Can I do anything about the brightness of my book light?

I ended up solving my own problem after posting this question, by taping a small piece of orange paper over the light, so now it has a pleasant warm glow rather than blinding bright white light.
I’d still like to hear more permanent solutions or good light recommendations! Thanks!

Use a smaller or fewer batteries. You can use crumpled tinfoil to replace the missing battery or fill in the gap where the larger battery would go, and it should dim the light.

I have a bathroom nightlight that has the same issue, so I just slipped an old (clean!) sock over it. It dims the brightness perfectly. Perhaps you don’t want an old sock on your book light, but wrapping it with the cloth of your choosing will do the same as your paper.

I dimmed one by wrapping a small square of aluminum foil over the light head and making a small hole in the foil for the light to come through. Start small, and enlarge the hole til you get the brightness you want.

Be careful! The above solutions might be fire hazards if you fall asleep while reading.

For bathroom nightlights, a safer solution would be to use a red bulb. They use red light on the bridges of ships at night so the sailors don’t lose their night vision.

If you are electrically or even mechanically inclined adding a small trim pot to the ckt for a dimmer is simple.

I have used permanent markers to tone down bright lights and make other bulbs more festive in color with no issues.

If you have a good photo or stage lighting supply store, ask for a gel sample pack or they are inexpensive online

Gels are the filters used over studio and stage lights. The little 3.25” x 1.5” samples may be big enough for your light.

@Call_Me_Jay that’s pretty neat, I didn’t know.