GLOW

Teeming swirls of earthly flora and fauna shine and shimmer with unearthly light in this atmospheric, oversize overview of our bioluminescent world.

Without using phosphorescent inks, Smith still gives her translucent but accurately rendered bioforms, set against deep black backgrounds, an intense, even eerie glow while offering lively introductions to fireflies gathering in a “bioluminescent flash mob,” sea creatures seeking or becoming “Dinner in the Deep,” and “Fungal Fairy Lights.” That’s just the beginning, though, as she also tallies animals from platypuses to people that shine in wavelengths visible or otherwise, tracks discoveries about the phenomenon made by racially diverse researchers (portrayed, with other human figures in the art, in the same lambent hues), describes the ways it is produced, including the variety of chemical reactions that light up not just body parts of, for instance, lanternsharks and ghost mushrooms, but also the defensive slime of sea fireflies and vampire squid, and presents circumstantial evidence of natural glimmer found everywhere from fossils to folktales. Readers dazzled by Julia Kuo’s outstanding Luminous (2022) will be irresistibly lured to this for its breadth of coverage and even more beautiful art.

Lights up its topic both visually and textually.