Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet
Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet book cover

Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet

Hardcover – Illustrated, October 22, 2013

Price
$29.99
Format
Hardcover
Pages
240
Publisher
Black Dog & Leventhal
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1579129491
Dimensions
10.45 x 1.1 x 10.35 inches
Weight
2.95 pounds

Description

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Where does the phrase blue blood come from? Why do most doctors wear green scrubs? These and other questions are answered in the Eckstut&'s fascinating study of color. After throwing readers into the deep end with scientific explanations about how our brains process information and declarations like wavelengths of light do not exist as color until we see them, the authors move on to more accessible and lively examinations of colors and the roles they&'ve played in history as well as evolution. Each hue gets a biography of sorts, as the authors examine its cultural (the Egyptians placed a high value on blue and it was one of the first synthetic pigments) and in some cases biological significance (different colors attract different animals). The science behind rainbows and why they never appear the same way to two people; why the grass is always greener across the street (you&'re not seeing the imperfections); and a litany of other color-related trivia round out the book. The book&'s dynamic design and short entries make it easy to skim, but it&'s likely that those intending just a casual perusal will find themselves engrossed by this terrifically entertaining and informative volume. Illus. Agent: Jim Levine, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Oct.) "In this many-hued tome, Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut zip through optics and electromagnetism. They then explore colour in art, such as the pointillist work of George-Pierre Seurat, and in nature, from minerals to nebulae. Fact-filled and flamboyantly illustrated."― Nature Joann Eckstut is a leading color consultant who works with a wide range of professionals including architects, developers, and manufacturers of name brands. She is founder of The Roomworks, a prominent NYC interior design firm and is one of twelve designers chosen by the Color Association of the United States to create the yearly interior/environmental forecast that is bought by major industries to keep up with color trends. She is the author of Room Redux: The Home Decorating Workbook and The Color Palette Primer: A Guide to Choosing Ideal Color Combinations for Your Home . She lives in Rensselaerville, New York. Arielle Eckstut is the author of eight books including The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published . She is co-founder of The Book Doctors with her husband David Henry Sterry, a company dedicated to helping writers successfully publish their books. She is also co-founder of the iconic company, LittleMissMatched, which has become a national brand with stores all over the United States including Disneyland, Disney World, and Fifth Avenue in New York City. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • The Secret Language of Color
  • celebrates and illuminates the countless ways in which color colors our world.
  • Why is the sky blue, the grass green, a rose red? Most of us have no idea how to answer these questions, nor are we aware that color pervades nearly all aspects of life, from the subatomic realm and the natural world to human culture and psychology. Organized into chapters that begin with a fascinating explanation of the physics and chemistry of color,
  • The Secret Language of Color
  • imparts a beautiful and thorough investigation into the nature of color, such as how and why we see color, rainbows, animals with color vision far superior and inferior to our own, how our language influences the colors we see, and much more. Between these chapters, authors Joann Eckstut and Ariele Eckstut turn their attention to the individual hues of the visible spectrum -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violent -- presenting each in fascinating, in-depth detail. Including hundreds of stunning photographs and dozens of informative and entertaining graphics, every page is a breathtaking demonstration of color and its role in the world around us. Whether you see red, are a shrinking violet, or talk a blue streak, this is the perfect book for anyone interested in the history, science, culture, and beauty of color in the natural and man-made world.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(210)
★★★★
25%
(88)
★★★
15%
(53)
★★
7%
(25)
-7%
(-26)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

I speak the language!

Now that I can speak color I have been noticing hidden messages all over the place. On television, in advertising, even in the carpet I walk on every day. I didn't know I would be so tortured by revealing a hidden world of messages. The world is a scary place when everything starts talking to you. You think it's just a tree but it's a cipher for German World War II submarines. It's like never leaving a library. Don't even ask what the outfits you wear actually mean.
34 people found this helpful
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Great book that explains the how and what of color.

Lovely book with all sorts of information for people like myself who have difficulty understanding the relationship between color as light and color as the property of an object. I think I learned more in 20 pages than I did from years of art lessons. Especially about the way color mixes. No wonder I was so frustrated! The level of detail can be a little intimidating to a complete newbie like myself, but with some patience I have started to understand the basic principles.

This should be a standard text for all budding artists. Or just folk like myself who wondered why a yellow filter did certain things for a black and white photograph. Or even someone wondering why that fabric they chose looked so awful with CFL bulbs when it was great with tungsten.

Truly an eye opening work. And a nice thing to leave on the coffee table.
32 people found this helpful
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Not to be missed book.

