Eye Chart

ISBN-13: 9781501312342 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 192 str.

William Germano; Christopher Schaberg; Ian Bogost

Opis

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.

Recenzje

Germano's style is conversational yet also deeply informative. He manages to turn font design and typography into a fascinating history about the diagnosis of vision. Times Higher Education

Spis treści

List of FiguresAcknowledgments1. What can you see?2. Reading stars, reading stones3. How to choose eyeglasses (circa 1623)4. The persistence of memory5. Eleven lines, nine letters6. Reading close up7. Looking for trouble8. Eye terror9. Eye poetry10. Optical allusions11. The bottom lineNotesIndex

O autorze

William Germano is Professor of English Literature at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, USA. His previous publications include The Tales of Hoffmann (2013) and Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (3rd edition, 2016). He writes a biweekly language blog for the Chronicle of Higher Education.