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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780812971422 |
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
How did the most precious color blue travel all the way from remote lapis mines in Afghanistan to Michelangelo's brush? What is the connection between brown paint and ancient Egyptian mummies? Why did Robin Hood wear Lincoln green? In Color, Finlay explores the physical materials that color our world, such as precious minerals and insect blood, as well as the social and political meanings that color has carried through time.
Roman emperors used to wear togas dyed with a purple color that was made from an odorous Lebanese shellfish — which probably meant their scent preceded them. In the eighteenth century, black dye was called logwood and grew along the Spanish Main. Some of the first indigo plantations were started in America, amazingly enough, by a seventeen-year-old girl named Eliza. And the popular van Gogh painting White Roses at Washington's National Gallery had to be renamed after a researcher discovered that the flowers were originally done in a pink paint that had faded nearly a century ago. Color is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes — painted all the more dazzling by Finlay's engaging style.
Embark upon a thrilling adventure with this intrepid journalist as she travels on a donkey along ancient silk trade routes; with the Phoenicians sailing the Mediterranean in search of a special purple shell that garners wealth, sustenance, and prestige; with modern Chilean farmers breeding and bleeding insects for their viscous red blood. The colors that craft our world have never looked so bright.
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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
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lisa_emily, September 19, 2007 (view all comments by lisa_emily)
I read this book last summer (June 2006).
It’s a pretty good book if you like to learn things and travel vicariously. An I don't mean that flippantly. Each chapter is dedicated to a color, or in the case of the black/ brown chapter which is focused on the two.
What I liked most about this book is how Finlay bounces her narrative from the stories of the past to her present travels and research. She steps in cow poo in India, goes snail hunting in Mexico then crashes a Mixtec wedding and travels within post 9/11 Afghanistan. Interspersed throughout her adventure accounts are stories of historical figures: Napoleon, George Washington and French naturalist, Thiery de Menonville.
Its an accessible read, with plenty of science and facts thrown in to make it credible, yet it doesn't simplify it's subject.
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ash229, March 13, 2007 (view all comments by ash229)
This is a fascinating book for anyone passionate about colors. I love playing with colors in all mediums and pigment types, however learning about their rich history adds a new dimension to it, and I think Victoria Finlay has done a good job of awakening the interest in this field.
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jimlaffer, July 27, 2006 (view all comments by jimlaffer)
The book contains a number of serious factual errors, probably as a result of both extremely sloppy journalism and poor editing. For example:
The map on p31 shows Wilga Mia about 1000km north of its true location (about 75 km north west of Cue), it is in the Weld not Campell Range and the local Aboriginal people are Watjarri not Walpiri.
On p59 Warnun (not Warmum) is located 500km west of the Darwin-Alice Road, hardly "just to the west"
P40 Calgoorlie is spelt with a"K", Kalgoorlie - This a major city in West Australia. Any map of the world/globe printed after the 1890's would show this.
p105 'vitriol' is sulphuric acid. not iron sulphate which is 'green vitriol'
p113 Sadly, South Australia had no 'goldfields', unlike every other state and territory of Australia (with of course the ecxception of the Australian Capital Territory)
At this stage (ie p113) I gave up - how many other errors would there be that I do not know of?
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Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780812971422
- Subtitle:
- A Natural History of the Palette
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Random House Trade
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- History - General
- Subject:
- History : General
- Copyright:
- 2003
- Edition Description:
- Rh Trade PB
- Publication Date:
- December 30, 2003
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Yes
- Pages:
- 464
- Dimensions:
- 8.18x5.52x1.00 in. .81 lbs.
