Holding a word up to a mirror such that you can see both the word and its reflection in the mirror at the same time reveals that they both read in the same way, implying that there is no right-left flipping. The photograph below captures this impact... Mirrors do not display an image from one side only. They also reflect part of the scene behind the mirror, as well as our faces. If you look into a mirror while holding a pencil upright, you will see that its end bends over toward you rather than away. This occurs because when you look into a mirror your left eye sees the object directly ahead and your right eye sees what is reflected behind it. When you hold the pencil straight out in front of you, both eyes see it at the same time, so there is nothing for it but to read the word left-right flipped. In fact, every word you see in a mirror does exactly that: flips between left and right relative to where it is on your page. So if you are reading this sentence in the mirror, most of the words will appear reversed. This phenomenon arises because your eyes move along with the letters on the page. As you read each letter, it moves closer to you or farther away depending on whether the letter is higher or lower than your current gaze.