This “superb history” of artificial light traces the evolution of
society—“invariably fascinating and often original . . . [it]
amply lives up to its title” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
In Brilliant, Jane Brox explores humankind’s ever-changing
relationship to artificial light, from the stone lamps of the
Pleistocene to the LEDs embedded in fabrics of the future. More than a
survey of technological development, this sweeping history reveals
how artificial light changed our world, and how those social and
cultural changes in turn led to the pursuit of more ways of spreading,
maintaining, and controlling light. Brox plumbs the class
implications of light—who had it, who didn’t—through the
centuries when crude lamps and tallow candles constricted waking
hours. She identifies the pursuit of whale oil as the first time the
need for light thrust us toward an environmental tipping point. Only
decades later, gas street lights opened up the evening hours to
leisure, which changed the ways we live and sleep and the world’s
ecosystems. Edison’s bulbs produced a light that seemed to its
users all but divorced from human effort or cost. And yet, as Brox’s
informative portrait of our current grid system shows, the cost is
ever with us. Brilliant is infused with human voices, startling
insights, and timely questions about how our future lives will be
shaped by light
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780547487151
Publisert
2016
Utgiver
Vendor
Mariner Books / Open Road Integrated Media
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter