Introduction to Optokinetics : The Amazing Speeds of Lights

Introduction to Optokineticsbrings an entirely new branch of physical science to those familiar with physics and its history, and explores phenomena such as refraction, reflection, and the spectrum according to light?s various speeds. Twenty-five years have passed since Dr. Harry Mark publishedOptokinetics: A Treatise on the Motions of Lights, * and in this follow-up, he enlarges and amends his original discussion. He argues that the velocity of light is not a universal constant as has long been believed, and he shares a unified hypothesis that offers fresh meanings to issues such as the concept of time, colors of the spectrum, and the expanding universe, in addition to optical phenomena such as refraction and reflection. Dr. Mark includes a recounting of the historical evolution of ideas concerning uniform linear motions as a preliminary background to their application to the motions of lights as well as the results of his personal experiments. * ?This is an extraordinary book, as it does not follow the usual textbooks of physiological optics ? The physics of refraction, colors, interference, reflection and diffraction are illustrated using only little mathematics. The pleasure of reading this book lies in the philosophical treatment of the problems discussed. Darwin?s words, with which the author ends the last chapter, are exemplary for the way the material in this book is treated: ?False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for everyone takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness, and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened?.??Review in:Documenta Ophthalmologica, 55, 1983.