Throughout the book, each image is accompanied by an explanation of how it works, the story behind it – when it was discovered or who invented it first – and the details of exactly why it fools the human brain.
The book includes many new and previously unpublished illusions, as well as new adaptations of lesser-known illusions. It also includes works by well-known illusion artists such as Bridget Riley, Salvador Dalí, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Oscar Reutersvärd, René Magritte, István Orosz and Rob Gonsalves.
There are chapters on the following subjects: optical illusions from the real world (mirage, refraction, afterimage), ambiguous figures, impossible figures, color adaptation, moving illusions and paradoxical illusions.