Light

DK Eyewitness Books

by David Burnie

Discover the amazing world of light -- from ancient myths to the optic discoveries that have revolutionized modern life. Here is a spectacular, thought-provoking, and highly informative guide to the fascinating story of light. Superb full-color photography of original equipment, intricate scientific instruments, revealing experiments, and 3-D models offers a unique "eyewitness" view to the incredible discoveries that have transformed our world. See why ancient peoples worshipped the Sun as a god, how light rays bend, why things glow when they are very hot, what creates a color television picture, how microscopes and telescopes were invented, and why a leaf looks green. Learn how fiber optics can transmit light, what happens during an eclipse, why images are reversed in mirrors, how a liquid crystal display works, and what makes a hologram. Discover what causes the eerie "Will o' the wisp", how some animals can make their own light, what creates a mirage, why we burn in strong sunlight, what a polarizing filter does, why we see rainbows, what a quantum is, how X-rays penetrate our bodies, and much, much more!

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

David Andrew Burnie is an accomplished zoologist who was a nature reserve ranger before becoming a natural history author and editor. A prolific writer of many books, including several on dinosaurs, he has seen many of his titles win educational awards and science prizes. His titles for Kingfisher include Kingfisher Knowledge: Endangered Planet and The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia, which was nominated for the Aventis Prize for Science Books in 2002.

Reviews

[Dan Castrigano · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most dense and difficult to understand Eyewitness book yet. Really tough and abstract concepts about which I didn't know very much. Stuff I learned and or know better now: the electromagnetic spectrum goes from big wavelengths to little wavelengths and the shorter the wavelength, the stronger it is (and more likely to injure/kill humans - radio waves, television waves, radar waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light waves, ultraviolet waves, x-ray waves, gamma ray waves, cosmic ray waves; also, infraRED is next to red and ultraVIOLET is next to violet on the visible spectrum; something appears orange because it absorbs all of the colors EXCEPT for orange; how the concave nature of glasses (for people with nearsightedness or myopia) and contacts bends light to make the image clearer and that it's a VIRTUAL IMAGE we see through contact and lenses that is not actually in that place. crazy.

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was quite helpful as young artist

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good resource for children, lots of pictures and explainations about history, facts, and descriptions of the science of light.

[Bonnie Pohlig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has excellent diagrams and explanations! Great for teaching about light.

[WSL Library]

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