HOW TO USE YOUR EYES H O W T O U S E Y O U R J A M E S E Y E S E L K I N S ROUTLEDGE NEW YORK • LONDON First published in 2000 by Routledge This edition first published in paperback in 2009 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008 “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2000 by James Elkins All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Elkins, James, 1955— How to Use Your Eyes/James Elkins p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-415-92254-2 Vision Attention Visual discrimination I Title QP475.5.E456 2000 612.8’4—dc21 00-036598 ISBN 0-203-94341-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN-13: 978-0-415-99363-0 (pbk.) ISBN-13: 978-0-203-94341-0 (e-bk.) ISBN-10: 0-415-99363-6 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-203-94341-4 (e-bk.) MORE PRAISE FOR HOW TO USE YOUR EYES: “You know how you’re always being challenged to specify what you’d want to take along for a stint of solitary confinement on some remote desert isle? With this dazzling volume, James Elkins effectively proposes that all you’d ever really need to bring would be your own eyes—your eyes, that is, properly tuned and vitalized If the doors of perception were cleansed, Blake used to insist, we’d see the world as it truly is, which is to say, infinite Leaving aside its vitalizing bounty of particular revelations, what Elkins is really offering with this marvelous book is nothing less than Murine for the mind, Windex for the soul.” —Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology “A magical mystery tour of the ordinary and arcane Elkins goes detecting, explaining, experimenting so that, our vision revitalized, we can finally see.” —Rosamond W Purcell, photographer of Swift as a Shadow: Extinct and Endangered Animals “Intriguing, informative, and revealing A beautiful guide to the art of not just looking but also seeing.” —Antonio R Damasio, neuroscientist and author of The Feeling of What Happens “In 32 informed yet graceful essays, Mr Elkins, a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, teaches you how to look at postage stamps, pavement, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the periodic table, grass, a twig, moths’ wings, color, the inside of your eye and nothing at all, among other man-made and natural things.” —The New York Times “… Elkins proves himself an enthusiastic, fun guide With dozens of full-color photographs, this is a great book for the coffee table.” —Publishers Weekly “… a useful book for writers, artists and teachers, as well as the rest of us to enrich our daily lives.” —Marilee Reyes, Star-News “Elkins shows us the extraordinary in the most ordinary of things.” —Jerry Davich, Northwest Indiana Times “An intriguing and beautiful project, it is wide-ranging and well-informed in the subjects it covers … this book … takes us on a fascinating exploration of the visual world— which we too easily forget extends beyond television, movies, and art museums—in all its rich diversity.” —Lisa Soccio, afterimage Published Preface in 2000 by ix Routledge 29 West 35th Street THINGS MADE BY MAN London EC4P 4EE 1Copyrighthow to look at A Postage © 2000 by James Elkins Stamp Printed in the United States of American on acid free paper 2All right reserved how to No lookpart atofA 12 or reproduced or utilized in any form or by thisCulvert book may be reprinted any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopy- how to look at An Oil Painting 20 ing and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers how to look at Pavement 28 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Elkins, James, 1955- how to look at An X ray 34 p cm Linear B 48 How to use your eyes/James Elkins how to look at Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-415-92254-2 how to look at Chinese and Japanese Script 54 Vision Attention Visual discrimination I Title 8QP475.5 E456 how to2000 look at Eg yptian Hieroglyphs 62 ϩ 612.8 4—dc21 how to look at Eg yptian Scarabs 68 10 how to look at An Engineering Drawing 74 11 how to look at A Rebus 80 12 how to look at Mandalas 86 13 how to look at Perspective Pictures 92 14 how to look at An Alchemical Emblem 100 15 how to look at Special Effects 108 16 how to look at The Periodic Table 118 17 how to look at A Map 126 how to look at A Shoulder 132 19 how to look at A Face 146 20 how to look at A Fingerprint 154 21 how to look at Grass 164 22 how to look at A Twig 170 23 how to look at Sand 176 24 how to look at Moths’ Wings 182 25 how to look at Halos 190 26 how to look at Sunsets 196 27 how to look at Color 202 28 how to look at The Night 212 29 how to look at Mirages 218 VIII 30 how to look at A Crystal 224 E Y E S 31 how to look at The Inside of Your Eye 232 32 how to look at Nothing 238 H O W T O U S E 18 Y O U R THINGS MADE BY NATURE Postscript: How Do We Look to a Scallop? 243 For Further Reading 247 Figure Credits 255 P R E FA C E O ur eyes are far too good for us They show us so much that we can’t take it all in, so we shut out most of the world, and try to look at things as briskly and efficiently as possible What happens if we stop and take the time to look more carefully? Then the world unfolds like a flower, full of colors and shapes that we had never suspected Some things can’t really be seen without reams of special information I cannot hope to understand the monitors I see in pictures of NASA’s command center, or the strange implements in my doctor’s office I don’t pretend to be able to guess the insides of my digital watch and I can’t decipher the scary-looking devices in the electric relay station that is a few blocks from where I live There are books that can help you learn to understand such things, but this is not one of them This book won’t tell you how to repair your refrigerator or read bar codes It’s not a museum guide, either—you won’t learn how to understand fine art And you won’t learn how to predict the weather by looking at clouds, or how to wire a house, or how to track animals in the snow In short, this is not a reference tool It’s a book about learning to see anything, learning to use your eyes more concertedly and with more patience than you might ordinarily It’s about stopping and taking the time simply to look, and keep looking, until the details of the world slowly reveal themselves I especially love the strange feeling I get when I am looking at something and suddenly I understand— the object has structure; it speaks to me What was once a shimmer on the horizon becomes a specific kind of mirage, and it tells me about the shape of the air I am walking through What was once a meaningless pattern on a butterfly’s wing becomes a code, and it tells me how that butterfly looks to other butterflies Even a ... Data Elkins, James, 1955- how to look at An X ray 34 p cm Linear B 48 How to use your eyes /James Elkins how to look at Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-415-92254-2 how to look... how to look at A Shoulder 132 19 how to look at A Face 146 20 how to look at A Fingerprint 154 21 how to look at Grass 164 22 how to look at A Twig 170 23 how to look at Sand 176 24 how to look... Moths’ Wings 182 25 how to look at Halos 190 26 how to look at Sunsets 196 27 how to look at Color 202 28 how to look at The Night 212 29 how to look at Mirages 218 VIII 30 how to look at A Crystal