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Book Review: Light

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Light: The Visible Spectrum and Beyond
by Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2015 (($29.99))

Light is all around us in more ways than we think, present not just in visible rays but in the microwaves that often transmit wireless Internet and the x-rays that expose the health of our teeth and bones. This large-format book provides a visual introduction to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, illustrating each wavelength band with captivating photographs taken through telescopes, microscopes and cameras sensitive to all ranges of light. The book also illuminates fascinating quirks of light—such as the fact that reindeer can see in the ultraviolet range and that gamma rays kill cancer cells—that illustrate how central it is to life.

Clara Moskowitz is chief of reporters at Scientific American, where she covers astronomy, space, physics and mathematics. She has been at Scientific American for more than a decade; previously she worked at Space.com. Moskowitz has reported live from rocket launches, space shuttle liftoffs and landings, suborbital spaceflight training, mountaintop observatories, and more. She has a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University and a graduate degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

More by Clara Moskowitz
Scientific American Magazine Vol 314 Issue 1This article was published with the title “Book Review: Light” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 314 No. 1 (), p. 74
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0116-74a

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