Excerpt from Light by Bruce Watson, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Some felt this acutely. William Blake raged against the dying of Light, the Mystical. Other Romantics celebrated light in symphonies, paintings, and poems, yet scientists continued to probe. Bouncing beams through dark chambers, measuring first by "candle power," later with lumens and watts and joules, they dimmed divine radiance and opened a new debate about light. Particle or wave? But even after Einstein muddled the question, even as today's scientists craft miracles in optics labs, light still performs. Tens of thousands gather for the summer solstice at Stonehenge. Festivals of light illuminate Berlin, Chicago, Hong Kong, Ghent, Amsterdam, Lyons. .  .  The anatomy of light — particle and wave – is a staple of science classrooms, yet no equation has dimmed sun or moon, and no prism rivals the rainbow.

As the first biography of light, Eternal reconciles the battles between science and humanities, between religion and doubt, between mathematics and metaphor. Like sunlight, which as Thoreau noted "is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode," Eternal illuminates all those in love with light. It focuses equally on the genius of Newton and Dante, the eloquence of equations and scripture, the faith of the Qur'an, the Upanishads, and the Bible. Of light's devout disciples, Eternal asks not "who" but "why." Why were these believers enamored with light and what did their faith add to human consciousness? Of light's students it asks not "what" but "how." How did scientists determine the nature and tame the power of light? And of those who made light their muse, it asks only that they be read and seen as if for the first time.

Yet the prime mover of Eternal is neither experiment nor eloquence but awe. The story begins at the approach of dawn. The long night is ending. Daybreak is near. A glimmer touches the eastern horizon. Hail Holy Light, particle, wave, and wonder.

Excerpted from Light by S.J. Watson. Copyright © 2016 by S.J. Watson. Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury USA. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.