The River Rock lantern that runs on 4 AA batteries, can light up an average sized room or large tent well enough for everyone to read by. The light it emits can be a bit too bright and glarely, so a simple wrap of waxed paper held on with scotch tape or a rubber band can smooth out the artifacts in the beam, and reduce the harshness and glare.
Expect to get 40 hours or so of light from one set of Alkalines or Nimh.
The lantern is small, pretty much waterproof, well made, and the Nichia LED makes it shock proof. It's almost unbreakable.
It's available from Target for $19.99, and should be a basic requirement for any camper or flashoholic.
Another consideration is the bookmark light. They attach to the book, and a single LED projects light onto the page. They vary in price from $.99-10.00. I have one clipped on a bookshelf, and it projects down a foot or two to illuminate my keyboard in the dark without disturbing others. Some are very stylish and modern, others are unique, and in fact I have a "golf ball" bookmark light.
And, I add a vote for using headlamps. These are probably the most effecient method of not only viewing pages, but a distracting noise or anything else will be illuminated within the field of view with no effort whatsoever.
I also saw something very interesting, but can't remember where. I saw baseball hats with LEDs incorporated into the bill. Simply ingenious!
