Demb and Demer

Have you ever savored something significant, and purposely pushed off purchasing it so that you could savor it even more when it finally came your way?  There’s something to be said for deferred gratification.  About a year ago I first became aware of a four volume set called Encyclopedia of the Eye, published in 2010 by Academic Press (no relation).  I looked at it online, and it boggled my mind that I hadn’t come across it before, particularly since it was of such high quality.  To give you an idea of how well done each topic is, take a look at this sample chapter.  Here’s the problem: the list price of the book is nearly $2000, essentially priced for institutional libraries to purchase.  Even in the marketplace, the best price for the four volume set is nearly $800.

Well … as you can see, I’ve savored it long enough, and am the proud owner of this handsome four volume set which arrived at the office today and is now resting comfortably on my desk at home.  It really is a work of art inside and out.

 

There are a litany of very fine authors, about 400 in total, and the list of contributors is probably the only place you’ll ever find Demb and Demer in sequence.

Demb co-authored the entry on Information Processing: Contrast Sensitivity, and Demer authored the entry on The Active Pulley Hypothesis.  If there is isn’t rhyme there is reason to the entries, which is very simply that they appear in alphabetical sequence.  This set is literally and figuratively encyclopedic about the eye, and it complements the four volume Encyclopedia of the Human Brain I picked up two years ago.

How do I feel thumbing through this incredible resource?