Lyric discussion by eremitic3 

Cover art for Bad Light lyrics by Built to Spill

reminds me of the lines in car: "take the world apart and figure out how it works. don't let me know what you find out."

i interpret this as him seeing some true practically behind science. figuring it out, in this case light, takes all this work and science and thought. but he already knows how it works and it's affect on him. if there's bad (no) light, he can't read.