Description
Book Synopsis''Elegant and multi-focal. Glorious!'' Simon Garfield
The humble pair of glasses might just be one the world''s greatest inventions, allowing millions to see a world that might otherwise appear a blur. And yet how much do many of us even really think about these things perched on the ends of our noses?
In this eye-opening history Travis Elborough traces the fascinating true story of spectacles: from their inception as primitive visual aids to monkish scribes right through to today''s designer eyewear and the augmented reality of Google Glass. And taking in along the way such delights as lorgnettes, monocles, pince-nez, tortoise-shell ''Windsors'' and Ray Ban aviator shades.
Peering into early theories about how the eye worked, he considers the theological and philosophical arguments about the limits of perception by Greek thinkers, Roman statesmen and Arab scholars. There are encounters with ingenious medieval Italian glassmakers, myopic Renaissance rul
Trade Review
Elegantly framed and multi-focal, this is a gloriously panoptical survey... As a history of restored sight it is instructive, and as a narrative of facial furniture it is fascinating * Simon Garfield *
This is a thorough, entertaining and thoroughly entertaining history of life through a lens * David Quantick *
It will make you look at specs with fresh eyes * New Statesman *
A fascinating journey through the history of eye glasses... a rich and detailed account of technology, fashion, medicine and society... encyclopaedic historical and cultural range, intriguing insights and jocular prose * Hackney Citizen *
Fascinating... [An] exuberant history of spectacles and those who wear them -- Victoria Segal * Sunday Times *
Elborough is an elegant writer who moves easily between high art, tricky optics and celebrity culture... This is a lively, engaging, admirably wide-ranging history of everything you could possibly want to know about glasses -- Laura Freeman * The Times *
[A] brilliantly enjoyable survey... Elborough brings his own experience as a lifelong myope beautifully to bear on his subject -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *
Fascinating -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
Witty, enjoyable and illuminating... the sort of book that makes you wonder why nobody has ever written it before... Elborough is an erudite cultural historian -- Andrew Lynch * Business Post *
[An] exhaustive, illuminating celebration of eyewear... Elborough proves to be an endlessly entertaining and informative guide * Islington Tribune *
