Lasers by O. S. Heavens (review)

Books 335 awareness of subtle but universal phenomena that surround them. As the exposition stresses qualitative rather than quantitative relations, it should be readily understandable to those without a scientific background. 'Numerically ordered and symmetrical world. . ...'. While it is possible to encapsule photographically a phenomenon of nature to present the illusion of symmetry, as the world that the photograph represents proceeds in unidirectional timeflow (helical rather than circular), an inevitable element of asymmetry is implied. As with the river of Heraclitus, the identity (as of the river) is illusory, what was witnessed can actually never be seen again. Thus the author continues with perhaps the most provocative and valuable suggestion in this book (in the last chapter) in which he states that 'these systems are not rigid figures but pulsate, flow and undergo transformations, they weave textures out oftheir polarities and metamorphoses' (italics mine). It is for each individual reader to decide the seriousness of the author's proposed equivalent of logos (word) as the symbol of creation with the human larynx, a suggestion that taken literally is too easy to dismiss. However, like much in this excellent book, it is an almost humorous proposition, but challenging and provocative. Lasers. O. S. Heavens. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1971. 159 pp., illus. $9.95. Reviewed by J. S. Ostoja-Kotkowski* 'Since the laser was first operated, the impact of this device has been felt not only in the laboratories of the physicists, but in ever-widening fields of technology' reads the inside flap of the book's cover. I would like to add to this the field ofthe visual arts, although the impact has been comparatively small so far. The book should be comprehensible to artists without a science background, although some chapters, for example Similarity and Differences-Laser Light and Ordinary Light and The Laser as a Tool for the Physicist and Technologist, demand a good grasp of basic physics. There are 15 chapters, including those dealing with The Nature ofLight, Sources of Light, Trends in Laser Development and The Impact ofLasers in the Future. A list of publications for further reading and a good index are provided. The laser provides artists with interesting possibilities, and, as their cost drops, one can expect the making of more works in which they playa part. Handbook of Perception, Vol. 5-Seeing. Edward C. Carterette and Morton P. Friedman, eds. Academic Press, New York and London, 1975. 527 pp., iIIus. $28.50. Reviewed by John M. Kennedy·* The four previous volumes in this series covered the historical and philosophical roots of perception (Vol. 1), psychophysics (Vol. 2), biological systems and perception (Vol. 3) and hearing (Vol. 4). The editors have described Vol. 6 as being about feeling, tasting, smelling and hurting-I hope they mean 'being hurt'! How easy it is to be carried away by the modern tendency to keep treating perception as a verb. There will be four more volumes, comprising a second section to the so-called Handbook (again, this wording is odd). The second section will deal with the 'perceiving organism', and so it will cut across modalities to grapple with issues of faculties (like memory and thinking), abilities (like language and problem solving) and phenomena (like space and aesthetics). The editors are to be admired both for their enterprise and their aims. It is ambitious in today's balkanized psychology to cope with modalities, functions, phenomenology and physiology in a 'Grand Tour' of perception's kingdoms and satellite states. Vol. 5 is, like the others, a series of chapters by well-known perceptionists. The topics range, appropriately enough, from an *P.O. Box 46, Arbroath, Stirling, South Australia 5152. **Psychology Dept., Scarborough College, University of Toronto, West Hill, Ontario MIC lA4, Canada. introductory one on history, measurement and theory, to ones on neurology, resolution, pattern (object) per.ception, colour perception, and space and motion perception, and there is a fmal chapter where Pirenne follows up his book Optics, Painting and Photography (London: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1970) with an essay on vision and art. No one. concerned with perception should ignore this Handbook; some will bless it at times and upbraid it at others. I expect that...