Rating: 
Summary: More about her journeys than the actual colors
Review: This is a book about writing a book about colors. The actual color information often gets lost in the oh-so-charming stories of how she researched the information. The author has a fine eye for the "telling detail." And often that's all you get - a string of telling details, without a backbone. And when she wanders off into "I like to imagine that..." I just want to throw the book across the room. I think it's a fantastic idea for a book. And if it had more substance and less chatter, it would be a fantastic book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Travel History of Artist Pigments
Review: This is a joy of a book. Victoria Finley has taken a subject that is very important, but seldom discussed - namely how did we get the colors used by artists for painting - and wove it into a personal account of her travels to find their sources. In the process she introduces the reader to all manner of exotic and little-known, but delightful facts, peoples and places. From cochineal (I might note here that as an entomologist I was somewhat discouraged by her apparent inability to decide whether to call the source a beetle or a bug- it is a BUG! - the one clinker in an otherwise well done book), through madder as a source of orange, saffron for yellow, and on to lapis lazuli for blue, etc. The book is (as noted) also a personal travel narrative with lots of side trips. I found these to be fascinating and to add interest to a book that might have been a dry compendium of facts about chemicals. "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" is a good book to curl up with at night or to read on an airplane. The reader will find enough local "color" and interesting tidbits to make the hours very pleasant indeed. This is, I think, especially true of artists who may not know much about the colors they use in their work.
Rating:
Summary: The Travel History of Artist Pigments
Review: This is a joy of a book. Victoria Finley has taken a subject that is very important, but seldom discussed - namely how did we get the colors used by artists for painting - and wove it into a personal account of her travels to find their sources. In the process she introduces the reader to all manner of exotic and little-known, but delightful facts, peoples and places. From cochineal (I might note here that as an entomologist I was somewhat discouraged by her apparent inability to decide whether to call the source a beetle or a bug- it is a BUG! - the one clinker in an otherwise well done book), through madder as a source of orange, saffron for yellow, and on to lapis lazuli for blue, etc. The book is (as noted) also a personal travel narrative with lots of side trips. I found these to be fascinating and to add interest to a book that might have been a dry compendium of facts about chemicals. "Color: A Natural History of the Palette" is a good book to curl up with at night or to read on an airplane. The reader will find enough local "color" and interesting tidbits to make the hours very pleasant indeed. This is, I think, especially true of artists who may not know much about the colors they use in their work.
Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating read
Review: This is such a lovely idea for a book, yet one completely squandered by Ms. Finlay. There are certainly enough fragments of stories and histories to keep the curious reader engaged, but many more moments where I was disappointed by the lack of intellectual rigour or thoughtful analysis. I've had to stop reading several times out of sheer frustration with the presentation; I too have been tempted to throw the book across a crowded subway everytime the author utilises the inelegant conceit of "I'd like to imagine...".
Rating:
Summary: Tasty!
Review: Yes sir, tasty it is. Every chapter a new wonderful dish from far-away and sometimes lost worlds, spiced up with the author's whereabouts while tracing the origin of colors, served with plenty of humour, in excellent proportions. I'm not sure I would advise this book to scientists looking for scientific evidence. This book is for mere humans. Reads like a novell. Jummy.
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