魔鏡：艾雪的不可能世界(全新修訂版)The magic mirror of M.C. Escher

　　地板也能是天花板，人的影子裡還藏著另一個人。二十世紀平面藝術大師、知名荷蘭版畫藝術家－艾雪(M.C. Escher)。他的創作融合錯視效果與數學規律，被視為20世紀的藝術奇葩。他以藝術詮釋萬物邏輯，並刺激著人們思考的多樣可能。「艾雪的魔幻世界畫展」被英國倫敦《The ART NEWSPAPER》評選為全球最受歡迎的展覽，也曾經來台展出並意外造成一股旋風。
 
　　在3D立體繪圖的電腦時代之前，艾雪就掌握了三度空間的奧秘。他的著名版畫作品《魔鏡(Magic Mirror)》早在1946年便已完成。本書作者也是數學家恩斯特(Bruno Ernst)特以此作品名稱作為書名，強調艾雪的作品對他的讀者產生的那股魔力。恩斯特連續一整年，每週都拜訪艾雪，有系統的討論他全部的作品，他們不間斷的討論，除了奠定友誼的基礎，也使恩斯特能夠深入艾雪的生活與他的構圖世界中。作者的敘述詳實準確，並經過藝術家艾雪本人校正。
 
　　艾雪的作品無法被歸類，單純從科學、心理學或者美學的角度都無法品味其奧妙。問題依然存在：艾雪為什麼要創造這些圖畫？他是如何構建它們的？他在最終完成作品之前，要做哪些前期工作？他所創造的這些意象之間有什麼關聯？這本更新修訂版的《魔鏡：艾雪的不可能世界》以真實可信的第一手資料，從艾雪的生平、250幅插圖、以及對每一個數學問題的詳細解釋，提供讀者最佳解答。

＂A woman once rang me up and said, ’Mr. Escher, I am absolutely crazy about your work. In your print Reptiles, you have given such a striking illustration of reincarnation.’ I replied, ’Madame, if that’s the way you see it, so be it.’＂ A fittingly sly comment from renowned Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), whose complex and ambiguous drawings continue to leave hasty interpretations far behind.

Long before the first computer-generated 3-D images, Escher was a master of the third dimension. His lithograph Magic Mirror dates as far back as 1946. By taking such a title for the book, mathematician Bruno Ernst stressed the enrapturing spell Escher’s work invariably casts on those who see it. Ernst visited Escher every week for a year, systematically talking through his entire oeuvre with him. Their discussions resulted in a friendship that gave Ernst intimate access to the life and conceptual world of Escher. Ernst’s account was meticulously scrutinized and made accurate by the artist himself.

Escher’s work refuses to be pigeonholed. Scientific, psychological, or aesthetic criteria alone cannot do it justice. The questions remain: Why did he create the pictures? How did he construct them? What preliminary studies were necessary before achieving the final version? And how are his various creations interrelated? This updated and redesigned edition of a true classic--complete with biographical data, 250 illustrations, and a thorough breaking-down of each mathematical problem--offers answers to these and many other lingering mysteries, and is an authentic source text of the first order.