Jim Dakin

Aristotle (384-322 BCE), who lived over 2 thousand years ago, reflected on many natural phenomena involving light. Many view his thinking as providing the groundwork leading to modern science. He wrote about familiar phenomena such as lightning, the rainbow and vision. He also wrote about less familiar phenomena today such as aurora borealis (northern lights), less familiar now because outdoor light pollution often prevents their appreciation. Another such example is the cold light phenomena of luminescence, such as the light emitted by fireflies. Similarly, he wrote about the light emitted by dead fish and certain fungi. He knew that light traveled very fast, and reasoned that the speed was infinite. Hats off to Aristotle, and the ancients who preceded him, for starting the discussion on so many of these topics.

I was horrified to discover an error on page 29 a day or two ago, and have worked with BookLogix to make a change on the fly to future printed copies.

Sentence on page 29 had read:

(We now know from science that the Earth's shadow causes these shapes.)

Changing it to read:

(We now know from science how the Moon's orbit causes these shapes.)

I was obviously thinking ahead to eclipses when I wrote this earlier!

It has been affirming to get feedback from artists who appreciate the attention to their craft. One writes "I am reading your book and appreciating it.  All of my life I've lived in a perceptual-tactile- mostly visual way, and it is good reading your calm long perspective writing!... My father took me to museums a lot when I was a child, and later as a teenager, I spent time with my sister visiting the NYC museums and I loved all kinds of artwork and wanted to be an artist but had a great amount of fear around art.  It seemed to be too mysterious and elusive, but I painted anyway. Now I see that art can be like outer space, compelling and inescapable. Thank you for writing your book - it will help me understand more about this life on planet earth." (Shared with permission of sender.)

One regret after publishing "Shining Art on Light" is that I did not include a section on Lightning under Natural Phenomena. Lightning is mentioned as having been an ignition source for natural fire. It could have been mentioned in connection with Ben Franklin's famous kite experiment, which raised awareness of the connection of electricity to light. This was an earlier precursor to electric lighting. It would have been challenging to find a piece of art associated with lightning, but I am confident I could have found something. Perhaps I could do a second edition at some point.