I was looking for overhead lighting to give a cloistered feel for my reading chair and this lamp fits the bill perfectly.  The base is quite stable and the lamp is tall enough that I'm not worried about banging my head into it.  There are 2 brightness settings--a dimmer setting and a brighter one. 

The assembly was a bit more complicated, as the arced neck comes in several pieces and it took some effort to get the pieces lined up and screwed into each other and the base correctly (the lamp head is heavy and tends to roll around as you are assembling, so would recommend having two people to help).