This was a wonderful book! The authors tied in science, emotion, history and a very solid grounding in the present. It included how different cultures view color, how history has viewed color, the emotions behind the colors we see, the science behind how we see what we see, and even a brief tour of what color means in the universe. If you thought this book was about decorating or fashion, you would be wrong. This book is about life, and how we see it.
30 people found this helpful
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Blast of Color/Color as a blast

The Secret Language of Color is appropriately, a feast for the eyes. It divides itself into basic colors and categories, and provides a rich sampling of things, concepts and facts associated with that color - or colors in that field. It's a nice concept, and it is delightfully executed by 8 ½ Design (though you might need a magnifying glass to read the captions). Each chapter has its own template backdrop that you first see in the table of contents, which itself is a collection of the templates with large page numbers, instead of a simple list. The chapters themselves use the template image as the bleeding edge of their pages. The text is the color of the chapter (The first chapter is rainbow gradient). Lots of colorful photos, a bunch of color illusion tests, and all kinds of factoids. The images often stretch across two pages, and the layout is festively inconsistent. Even the Acknowledgements manages to color everyone's name differently. It's a stylish overview.

You learn a bunch of things, like why stones look more colorful when wet (Light-scattering effects off the stone's surface are muted by the wet covering), where Yellow Journalism came from (The popular Yellow Kid cartoons, claimed by two major papers because of the readership it brought in), and the odd fact that cardinals and flamingos get their red/pink colors from what they eat. Change their diet, and they lose their hues.

I particularly liked the introduction, where the authors state their primary discovery: "Anyone who claims to be an expert in color is a liar," is how it begins. Color is so central so every field, every science, every art, and every being that no one can possibly have a complete handle on it. Especially since we're still just learning (The text of the introduction is a rainbow gradient - of course).

That said, the Eckstuts have put together a very easy to read compendium, which constantly crosses the threshold from pop science to coffee table and back. It's hard to pin it down. But as an interesting read and a terrific layout, it's a memorable celebration.

David Wineberg
27 people found this helpful
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Great book -- poor editorial work

Fascinating book with great design work to communicate the message in vibrant text and pictures. While I loved the content, it became clear that either my copy was an odd ball or the editors never reread the final print before ordering mass print. There are plenty of errors and even one place where an entire paragraph cuts off on one page then repeats every word on the following page.

Again, the content was great. I'm going to reread the whole thing. But it seems proofreading never happened.
21 people found this helpful
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Font size is too small

We purchased this book to use in homeschooling. It is a beautiful book, and the graphics are wonderful. The two stars are due to the small size of the print. We are 56 and 17 years old, and both of us have to squint to slowly read the print, especially if it’s under or in a caption. Not sure why the publisher chose this print scale, but we won’t purchase any more books like this from them because the print is not easy to read. It is a shame to have put together a lovely book and to have used an obviously small font.
16 people found this helpful
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Beautiful, informative, great coffee table book and gift

EVERYONE loves this book! It's beautiful, well designed, interesting and playful.

I'm a nanny and I've entertained the kids (5 and 8) with it for hours. I initially borrowed it from the library and ended up renewing it twice :)

I lugged it around in my tote bag for over a month. I brought it to soccer practice once and several of the mom's took it and spent a good 30 minutes looking through it together. Another day on the playground it got pulled out, and a parent and her 3 children all got involved in looking through it.

The kids asked me for the book again when we had a long drive recently, and were very disappointed I didn't have it with me.

I bought two: one copy for my coffee table and the other for a Christmas gift (and am considering ordering a few more for my gift drawer). It's truly a great one-size-fits-all gift for all ages.
16 people found this helpful
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Wonderful Color Book and Beyond!

There is so much good to say about this beautiful book. It is not just a book. It is an experience! It is fabulous. I feel like I just traveled to a beautiful land--one that I have never seen before. I am in awe! I am buying another copy before they realize they should have charged much more than 29.95. There is SO MUCH information on about every aspect of color, with beautiful art and charts in full color, on glossy pages. What a great work. How these women put this together baffles my mind. It is pure genius.
15 people found this helpful
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Color explained!

I attend a painting workshop and this book was recommended by the instructor. I expected a book explaining how to mix color and manage color relationships, instead this is a fascinating and humorous read on the science of color. The language used is accessible, contrasting myth and fact to help the layperson understand how we arrived at the concept of color and how our understanding has evolved over time.
12 people found this helpful
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Too many errors to be taken seriously.

Lots of errors. Incorrectly labels purple as blue within the introduction. It also refers to Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" and makes a point to compare and contrast Judas' robes to Jesus'-the problem is the person they refer to Jesus is actually John. Jesus isn't even in the cropped picture. For such a famous figure and painting, you'd think they'd get the correct person. These are only a few of the errors I've seen so far, but it questions the integrity of the book and I'll be taking everything in it with a grain of salt.
11 people found this helpful