The book is divided into a number of short chapters with each chapter dedicated to a single theme. For ease of reference, the most commonly useful topics are at the beginning and topics with narrower appeal, such as ocular aberrations, are placed towards the end. The book is divided into 5 sections, covering:

* basic optical structure of the human eye
* image formation and refraction of the eye (including refractive errors of the eye, measurement and correction)
* interactions between light and the eye, considering transmission, reflection and scatter in the media of the eye and at the fundus
* aberrations and retinal image quality
* depth of field copics and age related changes in the optics of the eye

The book concludes with 4 appendices, covering mathematics relating to paraxial optics, aberrations theory and image quality criteria and construction data, optical parameters and the aberrations of a number of schematic eyes.

Section 1: Basic optical structure of the human eye; The human eye - an overview; Refracting components - cornea and lens; The pupil; Axes of the eye; Paraxial schematic eyes; Section 2: Image formation and refraction; Image formation - the focused paraxial image; Refractice anomalies; Measuring refractive errors; Image formation - the defocused paraxial image; Some optical effects of ophthalmic lenses; Section 3 - Light and the eye; Light and the eye - introduction; Passage of light into the eye; Light level at the retina; Light interaction with the fundus; Section 4 - Aberrations and retinal image quality; Monochromatic aberrations; Monochromatic aberrations of schematic eyes; Chromatic aberrations; Retinal image quality; Section 5 - Miscellaneous; Depth-of-field; The ageing eye; Appendices; A1 Paraxial optics; A2 Introduction to aberration theory; A3 Schematic eyes; A4 Calculation of PSF and OTF from aberrations of an optical system 259; Index.

By David Atchison, BSc Optom, MSc Optom, PhD, Grad Cert Ed, FAAO, Queensland Univeristy of Technology, Australia; and G. Smith, BM, FRCA, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia