The Secret Lives of Colour: RADIO 4's BOOK OF THE WEEK Hardcover – Illustrated, 20 Oct. 2016

When I purchased this book, I imagined it more to be about how to use colour. However, I have been captivated by the history of colour instead. This book is mind expanding and incredibly well researched. It is fascinating reading when some colours were first used centuries ago. I look forward to settling down with this book whenever I get a spare moment, and then to be transported to a time and place in history. A fantastic read and greatly educational.

I was drawn to this book in a bookshop by its striking cover. I loved the samples of the various colours throughout the book and the general presentation of the volume but wondered if I could really justify the expense - or the space on already full bookshelves. Can you imagine my delight when I discovered that the title was available on Kindle Unlimited?I chose to read the book in page order to avoid missing out any of the shades and was soon fascinated. I loved not knowing what aspect of a shade would be covered in its short chapter; would it be how the natural ingredient was processed, a new dye invented or some other historical facts about that particular nuance of the colour in question? The variety was part of the excitement. I was regularly clicking on the links to see a sample of a shade when it was mentioned the general introduction to that colour, checking footnotes and scouring the biography for further reading.The Kindle edition has the advantage of your being able to find the shade you want instantaneously, but the physical book itself is so appealing with its full pages of colour that, in spite of having read it for free, I shall almost certainly buy the book. Five full glowing stars

Easy to read and interesting. Like how it takes colour as a reference point to delve into history

Great book for anyone interested in colour

An enjoyable book to both read and look through.

A little box of wonders - well structured by colour chapters (e.g. Blue) and sub chapters (e.g. Ultramarine / Cobalt / Indigo / Prussian Blue etc.), full of snippets of history, science, anthropology and fashion to dip in and out of. Exactly the kind of thing anyone who works with paint, fabric or in material studies would want to read in the evening over a glass of something. Not too in-depth, but not designed to be either - it's more of an elegant incentive to study colour and see how it connects multiple disciples and aspects of everyday life. Bibliography at the back invites you to look up Kassia St Clair's sources and find out more. Would absolutely recommend!

I bought this book for my mum as a Christmas present. She loved it. On her recommendation,On her recommendation, I gave it a read. I'm a marketer and web designer on the side, and it's a brilliant companion to the scientific heavy side of colour theory. Cassia St Claire brings the story of colour to life with wonderful vigour. Pretty cover too!

The book description made it sound like an interesting look at where colours come from but actually it has lots of small text, hard to get into and not that interesting. Looks pretty for a coffee table book though.