Book excerpt: The book’s organization follows a layered approach that builds on basic principles: Light as a Medium (Part 1), Tools of a Lighting Designer (Part 2), Design Fundamentals (Part 3), and Lighting Applications (Part 4). This presents students with a practical and logical sequence when learning basic concepts. The full spectrum of the lighting design process is presented in detail, giving students an example of how one might develop a lighting design from script analysis through concept and plot development, and all the way to an opening. This detailed process with a step-by-step design approach gives students a plan to work from, which they can later modify as they mature and gain confidence as designers. The text contains a more comprehensive discussion of basic technology, light as a physical phenomena, and methodology of designs than is found in most introductory texts, bridging the gap between introductory and advanced lighting courses. The text will appeal to theatrical designers who want to venture into areas of lighting like architectural or virtual lighting design, while at the same time gaining a solid grounding in the fundmentals of lighting design. Lighting Design will also benefit illuminating engineers who want to move away from mere computational approaches in lighting and on to explore techniques along the design approaches of theatrical lighting design. The final 9 chapters cover many specialty areas of lighting design, highlighting the unique and shared qualities that exist between the different aspects of these elements. Discussions involve traditional entertainment areas like theatre, as well as lesser known facets of the industry including film/video, landscape lighting, retail/museum lighting, virtual lighting, concert, spectacle performances, and architectural lighting. Models of design tasks demonstrate the actual use and development of plots/sections, schedules, photometrics tables, and cut sheets, rather than simply talking about what they are. This hands-on approach provides students with a firm understanding of how to actually use these tools and processes.