Discover the tantalizing true stories behind your favorite colors. For example: Cleopatra used saffron—a source of the color yellow—for seduction. Extracted from an Afghan mine, the blue “ultramarine” paint used by Michelangelo was so expensive he couldn’t afford to buy it himself. Since ancient times, carmine red—still found in lipsticks and Cherry Coke today—has come from Discover the tantalizing true stories behind your favorite colors. For example: Cleopatra used saffron—a source of the color yellow—for seduction. Extracted from an Afghan mine, the blue “ultramarine” paint used by Michelangelo was so expensive he couldn’t afford to buy it himself. Since ancient times, carmine red—still found in lipsticks and Cherry Coke today—has come from the blood of insects.

The disclaimers 'I imagine', 'perhaps', 'possibly', 'it could be that' appear in this NON-FICTION book far more times than they should. While I liked the content of about three-quarters of the book, it infuriated me at times when the author would suddenly start presenting the material through the eyes of a character, 'imagining' their experiences, travels, and accomplishments. Gli Alinari. This first rears its head around page 81, when the tone of her book changes to speculate about an imaginary Corinthian a The disclaimers 'I imagine', 'perhaps', 'possibly', 'it could be that' appear in this NON-FICTION book far more times than they should. While I liked the content of about three-quarters of the book, it infuriated me at times when the author would suddenly start presenting the material through the eyes of a character, 'imagining' their experiences, travels, and accomplishments. This first rears its head around page 81, when the tone of her book changes to speculate about an imaginary Corinthian artist. 'But what if she became tired of using just one variety of paint material?

Perhaps, I thought, she may have tried out new blacks and browns. Would she, given the chance to try out charcoal's successors, have preferred lead pencils or India ink? Would she have dyed her clothes deepest black, or was it only in the palest of classical robes that she wanted to be seen? And if her boyfriend ever returned to Greece between voyages, would she have used her new knowledge of pigments to decorate her own face for the occasion? I imagined our heroine experimenting idly with mascaras and liners.'

Colour (in the US, Color. You can buy the original from amazon, or you can download the pdf free of charge. Color by Victoria Finlay.

At this point, I threw the book across the room. WHAT THE HELL. It's mean to be a scholarly book about color. And I'm reading a bullshit paragraph leading me into speculation about 'this Corinthian woman's' dating and make-up? I felt the same way about her handling of the character of Martinengo in the 'Orange' chapter.

Related Book PDF Book Color Natural History Victoria Finlay: - Home - Open House Middle School Social Studies Powerpoint - Open House Merriment Crafting Leisure. In this vivid and captivating journey through the colors of an artist’s palette, Victoria Finlay takes us on an enthralling adventure around the world. When British journalist Victoria Finlay began her research into the history of color, she didn't expect to unearth stories of corruption, poisoning, killing.

On one two page spread, I think I counted 'I imagine', 'perhaps', 'possibly', 'if', about ten or twelve times. This is an irresponsibly stupid way to write nonfiction. Two stars (and I never want to read anything else by her). Funny story with this book - got to page 112 and discovered that pages 113 to 146 were missing! Thankfully, Random House (publisher) came to the rescue and sent me a replacement copy. Until it came I was in suspense about how ladies used to poison themselves (by accident) with white cosmetics that were made from lead. This book was interesting not only for the information about colors, but also for the author's travels.

She went to great lengths to get to the source of some colors, and along the Funny story with this book - got to page 112 and discovered that pages 113 to 146 were missing! Thankfully, Random House (publisher) came to the rescue and sent me a replacement copy. Until it came I was in suspense about how ladies used to poison themselves (by accident) with white cosmetics that were made from lead. This book was interesting not only for the information about colors, but also for the author's travels. She went to great lengths to get to the source of some colors, and along the way educates the reader about old customs and cultures. Fascinating book that will fill your head with lots of information that will seem useless unless you appear on Jeopardy some day.

It made me look at everything around me a little more attentively, though, really noticing the color (Is that blue, indigo or violet?) and thinking about where that color source may have been aquired. I remember when I was a child getting a box of paints in small tubes. I was fascinated by the names of the colours, words I had never heard of before - vermillion, magenta, aquamarine, cochineal, carmine.