Seeing the Light: Optics in Nature, Photography, Color, Vision, and Holography

by David Falk

The most complete and lucid nonmathematical study of light available. Chapters are self-contained, making the book flexible and easy to read. Coverage includes such non-traditional topics as processes... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060419911
• ISBN13: 9780060419912
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 446 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding conceptual approach to optics

One of the best science textbooks I've ever read. Clearly written and interesting to read. Heavy on concepts, light on math. Diagrams are simple but effective. It's rare to see a physics book as approachable as this one. As an amateur photographer and research microscopist, I love this book. Some parts of the text are a bit outdated (remember it was published in 1986), but the vast majority is valuable information. This is a great tool for physics students and teachers.

Optometry was never ever so interesting

Particularly for a budding Optometrist, this book allows the Optometrist to be acquainted with all the fine arts of optics and the like.

most missed book

This is the best textbook I ever had, and I sold it for some ($$$) at the end of a semester to buy a bus ticket. Very mad; I miss the book, but it's so expensive. It's amazing the way the author incorporates all sorts of literary allusions in this physics book, such as offering an interesting hypothesis on the optical illusion of the egyptians getting swallowed by the red sea while chasing the jews. Every chapter, light becomes a metaphor for so many things, the way we see, the obstacles, etc.

Physics of light for everyone else

I first discovered this book when I asked a physics professor down the hall for an explanation of diffraction and refraction in relation to some daytime sky phenomenon. He handed me Seeing the Light, and before long I coveted the volume. The authors dress down optical physics into explanations that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of physics can understand, relating optical phenomenon to everyday events and objects. The diagrams and photos help clarify the explanation. And practical, hands-on suggested activities help drive the point home. This book would be great for physics teachers -- or teachers at any level. How about pinhole cameras or illusion drawings for class projects?

Physics of light for everyone else

I first discovered this book when I asked a physics professor down the hall for an explanation of diffraction and refraction in relation to some daytime sky phenomenon. He handed me Seeing the Light, and before long I coveted the volume. The authors dress down optical physics into explanations that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of physics can understand, relating optical phenomenon to everyday events and objects. The diagrams and photos help clarify the explanation. And practical, hands-on suggested activities help drive the point home. This book would be great for physics teachers -- or teachers at any level. How about pinhole cameras or illusion drawings for class projects?