Color

A Natural History of the Palette

By Victoria Finlay
(Random House Trade Paperbacks, Paperback, 9780812971422, 464pp.)

Publication Date: December 30, 2003

Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook

Categories: History - General

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A British citizen living in Hong Kong, Victoria Finlay has worked for Reuters and was the arts editor for the South China Morning Post for four and a half years before leaving to write this book. She writes regularly about arts and travel for Hong Kong newspapers and international media.

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“This is a rare and wonderful book–a model of erudition and charm, the writing elegant and precise, and with at least one new and fascinating revelation on every single page. I could not be more enthusiastic.”
–Simon Winchester, author ofThe Professor and the Madman

“Until I read this book, I was colorblind.”
–Cynthia Rowley

"Color is the essence of landscape, of mood, of our whole perception of the physical world. Victoria Finlay has traveled through Iran, Afghanistan, and other places to investigate the origin of all those tantalizingly sensual ochers and reds and blues. What a creative idea for a book!”
–Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Ends of the Earth and Eastward to Tartary

"In this engaging travelogue, a rainbow of hues determined the author’s choice of destinations. . . . By the time you read ‘Violet,’ you will have traversed much of the world, sharing Finlay’s contagious fascination with color.”
–Condé Nast Traveler

"Loaded with fascinating tidbits, this portrait of colors and their histories will provide readers with lots of conversation-starters.”
—Boston Herald