2/$29 Adult Non-Fiction Book Mirror Psychology History Human Nature Science

Mirror Mirror: A HISTORY of the HUMAN LOVE AFFAIR with REFLECTION by MARK PENDERGRAST, AUTHOR OF UNCOMMON GROUNDS History, human nature, sociology, psychology, science Book is in good vintage condition (some wear/dirt/sticker residue on cover & discolored pages)—see photos. From the cover: “Of all human inventions, the mirror is the one most closely connected to our own consciousness. As our first technology for contemplation of the self, the mirror is arguably as important an invention as the wheel and perhaps even more universal (the Incas, who had mirrors, did not invent wheels). Mirror Mirror is the fascinating story of the mirror's invention, refinement, and use in an astonishing range of human activities-from the bloodthirsty smoking gods of the Aztecs to the fantastic mirrored rooms wealthy Romans created for their orgies, to the mirror's key role in gathering light from the far reaches of the universe. Mark Pendergrast spins tales of the 2,500-year mystery of whether Archimedes and his “burning mirror" really set fire to Roman ships; the medieval Venetian mirror-makers for whom any attempt to escape their cloistered island was punishable by death; Isaac Newton's intense experiments with sunlight on mirrors that left him blind for three days; Renaissance artists such as Jan van Eyck and Albrecht Dürer who used mirrors to revolutionize realistic representations of the world; George Ellery Hale, the manic-depressive astronomer…”