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Sunlight and Health in the 21st Century RICHARD HOBDAY |
Press ReviewsBOOK REVIEWLuminews - Autumn 1999Dr Richard Hobday has written a most interesting and readable book - well illustrated - about sunlight and health in the 2lst Century. He has had many years experience of solar design in buildings (Sanatoria especially) and is a leading authority on the history of sunlight therapy. At a time when there has been much anxiety about sunlight and its possible health hazards. Dr Hobday points out the importance of sunlight for preventing and healing many common and often fatal diseases underlining the fact that we are in danger of not having enough sunlight in a culture in which we can be stressed by too much artificial light. Fear and ignorance have bred a hesitation and anxiety about sunlight that Dr Hobday dispels. It is a well researched account but by no means heavy reading. Quite the opposite. The book is a pleasure to read and I commend it warmly to our readers. I particularly enjoyed the literary extracts from the Egyptian and Classical world and the photographs from the Florence Nightingale Museum in London and the Medical History Museum in Copenhagen showing Dr Niels Finsen and Light Therapy at his clinic at the beginning of the Century (1903 onwards). We are encouraged to welcome the sunlight back into our lives - who would not agree? Review by Primrose Cooper |