Catching the Light

Catching the Light
The Entwined History of Light and Mind
by Arthur Zajonc
Oxford University Press, 1995
ISBN 0-19-509575-8
388 pages, paperback; $19.95

"A small gem of a book." ~James Gleick

"An amazing synthesis and a joy to read--I have not enjoyed a book so much for a long time.... An exrtraordinary work." ~Oliver Sacks, M.D.

From ancient times to the present, from philosophers to quantum physicists, nothing has so perplexed, so fascinated, so captivated the mind as the elusive nature of light. In Catching the Light, Arthur Zajonc takes us on an epic journey into history, tracing how humans have endeavored to understand the phenomenon of light.

With rare clarity and unmatched lyricism, Zajonc illumines the profound implications of the relationships between the multifaceted strands of human experience and scientific endeavor.

Arthur Zajonc is Professor of Physics at Amherst College.

Contents
1. Entwined Lights: The Lights of Nature and Mind
2. The Gift of Light
3. Light Divided: Divine Light and Optical Science
4. The Anatomy of Light
5. The Singing Flame: Light as Ethereal Wave
6. Radiant Fields: Seeing by the Light of Electricity
7. Door of the Rainbow
8. Seeing Light--Ensouling Science: Goethe and Steiner
9. Quantum Theory by Candlelight
10. Of Relativity and the Beautiful
11. Least Light: A Contemporary View
12. Seeing Light
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index