About this book

We sadly refute reality, or we suspend disbelief. Some impossible objects are white lies, meaningful allegories, metaphors, or tall tales. Some objects personify human attributes and ideals. Some are just for fun, fooling nobody. Others are delusions, fulfillments of wishes, hoaxes, and lies. The differences between a lie and a white lie tell us about ourselves and our culture.

The cover illustration is my photograph of a bronze incense lamp in a square that I drew with a pen.

Links and shortcuts

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You may find the following keyboard equivalents to be convenient. Here I use the symbol ⌥ for the option key on Mac/OS or the alt key on Windows, ⇧ for the shift key, and ⏎ for the return (enter) key. Arrow keys are ◄ (left), ► (right), ▲ (up), and ▼ (down).

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The author

Tom Sharp, self portrait

Tom Sharp is a Native American of Aleut heritage, a member of Seldovia Village Tribe. He is the author of numerous books, including Spectacles: A Sampler of Poems and Prose, Taurean Horn Press (ISBN 0-931552-10-9), a novel, Hans and the Clock (ISBN 979-8580172484), The book of science, SciFi (ISBN 979-8694935210), Things People Do (ISBN 979-8687425568), The book of beliefs (ISBN 979-8683553593), The I Ching (ISBN 979-8573510620), Images (ISBN 979-8577560515), Aleut Artifacts (ISBN 979-8575608998), Aleut Words (ISBN 979-8582103394), and First Nations (ISBN 979-8682924769).

Tom Sharp’s initials