Eye chart / William Germano.
ISBN
9781501312342 (paperback)
1501312340 (paperback)
1501312340 (paperback)
Published
New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Language
English
Description
xv, 176 pages : illustrations ; 17 cm.
Call Number
RE26 .G47 2017
Dewey Decimal Classification
612.8/4
Summary
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Desert nomads tested their vision by distinguishing a pair of stars. But we have since created more disquieting ways to test the strength of the eyes. Reading the eye chart is an exercise in failure, since it only gets interesting when you cannot read any further. It is the opposite of interpretative reading, like one does with literature. When you have finished reading an eye chart, what exactly have you even read? From a Spanish cleric's Renaissance guide to testing vision, to a Dutch ophthalmologist's innovation in optical tech, to the witty subversion of the eye chart in advertising and popular culture, William Germano's Eye Chart lets people see the eye chart at last. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Note
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Desert nomads tested their vision by distinguishing a pair of stars. But we have since created more disquieting ways to test the strength of the eyes. Reading the eye chart is an exercise in failure, since it only gets interesting when you cannot read any further. It is the opposite of interpretative reading, like one does with literature. When you have finished reading an eye chart, what exactly have you even read? From a Spanish cleric's Renaissance guide to testing vision, to a Dutch ophthalmologist's innovation in optical tech, to the witty subversion of the eye chart in advertising and popular culture, William Germano's Eye Chart lets people see the eye chart at last. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Series
Object lessons.
Available in Other Form
Eye chart.
Record Appears in
On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
All Resources
Table of Contents
What can you see?
Reading stars, reading stones
How to choose eyeglasses (circa 1623)
The persistence of memory
Eleven lines, nine letters
Reading up close
Looking for trouble
Eye terror
Eye poetry
Optical allusions
The bottom line.
Reading stars, reading stones
How to choose eyeglasses (circa 1623)
The persistence of memory
Eleven lines, nine letters
Reading up close
Looking for trouble
Eye terror
Eye poetry
Optical allusions
The bottom line.