Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Camouflage in 100 Facts: Why the Eye Fails, Who Painted the Ships, and the Deceptions That Worked

Camouflage in 100 Facts: Why the Eye Fails, Who Painted the Ships, and the Deceptions That Worked

Van Houte, Cornelis

Paperback

Series: Military Science, Book 96

International RelationsMilitary Strategy

ISBN13: 9798171733995
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 3 2026
Pages: 248
Weight: 0.74
Height: 0.52 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Why is an outline the loudest thing about any object? Why did dazzle ships actually use high-contrast patterns that made them stand out rather than hide? And how did a stage magician, a group of modernist painters, and a series of broken enemy ciphers change the course of military history?

Camouflage in 100 Facts takes you on a fascinating, fast-paced journey through the science, history, and art of visual deception. Written for the general reader, this book strips away the myths to examine how human eyes-and modern sensors-actually process the world around us.

Inside, explore 100 short, punchy, and thoroughly revealing facts covering:

  • The Perceptual Science: Why the retina detects edges before the brain ever sees an object, and why colour matching is the least important part of concealment.
  • The Animal Kingdom: How Abbott Handerson Thayer proved countershading with sweet potatoes on wires, why zebras are actually about biting flies instead of predators, and the truth behind disruptive patterns.
  • The Artists in Uniform: How World War I brought academic painters, cubists, and theatrical scene-makers to the frontlines to build hollow steel observation trees and dazzle warships.
  • Masterclasses in Deception: The brilliant double substitutions of Operation Bertram at El Alamein, the real mechanics of the American Ghost Army, and how Soviet maskirovka scaled deception into full operational doctrine.
  • The Feedback Loop: Why Operation Fortitude succeeded because Allied cryptographers could read German high-level radio traffic within hours, turning deception from a hopeful guess into a measurable science.
  • The Modern Era: The challenges of thermal imaging, near-infrared reflectance, digital pixel patterns, and a multi-billion dollar uniform procurement misadventure.
Packed with historical detail, technical insight, and sharp wit, Camouflage in 100 Facts proves that concealment isn't about blending into a landscape-it's an ongoing argument with a visual system.

Cornelis van Houte, military consultant.

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