Thoughts 
Color by Victoria Finlay, Random House Trade 2004 (orig 2002), 448 pages
Satisfies the COLOR category of the What’s in a Name 8 Challenge.
“Up until then I had always believed that the world was getting better and better and more and more clever. But that day my tender theory about the Evolution of History fell on its head, and it has – for better or for worse – never been quite right ever since.” p. 1
Wow – what a wild ride! This book is nuts.
I learned a lot and I marveled at what the author went through to gather stories to fit into this book. She wanted to find India Indigo so she went there. She wanted to find Tyrian Purple, so she went to Lebanon. She just had to see the blue Lapis Lazuli mines of Afghanistan, so off she went. Think about that last one…
She is fearless!
My only complaint might be that she really is all over the place at times and I wondered why she would mention that. (off on a tangent much?) I had to go look up SO MANY THINGS. It is hard – she mentions this, too – it is very hard to describe colors with words.
This is a 4 slice of pie book. 
If you like travel books and author-involved nonfiction adventures, I recommend. If you are an artist and are curious about how artists got their colors, you must read this book.
I still have my receipt from purchasing this in 2010. Why? What prompted this book then? I have no records except the date. HOWEVER, in looking for other reviews out there in blogland, I found that Eva of A Striped Armchair was extremely enthusiastic about this book, so that is a clue. And since I seem to be on a linky-love binge, I should include Fyrefly’s discussion of another Finlay book that am now wanting to read next/soon/someday.
Colors are fascinating; this book makes me crave the colors of the entire world and makes me wonder what others really are looking at – do we see the same thing? Is the blue I see the blue you see? What color of purple do you think Cleopatra dyed her sails? And how exactly did she do it? So many mysteries.
Tyndall’s explanation of why the sky is blue is one of the best ever. Page 305.
Lots of Copley Connections for me, too. Of course, she mentions Simon Garfield’s Mauve which I read in 2009. Or the mention of the English town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne being known for its beer exports. (I read all about that in Hops & Glory.) And then on page 384, Finlay describes a cave with a ‘millenia of snail trails'; surely those of you who read All the Light We Cannot See, recognize Marie-Laure and her hiding place?
Do you have any nonfiction books about colors to recommend? Just one more of my favorite things to learn more about, I guess. AND, I will send this book to anyone who comments and says they want it. If more than one person wants it, I will select somebody at random. Must comment before Valentines Day.
* Copley Connections are the random connections and coincidences that link books that I have read.
Recent Comments