DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Why Every Perceptual Psychologist Should Know About Eye Movements

Oculomotor Systems and Perception
By Sheldon M. Ebenholtz. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 212 pp. Cloth, $60.

At first it was disappointing to see such a slim volume, just over 200 pages including indexes, for this should be Sheldon Ebenholtz's magnum opus, the cap on a long and productive career in visual sciences. But the first glance was deceiving, for it is all here: the basics of physiologic optics, oculomotor systems, and two dazzling chap-ters extracting the essence of dozens of influences of ocular physiology on perception. Rather than producing an exhaustive and exhausting comprehensive tome, Ebenholtz has accomplished something more difficult: He has abstracted what is essential about position perception, depth, visual— vestibular interactions, and dozens of other topics in spatial orientation, with a concise discussion and a few key references for each. Like his persona, Ebenholtz's writing cuts to the core of the issues gently and with minimal fanfare.