The Secret Lives of Color

BUY!! NO KIDDING!! ENGAGING AND FUN AND GAME CHANGER: I'm a little hard to get going into stories. I'm A.D.D. and I just need hooks. I didn't really expect this to be more than a need-to-read for professional upgrading. I especially struggle with dry stories, which this seemed to HAVE to be, right? A book on color. Come on. I expected this book to be at least a little helpful with understanding color and understanding color benefits basically all areas of life (in some way or another). But WOW. I am reading this book and I. Am. Engaged!! That sounds cheesy, but MAN is it filled with really *really* cool facts and somehow it's like reading a book of trivia that is also profoundly impacting my entire world of color understanding. It's not just helping a little; this book is re-framing color for me. CLAPS to the author!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you SO much! Just. I'm stunned. And so impressed. Thank you!

I enjoyed the short, well-written and superbly researched stories about pigments and colors in context of human- and art history. Warmly recommended to people interested in art history, visual arts, color theory, as well as anyone else curious about colors and human experience in sourcing and using various pigments.

Great Purchase. When I started reading it I worried that I was over my head, that the book was too much science, chemistry, history and not enough of the fascinating facts and color information related to people, places and times. I was so wrong, and glad that I kept on reading. St. Clair has presented 75 colors with names, dates, interesting stories, great historical references, literary connections, and so many amazing facts that I kept pestering my husband, reading aloud to him. Loved it!

I enjoyed reading this book. Lots of facts, lots of footnotes and citations. If you paint, you may be especially interested. One oddity is the stream of consciousness writing style. The author starts telling a story, then interrupts themselves to wander down another fascinating byway of information, then wanders away into another story. Sometimes the author returns to the original story with an uninformative one-liner epigraphical or humorous quip at the end of a section. Sometimes you'll find the rest of the story in the footnotes. Most of the time you're on your own to find out the rest of the story. Also, the author often uses terms without defining or explaining them, leaving the reader to frequently consult Google for definitions and explanations. I docked one star for these problems. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book. Many hours of research went into the book, and it shows.

Whether you're a painter, artist, author, or even a spiritual leader, this book has extremely valuable information about the origins of various pigments, their spiritual and metaphorical meanings, and the history of how those meanings interact with socio-political movements. If you're using color in your work, whether literally or in descriptions of "cloth of purple" and "pitch-black night," this book has information that can deepen your understand and improve your use of color.

Fascinating look at the history of pigments and the colors they create. I recommend it to every artist and craftsperson! And, the book is designed so that every color's page is bordered in its color.

This is a delightfully crafted mini coffee-table book of the best kind. The book begins with a general introduction to the topic of color including the general physics of light, psychology and culture and materials. The rest of the book is divided into color types like "white" featuring related color names like "silver, ivory" and so forth. Each section is a quick, but literate discussion of how each color was made and has been used in history, including some of the less-savory implications. The quest for pretty colors can come with a steep price in terms of toxicity or wars over possessing the raw materials (but we are learning to be more thoughtful). This book knows that color also adds meaning to our lives - a world without flowers, rainbows or glass beads would be far less joyful.

A great book!

Donc on attend la traduction... mais les articles sont drôles et on révise son anglais

Very interesting and easy to read. It explains the history and cultural significance of colours.

It's a very good book to learn about specific colors, their origins, usage and often connotation. It's mostly focused on painting but also discusses dyes and pigments used in industries.

This is a good book but I really only purchased it after seeing it on Pat Sloan's quilting YouTube channel. The book is interesting and well researched but the link to using it for project inspiration was the main interest for me. If you are interested in the project you can google it and join in!

Fantastic book