inspiration

spurred on by the recent astroshack discussion about optical illusions, i've just ordered a book from amazon which looks absolutely fascinating, and potentially useful. it's called 'mind hacks', and contains 'hacks' you can performs to better understand how the brain perceives the Universe, and... it claims, use this information to your advantage. check out http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindhks/toc.html for a description. here are a few titles of hacks from the ToC which caught my eye:

• Release Eye Fixations for Faster Reactions
  

• Fool Yourself into Seeing 3D

• See Movement When All Is Still

• Make Things Invisible Simply by Concentrating (on Something Else)

• Improve Visual Attention Through Video Games

• Use Your Right Brain-and Your Left, Too

• Detect Cheaters

• See a Person in Moving Lights

• Have an Out-of-Body Experience

• Spread a Bad Mood Around

i'm looking forward to the arrival of this book. fellow astronomers are, of course, welcome to borrow it when i'm done. just pop into the 311 library.