Short bright flash : augustin fresnel and the birth of the modern lighthouse.
- [Place of publication not identified] : W W Norton, 2015.
Dark and deadly shores -- Dreams of glory -- The flash of brilliance -- The dream of total refraction -- Race to perfection -- The American exception -- Everything recklessly broken -- The golden age.
Describes the life of the man who invented a new lighthouse lens, capable of shining brighter, farther, and more efficiently than existing light sources, and his fight against the scientific elite, his poor health, and the limits of his era's technology.