Color and light in man-made environments /

The authors, consultants on color in architecture, use the first half of this book to discuss the effects of light and color on human physiology and behavior. The second half is devoted to color recommendations for specific types of buildings (e.g., schools). The content and approach are similar to F. Birren's Light, Color, and Environment (rev. ed., 1982). Discussion of the fundamentals of color vision is extremely limited, with no mention of Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage tristimulus values, isoluminent stimulation, chromatic aberration, or single-unit recordings from chromatically sensitive cranial cells. Little attention is paid to the rather extensive human factors literature on illumination and color (e.g., B.H. Kantowitz and R.D. Sorkin's Human Factors: Understanding People-Systems Relationships, 1983). The book is very clearly and simply written although illustrations are not numbered, rarely referred to, and not described in the text. The combined author-subject index is complete and useful. Appropriate for public library readers.-R.H. Cormack, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology