Residential Lighting: A Practical Guide to Beautiful and Sustainable Design

Jesse Helms couldn't define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. Lighting to me is a lot like pornography was to Jesse -- I know it when it's good, but it's still tough to define. Until now.Mr. Whitehead's book attempts to define a framework for good lighting by breaking it down into its applications and components. The book is neither a coffee table picture book nor a mathematical treatise on photon emission sources. It falls right in the middle. It is a practical guide that is useful to a broad audience. No math. No fluff. (Well, ok, a little fluff.)In fact, the line drawings are far more useful than the photographs. They convey an understanding of lighting in a way that Jesse would have found useful. Lighting is notoriously difficult to photograph and the line drawings illustrate the core principles.Mr. Whitehead writes in a light, engaging manner and is not afraid to express a few strong opinions. I appreciate that.

We're building a house. We'd been working with a house planner on the floor plan for several months. Once the basic floorplan was settled, we needed to lay out the electrical plan. I'm an electrical engineer, a registered professional engineer in Texas; I thought this task should be a piece of cake. :o)I visited local (large chain) home improvement centers, looking for some guide books. I found Code Check Electrical for NEC rules but there were no books that covered lighting to my satisfaction. I needed something to help me with the do's and don'ts of lighting, the latest trends in lighting, and to do so on a room-by-room basis, with lots of examples.Let me make it very clear: this is not a "coffee table" picture book. This is a design guide. There are a few color pictures in the middle of the book but most of the illustrations are black and white drawings that illustrate the design principles.There are explanations of color temperature, color temperature suitability for different rooms and functions, the importance of layering ambient light with task and accent lighting, recommendations for luminaires around bathroom mirrors, the latest trends including dimmable CFLs and LEDs, etc, etc., etc., with lots of "don'ts" throughout.The book describes California's Title 24, the holy grail of lighting efficiency standards, which requres dimmers in just about every room and/or fluorescent or LED lamps.I had made a stab at the electrical plan before buying this book. After reading the book for a week, I changed about 30% of my original plan. Without this book, I would have made several mistakes in my lighting design.The one area I had hoped to see in the book is integration of ceiling fans (with or without luminaires) into lighting plans. The book makes no mention of ceiling fans. I live in Texas, ceiling fans are a necessity here.There are a few grammatical errors in the book; no spelling errors to speak of. A small part of the subject matter is repeated in multiple sections but that just helps each section stand on it's own. For example, the author might mention a certain type of luminaire that works well in both the living room section as well as the master bedroom section.Luminaire: that's a fixture. And 'light bulbs' are 'lamps'. If you read this book and you're in the middle of a design project (as am I), you'll find you have added a few words to your vocabulary.Buy this book if you're a lighting designer or if you're trying to become one, even if it's for your own home remodel or new build. If you're only looking for a book with pretty pictures of building interiors (a "coffee table" book), look elsewhere.

Excellent book. I really was not aware of how to use lighting in my house, I just knew it usually didn't look right. I'm renovating my living room, I have learned a ton, I now love my living room, and next I will change the lighting in several other rooms. The book is very easy to read, detailed, well-illustrated, and was perfect for my needs.

Dated. For a book w/ a 2009 copyright, it's clear that this 2nd edition is just a rehash of a considerably older book. Author may be added "LED"s to one list of lighting types, otherwise everything in this book looks / feels early 90s, even 80s. While there are some decent concepts outlined and illustrated here, the diagrams and photography are almost depressing; aesthetically, no one would design in this fashion this day and age. Seek out something more current. (Also thought it strange that in the book's dedication, although in jest, the author basically calls his family dysfunctional.)

Very intresting, well written and explained. The sketches and photos are very helpfull. The book is a bit old (2009) but not out dated. Referces to LEDs. Got me excited while reading.

Delves into the psychology of residential lighting. Covers lighting for bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, and exteriors.Many good ideas if you're building a house, or even just remodeling.

Designing the lighting for your home and garden can be an daunting task, especially with all the new energy efficient light sources coming onto the market. This book talks about lighting in a straightforward way with lots of very useful information. Each chapter covers a room in the house, along with a chapter specifically for landscape lighting.

For me as an interested amateur decorator it's perfect. I can't judge how much it would teach a formally trained professional. Obviously lighting, as well as our awareness of the importance of good light is changing rapidly. Where I had scattered knowledge and intuition before I now have a good comprehensive catalogue of options and thoroughly explained confirmations of my intuition, as well as development of others, and a good deal of inspiration.