Book review: The Lighting Handbook 10th Edition, Reference and Application

Let’s start with the obvious comment about this book; if there is anything called a handbook that weighs 4.6 kg then you know it must come from North America. That said, once you get used to lifting it the handbook is a very good read if you are interested in lighting. This edition of the Handbook is split into 3 sections: ‘Framework’ that covers the basic light technical issues together with the human response to light; ‘Design’ that covers common design process issues; and ‘Applications’ that covers lighting recommendations. The ‘Framework’ section is the most useful to readers outside North America as it provides a review of many of the fundamentals that we all rely on. The chapter Vision: Eye and Brain is a really good review of the subject with some excellent illustrations. The chapter Perceptions and Performance is also an excellent introduction to the topic of visual performance and the psychophysics of the visual system. Elsewhere in this section there is other very good material but in many places you feel let down by the non-inclusion of material or pages that are not properly worked out. For example, in the section of colour there is a really good discussion on colour rendering metrics but it stops short of giving the calculation process for any of them. The page that is typical of many where things are not all they could be is in the section on luminous flux. It defines photopic and scotopic flux with a formula using a sum from 400 to 750 nm whilst on the same page in a table it gives values for v( ) and v0( ) from 360 to 770 nm. Quite why they chose not to use the full range of values given in CIE S010/ E / ISO 23539 Photometry — The CIE System of Physical Photometry is not clear but picking two different ranges makes no sense at all. The ‘Design’ section is something new for the IES Handbook and much of it gives good advice on how to set about delivering good lighting designs. However, when the section gets down to the detailed way things have to be achieved and the rules that need to be followed then its relevance to an audience outside North America is understandably limited. The 17 chapters in the ‘Application’ section all follow the same format and are divided into the same sections: Project Type and Status, Application Types, Illuminance Criteria, Designing and References. A key element of each chapter is a table giving a schedule of illuminance values. The tables are interesting in that in this edition they have changed to using the unit of lux rather than footcandles. However, this seems to be the only use of the metric system as the dimensions that give the locations that have to be illuminated are all given in feet and inches. The other notable feature of the tables is that separate values are given for different age groups. However, the rule across all sections is that where 50% of the population using the space is under 25 the level may be halved and where 50% are over 65 the level is doubled. This statement of the rule might have been a better way of presenting this information. The section makes clear that all of the recommendations given are just that and several times Lighting Res. Technol. 2012; 44: 514–515