A Four-Eyed World: How Glasses Changed the Way We See, by David King Dunaway
David King Dunaway had an interesting idea. The myopic English professor (University of New Mexico) decided to go a week without eyeglasses. To prepare, he turned to Thoreau for guidance on what’s essential when sojourning beyond one’s usual life, but ultimately ignoring the sage of Walden Pond, he settled for a cellphone and snacks. Glasses off, he explored “new ways of looking at that world” and found things that had been “hidden in plain sight.” He noticed bright colors up close. “Semi-sight ended multitasking. My feet reached cautiously for a step.”
Dunaway pads out the text with some potted history: in the 7th century BCE, the Chinese wore rock crystal in tortoise shell frames as sunglasses; the Romans used rock crystal magnifying stones; the Arabs made advances in optics which fell into the hands of a medieval Franciscan monk, Roger Bacon, whose discoveries were frowned on by the Church. Whether in Venice or Florence, by the early 1300s spectacles as we know them began to catch on—but not without recrimination.
Near-sighted from childhood, Dunaway is preoccupied by the mocking prejudice he experienced against “four-eyes,” a term not much in use this century. He acknowledges that glasses are no longer dorky and that what once was nerdy is now cool. A Four-Eyed World is a fun, quick read on vision and fashion.
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