Reddit reviews Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing

There is a neurological explanation to the Mona Lisa smile that basically states that the amount of blur in the mouth tricks our peripheral vision into making the mona lisa smile more depending upon where we focus. If we look at the eyes the mouth turns upward because our peripheral vision accepts the blur around the mouth as a more solid shape that subliminally creates a stronger smile. Read more in From Mirror Neurons to the Mona Lisa or the interesting book by Margaret Livingstone- Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing

A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a hoop, a pint, a catalpa, a gas, an oil, a bird, a yell, a vat, a caw, a pax, a wag, a tax, a nay, a ram, a cap, a yam, a gay, a tsar, a wall, a car, a luger, a ward, a bin, a woman, a vassal, a wolf, a tuna, a nit, a pall, a fret, a watt, a bay, a daub, a tan, a cab, a datum, a gall, a hat, a fag, a zap, a say, a jaw, a lay, a wet, a gallop, a tug, a trot, a trap, a tram, a torr, a caper, a top, a tonk, a toll, a ball, a fair, a sax, a minim, a tenor, a bass, a passer, a capital, a rut, an amen, a ted, a cabal, a tang, a sun, an ass, a maw, a sag, a jam, a dam, a sub, a salt, an axon, a sail, an ad, a wadi, a radian, a room, a rood, a rip, a tad, a pariah, a revel, a reel, a reed, a pool, a plug, a pin, a peek, a parabola, a dog, a pat, a cud, a nu, a fan, a pal, a rum, a nod, an eta, a lag, an eel, a batik, a mug, a mot, a nap, a maxim, a mood, a leek, a grub, a gob, a gel, a drab, a citadel, a total, a cedar, a tap, a gag, a rat, a manor, a bar, a gal, a cola, a pap, a yaw, a tab, a raj, a gab, a nag, a pagan, a bag, a jar, a bat, a way, a papa, a local, a gar, a baron, a mat, a rag, a gap, a tar, a decal, a tot, a led, a tic, a bard, a leg, a bog, a burg, a keel, a doom, a mix, a map, an atom, a gum, a kit, a baleen, a gala, a ten, a don, a mural, a pan, a faun, a ducat, a pagoda, a lob, a rap, a keep, a nip, a gulp, a loop, a deer, a leer, a lever, a hair, a pad, a tapir, a door, a moor, an aid, a raid, a wad, an alias, an ox, an atlas, a bus, a madam, a jag, a saw, a mass, an anus, a gnat, a lab, a cadet, an em, a natural, a tip, a caress, a pass, a baronet, a minimax, a sari, a fall, a ballot, a knot, a pot, a rep, a carrot, a mart, a part, a tort, a gut, a poll, a gateway, a law, a jay, a sap, a zag, a fat, a hall, a gamut, a dab, a can, a tabu, a day, a batt, a waterfall, a patina, a nut, a flow, a lass, a van, a mow, a nib, a draw, a regular, a call, a war, a stay, a gam, a yap, a cam, a ray, an ax, a tag, a wax, a paw, a cat, a valley, a drib, a lion, a saga, a plat, a catnip, a pooh, a rail, a calamus, a dairyman, a bater, a canal - Panama!
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— Dan Hoey [ 1984 ]

Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing seems right up her alley and I'd also recommend The Artist's Eyes: Vision and the History of Art.

You can try Durer, a coffee table book from Taschen, these guys make absolutely gorgeous books, I have a Dali book from them, but I'd go with one of the above books coupled with a card with the prints Sparklebunny suggested and you're golden :)

It's not too tough to keep going.

Architectural programs like Rhino have made it so we can digitally reconstruct architectural spaces.

The internet itself has totally changed how research is done (as it has for all fields), so CAA reviews is now easily available for the latest art history books to be peer reviewed. Or ArtPrice catalogs what has been sold at auction, for what price.

Scientific analysis of, say, paint, materials in general, have revolutionized methods of identifying and proving the provenance of given paintings. And that is really only the beginning. Check this out: http://www.metmuseum.org/research/conservation-and-scientific-research

3-D Printing has already been mentioned.

Margaret Livingston (Harvard, Cog Sci) just wrote a whole book in which she applies the latest scientific explanations of vision to art history, explaining a number of ways in which the Impressionists / Van Gogh / The Mona Lisa achieve affects that play between different levels of vision.
http://www.amazon.com/Vision-Art-The-Biology-Seeing/dp/0810995549

This is all off the top of my head -- this question needs to be more specific!

Another good book is "Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing" by Margaret Livingstone (http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0810995549)

It's not strictly a design book but I recommend

Vision and Art : The Biology of Seeing

http://www.amazon.com/Vision-Art-Margaret-S-Livingstone/dp/0810995549/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250871278&sr=1-1

Edit: link got mashed up...