Lately I’ve been mentioning books I haven’t read myself, but would like to.  This is another: Zapped: From Infrared to X-rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light by Bob Berman.

There’s a lot in our universe we just can’t see.  I’m sure you’ve heard of dark matter;  I’ve never heard of “dark light”, but the idea is similar.  Invisible light can give you a sunburn (bad) and pop your popcorn (good).  It can pass through solid matter and cause water to boil.  And yet there is much we don’t realize about these wavelengths in our everyday lives, like getting a full body CT scan will give you more radiation that if you had been a mile from ground zero when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

So if you like science, or want to know more about how our modern world works, this would be one to put on your reading list.