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Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age
From early myths to the latest LEDs, light has been "the magician of the cosmos." But what is light? Is it God? Truth? Particle or wave? This "radiant history" sees light through the eyes of mystics, sages, artists, poets, and scientists. Like the Nobel-winning physicist who studied light "because it's so much fun," Bruce Watson enjoys taking readers along in search of this eternal force of nature. Light explores ancient observatories and Gothic cathedrals, Galileo's workshop and Isaac Newton's "darken'd chamber." Readers will visit Rembrandt's studio and watch stunning sunrises at Stonehenge and at Newgrange in Ireland. The story follows light as it is captured by cameras, framed by Impressionists, and electrified by Edison. Finally, Light brings us to a world remade by lasers, making ours truly the Age of Light.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
32 people are currently reading
859 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Watson
50 books33 followersBruce Watson is the author of "Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age" (Bloomsbury, Feb. 2016). Starting with creation stories and following the trail of luminescence through three millennia, "Light" explores how humanity has worshiped, captured, studied, painted, and finally controlled light. The book's cast of characters includes Plato, Ptolemy, Alhacen, Dante, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Galileo, Newton, Daguerre, Monet, Edison, Einstein... The American Library Association's Booklist called "Light: A Radiant History" "a dazzling book."
Watson currently writes the online magazine The Attic (www.theattic.space.) With weekly articles about American Dreamers, Wonders, Wits, Rebels, Teachers, and more, The Attic promotes “a kinder,cooler America.”
Watson is also the author of four other well-reviewed books, including "Freedom Summer: The Savage Season that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy," "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders, and The Judgment of Mankind," and "Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream."
Watson has also written more than three dozen feature articles for Smithsonian. His work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, American Heritage, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Yankee, Reader’s Digest, and Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003.
Watson currently writes the online magazine The Attic (www.theattic.space.) With weekly articles about American Dreamers, Wonders, Wits, Rebels, Teachers, and more, The Attic promotes “a kinder,cooler America.”
Watson is also the author of four other well-reviewed books, including "Freedom Summer: The Savage Season that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy," "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders, and The Judgment of Mankind," and "Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream."
Watson has also written more than three dozen feature articles for Smithsonian. His work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, American Heritage, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Yankee, Reader’s Digest, and Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 19, 2016
"Watson's writing style keeps the narrative moving and his readers entertained. Readers already familiar with the science may find that Light doesn't provide much new information, but those with only basic knowledge and a curiosity about the natural world will find it a delight." Kim Kovacs, BookBrowse.com. Full review at: https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/in...
March 4, 2018
Watson faz um passeio por várias formas de entendermos e fazermos luz. É bem marcante ver a transição de luz+fuligem+calor que tínhamos com madeira e depois gordura animal e vegetal queimando, para luz+calor da luz incandescente e depois luz pura com LED. O que achei mais legal foi que boa parte do entendimento sobre iluminação e fontes de luz ele passou explicando a arte, de pinturas renascentistas a mais modernas. Um bom livro para quem quer misturar história, arte e física.
March 29, 2016
I received this book from Good Reads.
This book is, indeed, what the title tells you. A history of light from the Big Bang to Einstein's "theory" of quantum physics. I may now even understand that theory even better now!
Thought provoking, stimulating and very readable.
This book is, indeed, what the title tells you. A history of light from the Big Bang to Einstein's "theory" of quantum physics. I may now even understand that theory even better now!
Thought provoking, stimulating and very readable.
May 5, 2016
An interesting history of the evolution of our understanding of light. A bit too philosophical and too little science for me.
October 7, 2018
This rather curious work juxtaposes historical instances relating to humanity’s fascination with light over the millennia to provide a kind of overarching linked narrative for our contemplation.
Most of the physics of light has been achieved only within the last two centuries or so. Our interaction with it, of course, has been there for tens if not hundreds of thousands of years (and obviously even earlier than that, if one is to take in the vision-enhanced biological creatures which existed well before mankind arrived on the scene). Watson starts his discourse with the still occurring annual rituals held at dawn during the northern winter solstice at Stonehenge: the event celebrates and welcomes the expectation that the sun will stop its apparent movement away from the north, and begin its return journey to bring back increasing warmth and light.
