Introduction to optokinetics. The amazing speeds of lights

Historical Significance: The author is an ophthalmologist MD FACS. This book is a revised version of a book 'Optokinetics : a treatise on the motions of lights' 1983. According to Dr Montague Ruben in his review of the 1983 book in BMJ 'he presents for the interested reader a meander through the various concepts attributed to the movement of light. Each theory concerning the behaviour of light is dealt with in a historical and philosophical sense. The book is not a textbook but a journey with the author to the library where he has browsed with leisure among the original papers and texts. For example, the ideology regarding space may span from Euclid as described by Daye in 1570 to Mach and his attitude to the analysis of visual sensation in 1959. This book, therefore, is one that can be picked up at any time and read in small parts. There is always enough to make the optically versed reader argue with the author, since many of the ideas expressed are not necessarily conventionally accepted. The ophthalmologist who is in any way interested in his Alma Mater will find the book refreshing and at times amusing (in an esoteric way). While the title of the book may be forbidding, the contents on the contrary are 'elementary, my dear reader!' 'MONTAGUE RUBEN Review in BMJ 1983 67 710