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

Seeking a Common Gestalt Approach to the Perception of Faces, Objects, and Scenes

Perception of Faces, Objects, and Scenes: Analytic and Holistic Processes
Edited by Mary A. Peterson and Gillian Rhodes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 412 pp. Cloth, $85.

The edited volume is a venerated mode of publication in psychology for good reason. In their dual role as depository and vehicle, such volumes have something for everyone. Perception of Faces, Objects, and Scenes is an excellent case in point. This volume succeeds in fine form as a depository of ideas. Every chapter features extremely bright people presenting interesting ideas about important topics. Consequently, the contents provide ample fodder for related research and discussion on face, object, and scene perception, and, as a whole, they provide means by which interested parties, be they psychologists, information and computational scientists, engineers, philosophers, or neuroscientists, can connect intellectually to these topics.