This is an interesting book about mirrors, vision and how the two have paired throughout history. It runs the gamut from obsidian and metal mirrors to massive telescopes, with stops in fashion, art and astronomy.

There are some interesting stories in here, especially how science always has more discoveries to make and ideas to refine - or discard, as the case may be.

As an aside, the author mentions the famous Pepper's Ghost mirror illusions at my favorite Disneyland attraction, the Haunted Mansion (+1 point), but it mistakenly calls the attraction the Haunted House (-1).

This book was published in 2003, so some of the technical information at the end is a little outdated (the National Ignition Facility hasn't actually achieved fusion like the author hoped), but that's what happens with science.

The only real drawback is that it spends a lot of time on ancillary subjects like the makeup of the universe. He also stretches the "mirror" idea by including radio waves and x-rays in the discussion of telescopes and microscopes.

This book should really be called "Some interesting stuff about mirrors and then 200 pages about telescopes and the history of astronomy." There were some interesting bits about the history of mirror-making, some short philosophical ramblings on the human relationship to mirrors and mirror-related objects, and then TELESCOPES.

Yes, telescopes have mirrors, and mirrors are super important for astronomy, so a chapter about telescopes was not out of line. But pages and pages of reading about various astronomers and their painstaking work grinding a YET BIGGER mirror for a YET BIGGER telescope...I enjoy reading about astronomy, but it was dull.

Some chapters were fascinating and some were too scientific or technical for me.

I am more interested in the history of and the idea of mirrors than in the technicalities of making them or using them in certain applications.