| Color: A Natural History of the Palette |  | Author: Victoria Finlay
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $9.96
as of 9/9/2010 07:54 CDT details
New (33) Used (25) from $6.40
Seller: allnewbooks
Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 27,278
Media: Paperback
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0812971426
Dewey Decimal Number: 535.609
EAN: 9780812971422
Publication Date: December 30, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780812971422 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
Discover the tantalizing true stories behind your favorite colors.
For example: Cleopatra used saffron—a source of the color yellow—for seduction. Extracted from an Afghan mine, the blue “ultramarine” paint used by Michelangelo was so expensive he couldn’t afford to buy it himself. Since ancient times, carmine red—still found in lipsticks and Cherry Coke today—has come from the blood of insects.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
 Carol Lyons reviews "Color" September 5, 2010
Carol Lyons (Irvington, NY, USA)
"Color" by Victoria Finlay is a fascinating investigation of color, packed with information, stories, and anecdotes. One example of the historic mysteries of color is the chapter about orange. This is a surprising book for anyone curious, who may or may not be an artist.
 Okay, but not what I expected June 20, 2010
ogden (Mid-Atlantic USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I think the editors/publishers did the reader a disservice when they renamed this book for the American publication. The book's original UK title was "Color: A Journey Through the Paintbox", which more accurately describes this book as a travelogue with color as the roadmap. It also more accurately describes the color history aspect as focusing specifically on fine art and paint. The word "palette" in the American title suggests the author will investigate other palettes such as fashion design and graphic design and interior design and nature and food and so forth. She makes very very brief dalliances into these realms but they are sidetracks, not the meat of the book.
So I was expecting a book more focused on history and a more all-encompassing history than the book provided. I really didn't want to read eight pages of how the author got from Beirut to some remote village. Perhaps that was partly my fault, since although the book was renamed and misnamed, Amazon's description did mention that it was a travelogue.
But even as a history travelogue, I was left wanting. The author doesn't make much of an effort to connect the reader of the modern world to the history she is writing about. She delves as far back as prehistoric times with different colors, and ventures as far forward as mid 19th century, but never goes farther. It is probably the natural tendency of an author of history to forget the value of the present, but without making the connection between past and present, the value of the book is significantly diminished.
One very odd and curious aspect of the book is the author's imaginative wanderings. For example in the chapter on orange, the author has been unable to find any real reference to the origins of the color, so she makes up a story of a Spanish Jew who flees through North Africa, back up into Europe, settling in Italy where he made orange varnishes for violins. Its an entirely made up story based on nothing but the author's own runaway imagination. I can't fault the author for having an imagination, but the editor did her no favors in allowing these excerpts into a non-fiction book.
 Very well-written May 27, 2010
S Day
This book was interesting not only for the information about colors, but also for the author's travels. She went to great lengths to get to the source of some colors, and along the way educates the reader about old customs and cultures. It made me look at everything around me a little more attentively, - really noticing the color (Is that blue, indigo or violet?) and thinking about where that color source may have been acquired. It was all very fascinating and well-written. However, I think the book could be a great basis for a documentary or mini-series. I'd like to be able to see the paintings Finlay references, and watch people making the colors. This is the book's one deficiency; the illustrations are all in the middle (and there aren't many) and I had to keep flipping forward or back to see them as they were referenced in the text.
 This is a travel journal... Not a history, or a reference work. April 6, 2010
jim_nc (Raleigh, NC United States)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
As a graphic designer and color enthusiast I was excited to dig into this book. The actual text however is 80% personal minutia detailing to the author's attempt to find relevant content to put into her book. Actual color history is very scanty. Overall, I found the book to be longwinded and self-indulgent--but most important, and it didn't deliver on its promise.
This book is not dissimilar to an Anthony Bourdain TV episode: "I'm riding in the taxi... it's a hot day... there's something playing on the radio... The taxi weaves in and out of traffic... We're going to meet X person... Will X person be able to tell me anything useful?... I'm nervous about meeting X person... I walk up a long narrow staircase to X person's office... " And so on... on and on and on. Again personal journaling comprises the vast majority of the content. If that's what you're looking for, great. But if you're looking for "A Natural History of the Palette"... not so much.
A colorful read December 5, 2009
M. H. Pandji (Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Colors is a great read for those interested in art, the artist pallet and travelling the world - I highly recommend.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
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