Can I read a book with an infrared led light?

AI Thread Summary
Reading with infrared light is not feasible for general use, as infrared is invisible to the human eye and specialized conditions would be required. Alternatives like red light settings on modern headlamps can help minimize disturbance while reading at night. Night vision goggles and using a mobile phone camera with infrared illumination are suggested as potential solutions, though they may look unconventional. E-readers like Kindle or Kobo are recommended for their adjustable brightness and convenience, despite limitations with technical diagrams. Ultimately, finding a suitable reading method that doesn't disturb others is key.
Noasark
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I am not a physics guy I'm just a husband trying to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife. Does infrared light reading glasses exist?Scientificly, can they be made?
 
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No, under anything but very specialized conditions (not those you are talking about) IR is invisible to the human eye.
 
Noasark said:
Summary: I am not a physics guy I'm just a husband trying to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife. Does infrared light reading glasses exist? Scientificly, can they be made?

I am not a physics guy I'm just a husband trying to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife. Does infrared light reading glasses exist?Scientificly, can they be made?
Modern head lamps for mountainering etc. have a red light setting for this purpose. It's not infrared of course but its designed to minimize disturbing others who are still sleeping.

Check out Black Diamond, which is a US brand.
 
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Get started on Audio Books?
 
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sophiecentaur said:
Get started on Audio Books?
Is "Spacetime Physics" available as an audio book?
 
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Noasark said:
Summary: I am not a physics guy I'm just a husband trying to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife. Does infrared light reading glasses exist? Scientificly, can they be made?

I am not a physics guy I'm just a husband trying to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife. Does infrared light reading glasses exist?Scientificly, can they be made?

Do you think the printed letters on the pages of your book emit heat differently than the rest of the page?

Think about it.

Zz.
 
They probably don't emit heat differently, but they may reflect near IR light from an external source differently.

That said, I don't see this working in the IR. It might work in the near UV, with wavelength-shifting glasses. However,
  1. I am not convinced of the safety of this, especially long-term
  2. Your glasses will glow (most likely) green, so this won't solve the problem
  3. It will be expensive
My advice - buy a Kindle or similar.
 
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-Night vision goggles.
-Kindle app on a head-mounted display.
 
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ZapperZ said:
Do you think the printed letters on the pages of your book emit heat differently than the rest of the page?
The letters on the page would reflect differently if you wore
russ_watters said:
-Night vision goggles.
and used an IR lamp for illumination. IR Leds are used in trail cameras (readily available) and IR sensitive goggles are not too pricy (Amazon / eBay). You might look a bit bizarre sitting there in bed wearing all the kit but (hopefully) your wife would not be awake to see you.
 
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sophiecentaur said:
The letters on the page would reflect differently if you wore

and used an IR lamp for illumination. IR Leds are used in trail cameras (readily available) and IR sensitive goggles are not too pricy (Amazon / eBay). You might look a bit bizarre sitting there in bed wearing all the kit but (hopefully) your wife would not be awake to see you.

Reflect WHAT? presumably this person plans to read in the dark, which brought about the question in the first place.

Zz.
 
  • #11
ZapperZ said:
Reflect WHAT?
in my post, which you quoted,
sophiecentaur said:
and used an IR lamp for illumination.
A straight negative answer is seldom very helpful because it goes nowhere for an uninformed questioner. I gave him a solution (a real solution, in fact) to his problem
 
  • #12
Noasark said:
I am not a physics guy I'm just a husband trying to read in bed at night without disturbing my wife.
Welcome to the PF.

Sometimes when your first idea doesn't pan out, you need to try turning the problem or the solution upside-down, or reversing your viewpoint... :smile:

https://mk0nonaveneyiqk9bxkb.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/sleep-mask-reviews.jpg
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  • #13
If a Kindle doesn't do it, maybe Google Glass will solve the problem. (Is it even a thing anymore?)
 
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Night vision goggles are not needed. Most digital cameras are sensitive to IR. Test the camera in your mobile phone with the IR remote control from your TV.
Then you can illuminate the book with IR light, and view it through your mobile phone camera. Take care that the light from the phone screen does not reflect off your face, to illuminate the book.
 
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  • #15
ZapperZ said:
Reflect WHAT? presumably this person plans to read in the dark, which brought about the question in the first place.
Any decent security camera today has NIR night vision, with it's own lighting. That's what the ring of LEDs is for:

95914_W3.jpg
 
  • #16
Baluncore said:
Night vision goggles are not needed. Most digital cameras are sensitive to IR.
The main upside of night vision goggles is everything would be in one package.
 
  • #17
Baluncore said:
Take care that the light from the phone screen does not reflect off your face, to illuminate the book.
Which is why I suggested goggles. They do not need to let any visible light out - plus they are fixed to your head so they do not need a hand or other support.
Good idea not to wake your wife with the gogs on or you could scare her. Arrrgh - it's a plague doctor.
 
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  • #18
I use a Kobo ebook (H20) to read in bed. I can set it to any brightness that suits me.

Add this to the other benefits:
  • I only ever need one device wherever I go (I read about six books over a week vacation),
  • I can change font sizes to suit my reading conditions (including bouncing around on an exercise bike),
  • new books to read are a couple of clicks away,
  • it's waterproof.
At 200 bucks, it's probably cheaper than other technological solutions.
 
  • #19
I'd agree with nearly all of that (my Kindle is not waterproof but I never found that a disadvantage) but eBooks really don't deal well with diagrams and half tones and many technical books are not available in the format. Horses for courses, I say.
 
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sophiecentaur said:
I'd agree with nearly all of that (my Kindle is not waterproof but I never found that a disadvantage)
Somewhere I have a pic of me up to my neck in a pool in Cuba, drinking a Ron Collins, smoking a cigar and reading my half-submerged Kobo H2O. It is hard to imagine how even heaven could top that.

sophiecentaur said:
but eBooks really don't deal well with diagrams and half tones and many technical books are not available in the format. Horses for courses, I say.
Definitely a major downside to ebooks. As someone who likes to read books with maps and diagrams, this is a major drawback.
 
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  • #21
DaveC426913 said:
Somewhere I have a pic of me up to my neck in a pool in Cuba, drinking a Ron Collins, smoking a cigar and reading my half-submerged Kobo H2O. It is hard to imagine how even heaven could top that.
Hah! What a beastly show off. (Lucky devil)
DaveC426913 said:
Definitely a major downside to ebooks. As someone who likes to read books with maps with maps and diagrams
They are rubbish in that way. I remember having a rant on a Pro-Kindle forum about that and also the poor filing system (plus a couple of other things) and I was jumped on very smartly. "Don't try to tell us what we need" blah blah. It seems that the eInk system (great though it is) is the only issue that the eBook afficionados are prepared to discuss. They should be looking over their shoulders at the way the cheapest Smart Phones behave and smarten up their software.
 
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