The Secret Lives of Colour
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The Secret Lives of Colour
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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Kassia St Clair
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By:
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Kassia St Clair
About this listen
The Secret Lives of Colour tells the unusual stories of the 75 most fascinating shades, dyes and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso's blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.
In this book Kassia St Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colours and where they come from (whether Van Gogh's chrome yellow sunflowers or punk's fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilisation. Across fashion and politics, art and war, The Secret Lives of Colour tell the vivid story of our culture.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site.
©2016 Kassia St Clair (P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton LtdCritic Reviews
"A mind-expanding tour of the world without leaving your paintbox. Every colour has a story, and here are some of the most alluring, alarming, and thought-provoking. Very hard painting the hallway magnolia after this inspiring primer." (Simon Garfield)
What listeners say about The Secret Lives of Colour
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-09-2021
Artists friend.
Many secrets were revealed about colour & their history.
All so intriguing that it gave me fresh eyes & an appetite to paint.
Read by the Author, it has been set out in chapters devoted to each hue family; it is easy to return to.
Knowing the history behind our readily accessed colour palettes of today has broadened my perspective in many ways.
The book is full of fascinating facts about the cultures & belief systems that influenced the making of pigments, combined with the historical influences & limitations that faced the manufacturers & colourmen.
I think we owe much to their hard work & dedication.
Beautifully written & read.
Extremely captivating read, easy yo listen to.
I have read it many times & often referred to its chapters while working.
THANKYOU.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. 👍🙏👼
NB: A tip for listeners, good idea to slow down reading speed to 85 so older readers like myself can catch every word.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- GTB
- 07-12-2021
Loved it!!
I loved listening to the historical origins of colour, the interesting facts surrounding certain colours and about colours I've never heard of such as Vantablack and Mummy brown. The narrator did an excellent job of pronunciation and she is very easy to listen to. It's a book that I will listen to again and I highly recommend it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 28-09-2021
loved so much I bought the hard copy
wonderful writing, incredible research, beautifully told and structured. I quote from this book all the time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sandy
- 03-06-2020
Could use a better narrator.
struggled to finish, I noticed that a lot of the info in this book was simply googled, word for word in some cases from Wikipedia.
The narrator seemed to be trying too hard to speak in 'Queens English'.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hiro
- 28-04-2020
Highly recommended
I read the book first and found it very interesting.
So, why an audiobook?
The author’s voice and style of narration is very soothing to my ears.
It’s very rare that I enjoyed both the book and audiobook.
Thank you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard Davies
- 19-05-2021
A colourful history of colours
Compelling and interesting read for anyone interested in the history of colours and specifically the naming of colours. Well narrated and very easy to listen to.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-09-2022
Fascinating
For the love of colour history in all it’s illuminated glory will make you think again the next time you mix
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dave
- 10-04-2022
Packed with info
Brilliant book! I’ve listened to it 5 times now as its is packed with so much info
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 19-05-2020
Stories of colour
What an amazing book!
These stories of colour are amazing and I cannot recommend enough you should read or listen to this book!
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- venice219
- 23-01-2021
A waste of money. Very disappointing.
Peddled as nonfiction, this book is riddled with untruths, errors
and blatantly ridiculous nonsense. Everything from asserting that Henry Ford refused to make cars in any colour but black “due to his religious convictions “. (wrong: his first cars were of various bright colours and would have continued to be so, had black not turned out to be the quickest drying colour) to declaring that silver bullets were invented due to a village being “overrun with werewolves”. Um, really? Hachette Books, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for publishing such a load of trite, unresearched rubbish to gull the credulous.
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3 people found this helpful