This is one of the most interesting & enjoyable books I've ever read. I bought my own copy at a local art-supply store. My wife read my copy & really loved it too. Subsequently, I bought two more copies of this book for gifts to family members, who are avid readers with wide-ranging interests. This book has a wealth of information about, well "color" that's technical, artistic, historic, and cultural. The author travelled the world (part of her job as a writer & reporter) to gather, firsthand, diverse & unique material for this book. Being a skilled writer, she puts everything together in a book that I'd consider to be a minor work of art.

incredibly good book. I love reading about the history of the world through such things as color. And she has amazing tales to tell in her explorations all across the globe.

A surprisingly fun read, this is the history of colored paints and dyes. These days, artists buy their paints in tubes from the art supply store, but the old masters had to mix their own. This book talks about finding lapiz lazuli from a single mining town in Afghanistan, and crushing that blue stone to create the most wondrous shade of blue, first found 7,000 years ago on Buddhist statues. Green celadon was a seaweed green porcelain that only Chinese emperors could own. When an ancient temple collapsed in modern China, secret treasure vaults were discovered that yielded the unusual tableware. Finlay describes her many trips to the subcontinent in search of Indian Yellow, supposedly made from the urine of cows that are fed mangoes. And, of course, let's not forget the purple vomit of sea mollusks, the deep red blood of crushed beetles, the demanding work of separating saffron from crocuses, and the many trials and tribulations of those artists who worked with mercury, lead, cobalt and arsenic. This is as much a travelogue as it is a vibrant history of color throughout the ages, and the great lengths that artists would go in search of the perfect color.

Good coverage and an exhaustive one. Not for the hobbies.

This review pertains ONLY to the kindle edition. This is cheap but very defective! NO ILLUSTRATIONS. The notes are not linked from the text, and in the Notes section, the numbers are omitted. So figuring out which note goes with which part of the text is your challenge.