Shedding Light on Reading

Whether you’re sitting in your private library or favorite living room chair, the best light for reading is natural daylight, according to lighting and eye specialist James E. Bailey.

“You should orient your reading area to take advantage of natural light as much as possible. North-facing light is the best since you don’t want direct light through the window,” said Bailey, an optometrist and professor at the College of Optometry in Fullerton and a member of Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, Orange County chapter.

If the sun isn’t available when you’re ready to read, Bailey says the best artificial lighting for reading should come from behind, with 30 to 50 candles of illumination--which is about what you’ll get from a 75- to 100-watt bulb.

When you read in bed with the lamp at your side, most of the light is reflected off the walls, so it isn’t very good on your eyes.

Lighting in a library can be two-fold, he said.

“There can be track lighting or recessed lighting on the actual book shelves to highlight a book collection, but there should also be focal illumination rather than diffused light in the area where you actually read.

“That makes for comfortable reading for fine print. Focal light tends to eliminate glare. Incandescent lighting offers a better vision performance since it gives a warmer light. Although fluorescent lighting is OK, it’s just not preferred since it is bluer and cooler than incandescent, which makes it more susceptible to being scattered in the eye itself.”

Although Bailey isn’t against recessed lighting for reading, he does feel that the light has to be fairly strong to allow for good readability from an eight-foot-high ceiling.