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alundeberg's review against another edition
4.0
This is not just a history of color, but a bustling travelogue of the world; Victoria Finlay is just my type of traveler-- she has a plan but she doesn't. She hears of a place where a color was developed and she goes, and hopefully, just hopefully, she meets the right people and finds what she is looking for. It's all very serendipitous. The book is categorized by colors; beginning with the earth tones (which, oddly enough, come from the earth) and moves on to my favorites of green, blues, and violet. While this is fun global romp searching for the origins of color, it is laced with the nostalgia of understanding of how people before us lived, where creating art was in fact creation: from preparing the piece to be painted to crushing, mixing, blending the paint to understanding how different mediums react to each other. Finlay also reaffirms that it is in the pieces imperfections that make them beautiful, and she explains how many beautiful colors relied on shit to be so.
Color is an interesting read, and Finlay is an irreverent, speculative, and open tour guide through the palette.
Color is an interesting read, and Finlay is an irreverent, speculative, and open tour guide through the palette.
stellarstar's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Fascinating topic; one I never wondered about. Sad, is the loss of skills in creating colours as they did a long time ago. Wonderfully and widely researched. Thank you for bringing something that is really important to me - colour- alive. A fabulous, enriching read.
jackiesam's review against another edition
2.0
interesting but not compelling at all, I had to remind myself to pick it up
rangersarah's review against another edition
4.0
This took me 7 months to get through, but not because of lack of interest. Color is very well written and chock-full of information, combined with Finlay's travel writing. This will definitely become a resource for me, as it has a great bibliography and extensive notes. The book is so dense, however, that it was easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the facts at times.
bookbrig's review against another edition
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.75
I listened to the audiobook of this and it was wonderfully read by the author. It's full of interesting anecdotes and (forgive the pun) colorful people. I liked it quite a bit, but there were also a few parts that felt scant or under developed and left me wanting more detail. That said, I'd love to look at a physical copy and see if it includes photos or other depictions of any of the colors she covered.
nbcknwlf's review against another edition
4.0
This book is really awesome if you're looking for an engagingly-written travelogue that is not completely fucking inane like Eat, Pray, Love. It's a fantastic overview of the history of color and definitely got me wanting to read more on the subject. The main problem with the book is that the writing is good while the scholarship is so-so. That may be an editorial decision, I don't know. I just know that there were a lot of things I wanted to learn more about, and had difficulty doing so by looking at her sources. This is really only a problem if you're a giant nerd. Overall, great book.
numinousspirit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
the_sassy_bookworm's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really interesting read! Each chapter is dedicated to a color and it's history and uses through the centuries.