From then on, the book looks at the why and the how of mankind’s relationship to light. Earliest reports suggest awe and mystery as the earliest reactions. Light became respected and revered as life-bringer and comforter. The sun, major (only?) light provider, became revered and eventually worshipped as some kind of god. Literature expounded on this mysterious substance; poets exalted it; philosophers pondered on it (even tinkering for a while on the idea that our eyes “projected” light onto the world around us); and so on. Light soon became a metaphor of all sorts of related things; and light as metaphor (for god, love, emotions, fervour, holiness, knowledge, ideas, ecstasy, etc.) readily became adopted into most writings on the subject.
Other areas relate to the use and applicability of light. How to make use of and/or imitate its shining and glitter were prized qualities. Reflecting surfaces of certain metals mimicked this quality and were used in buildings and architecture for that purpose; as were translucent materials constructed to allow light shine through them either unadorned, but more dramatically through stained glass to reflect “glory” and “spirituality” within those buildings. How to represent light in paintings is another area where astonishing effects can and have been achieved. Even the reproduction of a specific sequence of sounds in music (e.g. in Haydn’s The Creation) to create a sonic equivalent of light (if that actually means anything — after all, light is not noisy at all, but very silent indeed!).
The idea of capturing light also took on, mainly for the other benefits it provided. Artificial light, initially linked to fire, gas burning, and eventually to electricity. Capturing light through lenses to create magnifying glasses, then microscopes, and also of course telescopes, and these were refined over the centuries to reveal more and more astonishing never-before seen realities of our planet and our universe. Similar improvements in capturing light through it chemical reactions to certain elements enabled hard copies to be made and reproduced in photographs; and these used in turn to create the illusion of movement for motion pictures. Other uses of light from the quantum revolution in physics have contributed immensely to the use of LEDs, computers, the Internet, and the associated screens. Where would we be without light?
It is impossible to overemphasise the importance light has in our thoughts and imagination — after all, we have eyes which respond to specific stimulations provided by light, and in all probability we as a species developed these particular sense organs precisely because there was light in the first place. Of all our normal senses, sight is the one which provides us with an awareness of things at the furthest distance from our physical bodies; sounds and smells are comparatively close to us, while taste and touch are the most intimately connected to us. As to what exactly light is, however, still remains essentially a mystery.
In his Introduction Watson states that his book “attempts to reconcile the battles between science and humanities, between religion and doubt, between mathematics and metaphor”. His writing is elegant enough and easy to read, and I admire his intention, but for all that, I cannot say with any certainty that he has succeeded in his quest. At the same time, perhaps it is just that the dichotomies he wishes to reconcile are in fact irreconcilable — or maybe that is just me…
Most of the physics of light has been achieved only within the last two centuries or so. Our interaction with it, of course, has been there for tens if not hundreds of thousands of years (and obviously even earlier than that, if one is to take in the vision-enhanced biological creatures which existed well before mankind arrived on the scene). Watson starts his discourse with the still occurring annual rituals held at dawn during the northern winter solstice at Stonehenge: the event celebrates and welcomes the expectation that the sun will stop its apparent movement away from the north, and begin its return journey to bring back increasing warmth and light.
From then on, the book looks at the why and the how of mankind’s relationship to light. Earliest reports suggest awe and mystery as the earliest reactions. Light became respected and revered as life-bringer and comforter. The sun, major (only?) light provider, became revered and eventually worshipped as some kind of god. Literature expounded on this mysterious substance; poets exalted it; philosophers pondered on it (even tinkering for a while on the idea that our eyes “projected” light onto the world around us); and so on. Light soon became a metaphor of all sorts of related things; and light as metaphor (for god, love, emotions, fervour, holiness, knowledge, ideas, ecstasy, etc.) readily became adopted into most writings on the subject.
Other areas relate to the use and applicability of light. How to make use of and/or imitate its shining and glitter were prized qualities. Reflecting surfaces of certain metals mimicked this quality and were used in buildings and architecture for that purpose; as were translucent materials constructed to allow light shine through them either unadorned, but more dramatically through stained glass to reflect “glory” and “spirituality” within those buildings. How to represent light in paintings is another area where astonishing effects can and have been achieved. Even the reproduction of a specific sequence of sounds in music (e.g. in Haydn’s The Creation) to create a sonic equivalent of light (if that actually means anything — after all, light is not noisy at all, but very silent indeed!).
