Books:
Birren, Faber,
Light, Color and Environment
, New York: Reinhold Book Corporation, 1969.
Attractive presentation of human response to color and light both emotional and psychological. Some good tips for their use.
Galilei, Galileo.
Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo
(translated by Stillman Drake), Garden City, New York, Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1957.
Primary Source.
Hastings, Charles S.
Light
, Cambridge: University Press, 1901.
An older simply written book, delightful for comparison.
van Heel, H. G., and Velzel, C. H. F.,
What is Light?
, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1968.
Several ;chapters are clearly written explaining light phenomena in usable terms. Good diagrams and illustrations.
MacAdam, David L. (ed.),
Sources of Color Sciences
(Essays), Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1970.
Collections of writings on color, mostly abridgements, from Newton to 1947 dealing mostly with physiology of optics.
Morrison, Philip and Phylis,
Powers of Ten
, New York: Scientific American Library, 1983.
Murphy, James T.,
Physics, Principles and Problems
, Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1982.
Good standard secondary physics text.
Silverberg, Robert,
Light for the World
, Princeton: D. Van Norstrand and Company, Inc., 1967.
Taylor, A. M.,
Imagination and the Growth of Science
, New York: Schocken Books, 1970.
This small volume explores the qualities necessary for scientists who make breakthroughs: inspiration, imagination, boldness and perserverence. It includes short biographies of sixty-four such men.
Williamson, Samuel T. and Cummins, Herman Z.,
Light and Color in Nature and Art
, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1983.
Very up-to-date book on the subject, good for those who wish to study the subject in an attractive volume. Extensive, and expensive.
Wright, W. D.,
The Rays Are Not Colored
, New York: American Elsevier Publishing Co., 1968.
Series of lectures prepared by a learned member of a color “group” on the philosophy of color. The last chapter is particularly interesting as it discusses an approach to teaching color (not as a branch of physics).
Articles:
“Image, Object and Illusion,” Reading from
Scientific American
, San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1974.
One very useful article, others were too complex for our study.
Boreiko, Allen A., “Miracles of Fiber Optics,”
National Geographic
, Vol 156, No. 4, October, 1979.
Outstanding presentation of a new technology.
Borailo, Allen A., “The Laser, A Splendid Light for Man’s Use,”
National Geographic
, Vol. 165, No. 3, March, 1984.
Colorful, well diagrammed presentation, excellent photography.
Encyclopedias:
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Volumes 14, 17
, Chicago: William Benton, Publisher, 1969.