Druid Magazine

In the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders...until he meets Donald Shimoda--former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard's imagination soar.... In Illusions, the unforgettable follow-up to his phenomenal bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach takes to the air to discover the ageless truths that give our souls wings: that people don't need airplanes to soar...that even the darkest clouds have meaning once we lift ourselves above them... and that messiahs can be found in the unlikeliest places--like hay fields, one-traffic-light midwestern towns, and most of all, deep within ourselves.

A dynamic and interactive introduction to optical illusions features a wealth of lift-flaps, pull-tabs and visual eye tricks including a spinning thaumatrope, a stereoscope and a 3-D sculpture that "follows" observers around the room, in a volume that also shares accessible explanations for why illusions work.

How 33 ancient, familiar and new optical illusions work, with 150 examples.

Dear Thomas, I know you're angry. It's true, I was sent to expose your mentor as a fraud illusionist, and instead I have put your secret in jeopardy. I fear I have even put your life in jeopardy. For that I can only beg your forgiveness. I've fallen for you. You know I have. And I never wanted to create a rift between us, but if it means protecting you from those who wish you dead—I'll do it. I'll do anything to keep you safe, whatever the sacrifice. Please forgive me for all I've done and what I'm about to do next. I promise, it's one magic trick no one will ever see coming. Love, Saverio

Wiggling a pencil so that it looks like it is made of rubber, "stealing" your niece's nose, and listening for the sounds of the ocean in a conch shell– these are examples of folk illusions, youthful play forms that trade on perceptual oddities. In this groundbreaking study, K. Brandon Barker and Clairborne Rice argue that these easily overlooked instances of children's folklore offer an important avenue for studying perception and cognition in the contexts of social and embodied development. Folk illusions are traditionalized verbal and/or physical actions that are performed with the intention of creating a phantasm for one or more participants. Using a cross-disciplinary approach that combines the ethnographic methods of folklore with the empirical data of neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology, Barker and Rice catalogue over eighty discrete folk illusions while exploring the complexities of embodied perception. Taken together as a genre of folklore, folk illusions show that people, starting from a young age, possess an awareness of the illusory tendencies of perceptual processes as well as an awareness that the distinctions between illusion and reality are always communally formed.

Visual illusions are compelling phenomena that draw attention to the brain's capacity to construct our perceptual world. The Compendium is a collection of over 100 chapters on visual illusions, written by the illusion creators or by vision scientists who have investigated mechanisms underlying the phenomena. --

Who Am I? Why Am I Here? What Is Reality Really All About? Throughout mankind's history, our perceptive reality has led us to question who, what, and why we are here. What is this universe we perceive around us? These questions have been the driving force of our survival and have contributed to the evolution and proliferation of man's existence. While there have been many disciplines of thought which have attempted to answer these questions, the truth seems to elude us, thereby indicating a lack of satisfactory answers from all our religions, philosophies, mythologies, and sciences. Ironically, we do in fact have enough knowledge, experience, and information to discover, define, and comprehend the true nature of our existence, as well as our individual roles in it. To realize this requires the willingness to see things at their most basic level, and recognize that what we find there provides us the evidence to understand the foundation of all that exists. For thousands of years, theologians, philosophers, and scientists have monopolized the question of "what is reality?" Now it's a topic for the rest of us. Anyone sufficiently motivated to ask themselves questions such as "Who am I? Why am I here? What is this existence really all about?" already has the inherent ability and the direct evidence to find the answers. It is often said that truth can be stranger then fiction. No where is this more true then in the pages of this eBook.

Campbell (philosophy, Dalhousie U., Halifax) argues that feminist and naturalized epistemology are not incompatible despite appearances, and that combining them allows a coherent and politically useful account of the objectivity of value. He draws on conceptual resources already present in the two approaches to construct a coherent epistemology that reinforces and extends the present feminist critiques of androcentric science and the fact- value dichotomy, but is uncompromising in its realist implications. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"I don't do patrols, I don't go hunting, I just stick close to you. You live your life. I'll keep you safe," Tamani said, sweeping a lock of hair from her face. "Or die trying." Laurel hasn't seen Tamani since she begged him to let her go last year. Though her heart still aches, Laurel is confident that David was the right choice. But just as life returns to normal, Laurel realizes that a hidden enemy lies in wait. Once again, Laurel must turn to Tamani to protect and guide her, for the danger that now threatens Avalon is one that no faerie thought would ever be possible. And for the first time, Laurel cannot be sure that her side will prevail.