The idea of capturing light also took on, mainly for the other benefits it provided. Artificial light, initially linked to fire, gas burning, and eventually to electricity. Capturing light through lenses to create magnifying glasses, then microscopes, and also of course telescopes, and these were refined over the centuries to reveal more and more astonishing never-before seen realities of our planet and our universe. Similar improvements in capturing light through it chemical reactions to certain elements enabled hard copies to be made and reproduced in photographs; and these used in turn to create the illusion of movement for motion pictures. Other uses of light from the quantum revolution in physics have contributed immensely to the use of LEDs, computers, the Internet, and the associated screens. Where would we be without light?
It is impossible to overemphasise the importance light has in our thoughts and imagination — after all, we have eyes which respond to specific stimulations provided by light, and in all probability we as a species developed these particular sense organs precisely because there was light in the first place. Of all our normal senses, sight is the one which provides us with an awareness of things at the furthest distance from our physical bodies; sounds and smells are comparatively close to us, while taste and touch are the most intimately connected to us. As to what exactly light is, however, still remains essentially a mystery.
In his Introduction Watson states that his book “attempts to reconcile the battles between science and humanities, between religion and doubt, between mathematics and metaphor”. His writing is elegant enough and easy to read, and I admire his intention, but for all that, I cannot say with any certainty that he has succeeded in his quest. At the same time, perhaps it is just that the dichotomies he wishes to reconcile are in fact irreconcilable — or maybe that is just me…
August 24, 2016
The Light by Bruce Watson is a phenomenal read. This book covers everything about Light. Light has always gotten the best of our curiosity. Light can be many things and taken in many different ways. I was amazed at all of the topics covered about light in this title. From science to history perspectives on light...readers will not only be informed, educated, but also entertained. Fans of history will immediately love this book as much I have reading it. Then there's the fact that humans have yet to know all there is about light. Measuring it, to capturing it, and then to creating our own light. Many well-known names of scientists and others are mentioned throughout the book. Instantly upon having opened Light, I have gone on a journey of rediscovering and understanding it in more than one way. Bruce Watson has wonderfully crafted an exciting and refreshing detailed book on light. Overall, I enjoyed reading it and highly recommend it to all.
September 27, 2018
Wow!!
I don't know what else to say about this absolutely fascinating journey through the history of light. The book is well researched. A summary of the vast literature about light.
I don't know what else to say about this absolutely fascinating journey through the history of light. The book is well researched. A summary of the vast literature about light.
December 21, 2024
For what I wanted, this book was a failure. It's mostly about the science of light and how "light" has been perceived and interpreted over the ages, but mostly metaphorically. It somehow neglects the science of how light has been received and incorporated — literally — by life on this planet for more than 4 billion years, neglecting even to mention this dimension. Perhaps that was an editorial decision, but it might have deserved a paragraph or two?
I realize that photosynthesis per se is a huge rabbit hole (one that I've gone down multiple times with other writers). Again, just to have mentioned it and dismissed it explicitly as out of the scope of this book would have been at least a courtesy. And then, more along the lines that this book does take, it might have been worth a chapter or two to consider how civilizations have developed insights about how light is taken and used in the natural world, and then by us in our agricultural practices and in many of the products we consume (not even to mention solar energy, including wind). That would have been within the scope of the book, as it presents itself. Perhaps it's unfair to judge the book by what it neglects, but still I wonder how it's possible to write a whole book on the subject of "light" apparently without any consciousness of this dimension.
I realize that photosynthesis per se is a huge rabbit hole (one that I've gone down multiple times with other writers). Again, just to have mentioned it and dismissed it explicitly as out of the scope of this book would have been at least a courtesy. And then, more along the lines that this book does take, it might have been worth a chapter or two to consider how civilizations have developed insights about how light is taken and used in the natural world, and then by us in our agricultural practices and in many of the products we consume (not even to mention solar energy, including wind). That would have been within the scope of the book, as it presents itself. Perhaps it's unfair to judge the book by what it neglects, but still I wonder how it's possible to write a whole book on the subject of "light" apparently without any consciousness of this dimension.
