Introduction

Summary

The art of seeing nature is a thing almost as much to be acquired as the art of reading the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

John Constable, quoted in C.R. Leslie, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Phaidon, 1951, p. 327

The first great mistake that people make in the matter, is the supposition that they must see a thing if it be before their eyes.

John Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. 1, George Allen & Sons, 1908, p. 54

However extraordinary it may seem, it remains a fact that the things one notices are the things with which one is familiar; it is very difficult to see new things even when they are before our very eyes.

Marcel Minnaert, The Nature of Light and Colour in the Open Air, Dover, 1954, p. vi

Since this book is intended to encourage you to use your eyes, unaided by a telescope, I should begin by saying a few words about the eye. Many people assume that the eye is like a camera, and that therefore we must see whatever is before our eyes. But, to see, you must look. Seeing is a conscious act and, unless you look actively, and have some idea of what you are looking for, you probably won't see many of the things mentioned in the subsequent pages.