At the Manchester Science Festival, Mark Lorch and Andy Miah challenged some of the UK’s best science communicators to write a popular science book there and then.

This is the result... 

Created under the watchful eye of the general public as part of a novel experiment, this engaging book traces light back to the beginning of time itself.

It explores the science behind colour and light, taking the reader on an engaging trip through topics including:

  • the hue of alien sunsets
  • the psychology of colour
  • the chemistry of LCD screens

Available now for just £12

  • Amazon kindle 
  • Apple iBookstore 
  • Barnes & Noble Nook 
  • Blackwell Learning 
  • Kobo eBooks

Or buy the book in print from our Bookshop

If you’re interested in science, or have ever wondered why we see the universe the way we do, it’s time to take a fast-paced journey through some illuminating possibilities.

For most academics writing is a slow solitary affair. Penning A Flash of Light was about as far from that as is imaginable. Plonked in the middle of a science festival, people peering over our shoulders, fueled with caffeine and take-out and inspired by each others company we knocked out a book, that we are really very proud of.
Mark Lorch, University of Hull, UK

 

You might expect a book about light to start with some physical description of electromagnetic waves and how their properties relate to the colours that we see. Well we will get to that later, but we’re going to start somewhere else entirely; the place where colour actually exists – in your mind… And we’re going to explore that place with some near future science fiction about a gene therapy that could soon be available to treat colour blindness (or more accurately colour deficiency).
A Flash of Light, opening chapter

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Publication date 1 July 2016
Price £12
Format Digital and print
Page extent 124 pages
Digital ISBN 978178262859
Print ISBN 9781782627319
Copyright 2016

Created by:

Mark Lorch Editor
Andy Miah Editor
Chris Arridge Contributor
Wendy Sadler Contributor
Giuliana Mazzoni Contributor
Benjamin P Burke Contributor
Juliette E McGregor Contributor
Charlotte A Stephenson Contributor
Kevin A Pimbblet Contributor
Akshat Rathi Contributor

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