August 19, 2020
I don't usually read non-fiction, but two back to back DNFs left me wanting something different.
Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age read like fiction and reminded me dearly of all the time I "wasted" learning about light on Wikipedia while I was supposed to be doing school work. I learned so much history and came to better understand physics concepts I had already been acquainted with.
I left one star off my rating because half of the book at least is diluted with art history. I understood the relevance of artists, how they perceived and painted light, but Bruce Watson analyzes each age and shares details about many artists from every one. A few paragraphs on the topic as he progressed through the timeline would have sufficed.
Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age read like fiction and reminded me dearly of all the time I "wasted" learning about light on Wikipedia while I was supposed to be doing school work. I learned so much history and came to better understand physics concepts I had already been acquainted with.
I left one star off my rating because half of the book at least is diluted with art history. I understood the relevance of artists, how they perceived and painted light, but Bruce Watson analyzes each age and shares details about many artists from every one. A few paragraphs on the topic as he progressed through the timeline would have sufficed.
March 14, 2023
Light has always powered our collective imagination.
Bruce Watson discusses the cultural history of light. He discusses it across inventions, religions, mythologies, and more. It requires an understanding of perceptions and that could turn people off the book.
Eventually, science demystifies light, and Watson covers that, too. The Maxwell Equations lead to Einstein’s Special Relativity.
The book is illuminating if you will excuse the pun. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
Bruce Watson discusses the cultural history of light. He discusses it across inventions, religions, mythologies, and more. It requires an understanding of perceptions and that could turn people off the book.
Eventually, science demystifies light, and Watson covers that, too. The Maxwell Equations lead to Einstein’s Special Relativity.
The book is illuminating if you will excuse the pun. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.
October 23, 2022
A beautifully written treatise on light. This book made me think about reality and the universe in new and magical ways. It is filled with knowledge that I didn’t know I was missing but am so grateful to have absorbed.
May 22, 2017
I was expecting more for some reason. It felt very dull to me. Some parts were alright, but overall this book fell flat for me.
June 3, 2017
This book took me a while to get through, mainly because I was reading it over my lunch breaks at work.
I found it interesting, the characters & their beliefs on what light was/is and how it works.
I found it interesting, the characters & their beliefs on what light was/is and how it works.
January 25, 2018
I enjoyed this book very much!
November 14, 2019
Brilliantly written. Engaging from paragraph to paragraph. Watson makes light luminous!
June 27, 2022
I started reading this, but I put it down. A little too surface and not challenging enough for me.
August 19, 2024
4.5 -5.0 if I understood Physics a bit better it would be a solid 5.0
October 1, 2024
Interesting read.
November 17, 2025
Blinkist
An interesting narrative of the history of the evolution of our understanding of light. A bit too philosophical and too little science detailed for me.
An interesting narrative of the history of the evolution of our understanding of light. A bit too philosophical and too little science detailed for me.
December 10, 2019
In my opinion, it's very fluffed and frivolous writing to describe the history of light. There exist better, more comprehensive books related to Optics that talk of its history in a far more concise way (see "Light: A Short Introduction" by Ian Walmsley). There also exist more dense books that go into the physics of light for the more hardcore (see "A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century" by Olivier Darrigol) if you'd like to go the other route. Both types of books are great reads, but this falls in an uncanny valley. Someone who wants to read about the nature of light without needing to traverse the dense physics behind it could use their time better with another book.
January 22, 2023
Let there be light indeed.
Welcome to bruce Watson's sweeping compilation of humanity's fascination with light from highest of gods, a culmination of colors, the subject of art history's masterpieces, the fundamentals of our universe - specifically quantum theory and general relativity - to the advent of the laser and modern life as we know it.
Admittedly, science is what drove me to pick up this book from the library and although startlingly absent from the early chapters, it soon became apparent how religion and philosophy influenced politics, which influenced art, which in turn influenced science, begetting a reflective wave (or particle?) of influence between each discipline ultimately culminating in the knowledge of light we currently possess.
