The fascinating story of the mirror¿s invention, refinement, and use in a range of human activities -- from the bloodthirsty smoking gods of the Aztecs to the fantastic mirrored rooms wealthy Romans created for their orgies, to the mirror¿s role in gathering light from the far reaches of the universe. Tells of the 2,500-year mystery of whether Archimedes and his ¿burning mirror¿ really set fire to Roman ships; Isaac Newton¿s intense experiments with sunlight on mirrors that left him blind for 3 days; Renaissance artists who used mirrors to revolutionize realistic representations of the world; and George Hale and George Ritchey who joined forces to produce ever-larger telescope mirrors. Illustrations.