
Incandescent
We Need to Talk About Light
Anna Levin(Author)
Saraband, Inc (Publisher)
Published on 19. September 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-912235-31-5 (ISBN)
Description
Light is changing, dramatically. Our world is getting brighter - you can see it from space. But is brighter always better? Artificial light is voracious and spreading. Vanquishing precious darkness across the planet, when we are supposed to be using less energy. The quality of light has altered as well. Technology and legislation have crushed warm incandescent lighting in favour of harsher, often glaring alternatives. Light is fundamental - it really matters. It interacts with life in profound yet subtle ways: it tells plants which way to grow, birds where to fly and coral when to spawn. It tells each and every one of us when to sleep, wake, eat. We mess with the eternal rhythm of dawn-day-dusk-night at our peril. But mess with it we have, and we still don't truly understand the consequences. In Incandescent, journalist Anna Levin reveals her own fraught relationship with changes in lighting, and she explores its real impact on nature, our built environment, health and psychological well-being. We need to talk about light, urgently. And ask the critical question: just how bright is our future?
Reviews / Votes
"A vital account of an increasing hazard." -- Dr John Lincoln, Trustee * LightAware charity * "This is an issue whose time has come." -- Kevin Gaston * Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter * "Details the disruptive effects of light pollution on the natural world, from the humble dog whelk to turtles ... Incandescent will make you more appreciative of "the ultimate low-energy lighting source": daylight." -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times * "Incandescent is a well-researched and written book, with accessible analysis and explanations supported by technical details about LED lighting's potential impact on human health and the wider environment. It throws an intriguing new light on an unanticipated problem that is only now becoming recognised." * Clive Simpson *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Glasgow
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Saraband
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
252 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-912235-31-5 (9781912235315)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2019
Saraband, Inc
€7.99
Available for download
Person
Anna Levin is a writer with a special interest in people's connection with the natural world, and she makes complex scientific subjects interesting and accessible to a general readership. A former section editor with BBC Wildlife, Anna now writes for a variety of publications and environmental organisations - including eight years as a contributing editor with the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. In 2014, she collaborated with renowned wildlife photographer Laurie Campbell for the book Otters: Return to the River.
Content
My Light Year; Other People's Stories; This Stuff of Physics, Metaphors and Mysteries; Body and Mind; In the Natural World; The World We've Created; Banning the Bulb; The Language of Light and an Ideological Tangle; Now What?; Reflections and Refractions