A thoughtful, fact-filled, multidisciplinary, engaging, and thorough "radiant history from creation to the quantum age."
Leaves one to wonder if light itself called the author, Graham Bell-esque, to say "Mr. Watson-come here-I want to see you. "
Welcome to bruce Watson's sweeping compilation of humanity's fascination with light from highest of gods, a culmination of colors, the subject of art history's masterpieces, the fundamentals of our universe - specifically quantum theory and general relativity - to the advent of the laser and modern life as we know it.
Admittedly, science is what drove me to pick up this book from the library and although startlingly absent from the early chapters, it soon became apparent how religion and philosophy influenced politics, which influenced art, which in turn influenced science, begetting a reflective wave (or particle?) of influence between each discipline ultimately culminating in the knowledge of light we currently possess.
A thoughtful, fact-filled, multidisciplinary, engaging, and thorough "radiant history from creation to the quantum age."
Leaves one to wonder if light itself called the author, Graham Bell-esque, to say "Mr. Watson-come here-I want to see you. "
July 23, 2016
I'm not sure why I found this just okay. The writing was good, the subject interesting and well researched. But it never really captured my interest, I kept having to reread a paragraph when my mind wanders. Maybe it was my mood.
August 20, 2016
While I still don't understand Einstein's general theory of relativity, I did enjoy the book's discussion of light through the ages. The way painters used and reproduced light was especially informative after our trip to Italy. I need to visit more art galleries.
May 7, 2016
This reads like a 10 part BBC documentary series just waiting to be commissioned.
January 8, 2018
Well done; history of light through the lens of historical understandings of light. Very thorough. Slow in a few spots, but quite readable overall.
December 19, 2016
A great book for someone who wants to understand the human history of light as well as the physics. I found it clear and understandable despite my lack of physics background. Very well written.
February 5, 2017
Library Hardcover
June 23, 2024
I read this for background on a school unit that I had to lesson plan for; ended up enjoying it and learning a lot from it.
March 20, 2016
THIS WAS A GREAT BOOK TO READ .LOTS OF HISTORICAL FACTS.I LOVE READING THE HISTORY OF THINGS.
Read
January 14, 2018There is a passage toward the end of the book that relates an ongoing conversation between Einstein and Niels Bohr. Quoting the book, “All we could know about nature, Bohr argued, depended on the question asked. There might be no absolute truth about light. If it behaved like a particle in some experiments, a wave in others, then such whims had to be expected.”
“It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is,” Bohr stated. “Physics concerns
what we can say about nature.”
“Light” is a journey through the intellectual history of humanity as seen through the lens of the questions it has asked of this one particular property of reality, light. We get a sense of how all the varieties of intellectual exercise that we now distinguish as the distinct disciplines of philosophy art and science have their common source in curiosity, differing according to the nature of their questions and the responses they educe; gaining their distinctions as fields of inquiry as knowledge grows through the process of mitosis.
Within this perspective the author was able to select just the right anecdotes from his extensive research to craft a story of how discovery emerges amidst the chaos of human frailty and eccentricity. The story is always light-hearted, but never at the expense of intellectual rigor or focus. Having been plunged into this exploration, and knowing more know than I did before reading the book, I am, to the author’s credit, no less in awe of the mystery of light, and that is the greatest gift of this book.
“It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is,” Bohr stated. “Physics concerns
what we can say about nature.”
“Light” is a journey through the intellectual history of humanity as seen through the lens of the questions it has asked of this one particular property of reality, light. We get a sense of how all the varieties of intellectual exercise that we now distinguish as the distinct disciplines of philosophy art and science have their common source in curiosity, differing according to the nature of their questions and the responses they educe; gaining their distinctions as fields of inquiry as knowledge grows through the process of mitosis.
Within this perspective the author was able to select just the right anecdotes from his extensive research to craft a story of how discovery emerges amidst the chaos of human frailty and eccentricity. The story is always light-hearted, but never at the expense of intellectual rigor or focus. Having been plunged into this exploration, and knowing more know than I did before reading the book, I am, to the author’s credit, no less in awe of the mystery of light, and that is the greatest gift of this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews