Book review: Eye chart by William Germano

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition when picking up a book about the eye chart but that is just one of the many interesting snippets that emerge in the latest of Bloomsbury’s Object Lesson series of short books.

The pocket-sized eye chart by William Germano is aimed at a generalist reader but for a professional audience the title Snellen chart would seem more appropriate. The book is a collection of amusing and interesting nuggets relating to eyesight and methods of testing used throughout history using Snellen’s chart as its anchor.

Germano’s approach suits this pick-up-and-put-down title which, after a rather oblique opening, presents itself as an engaging series of themed vignettes which take the Snellen chart as its subject.