Years ago, I tried my hand at art and became fascinated with various color wheels. I began to wonder about pigments, and how how they were created. I was captivated by the beautiful work of Maxfield Parrish, and experimented with acrylics, especially phthalocyanine blue. Then, was led to study the physics of colored light.

So, when I got a chance to read Adam Rogers new book, Full Spectrum, I was fascinated to read his account of the history of colors, pigments, and color science.

For anyone who has any curiosity about how colors became so important, as well as how they are made and how they got from place to place in the world, I can highly recommend Mr. Rogers thorough and intelligent account.

I can't imagine how anyone could read Full Spectrum without learning something interesting and worthwhile!

Strongly recommended!

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Review at Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5002261847

I love colors and was drawn to this book because of that. Interesting 360 look at the science of colors (more about man-made than those in nature). But seriously - why get political around the color white? And black for the heart of GOP president ... come on. Irrelevant and lost credibility.

Loved some of the detailed investigation into the origins of color and the culture parallels. Once you start talking about anything man made, then it goes to the dark side of manufacturing. Interesting look at things we find exhilarating everyday. Its inquiry is in the tone of natural history of senses.

FULL SPECTRUM

Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern is journalist Adam Rogers’ deep dive into the scientific history of color.

If anything, the book will make you realize just how much the fact of color is taken for granted. Color is all around us, yet we do not all perceive it the same way (if at all). At some point, when our ancestors realized they wanted to create realistic representations of the world, they somehow figured out how to tease out color from materials in the earth or out at sea. That they were able to do so without necessarily understanding the underlying physics or chemistry speaks to the human ability to, shall we say, figure things out inductively. Fortunately, we better understand these now, which allows us to push the envelope where color is concerned.

Rogers paints many a fascinating and compelling perspective on color (pun intended). He traces the history of how humans learned to manipulate color, not necessarily in a straight line but instead as interrelated if occasionally intersecting vignettes in different eras. Naturally, science also abounds in Full Spectrum, arguably unapologetically at times, but readers will be the better for it—among the advantages is finally being able to understand what the hell was really going on with “"the dress.”

With a deft grasp of the topic and crisp reportage, Rogers deconstructs the simple subject of color to highlight its layers of complexity. Indeed, From titanium dioxide to vantablack, Full Spectrum will make sure you’ll never look at color the same way again.

This book combines history and science in a walk through the technological discoveries that led to color reproduction in the modern world. It also talks about how color is perceived in the human brain, and how color perception can vary from one person to another. The subject matter is interesting, and the story is told in an easy-to-read, conversational style.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book is not for me. At first, I enjoyed the introduction of the author of how the use of colour developed throughout history. The invention of colour is a process that seems continuous. Early humans only recognised the natural colours that appear in nature, but everything began to change when humans started to mix colours and attach meanings to them. It was not the colour themselves that make humans modern, but rather the science behind it which becomes the foundation of how colours are interpreted throughout different regions and cultures.

What at first seemed interesting, suddenly became like torture. To me, the author hardly makes any point throughout the first few chapters with frequent jumping of topics. I expected to read something along the line of interpreting colours specifically in one culture or two to make an interesting case study, but it’s like the author attempts to explain a really big concept through the short space that the book provides.

The topic is highly intriguing, about how the invention of new colours is also triggered partly by how the early products that are colourised were sold commercially. Trade drives innovation, and the colour is one of those innovations. I especially like the author’s assessment of how the excavation of the Belitung shipwreck opened up a reassessment of the advanced pottery of the Tang Dynasty and the unknown trade routes between China and the Middle East during the 8th century. But it’s like we’ll need to dig in between the vastness of this book to discover interesting stories, while most of the time there might be stories about the mixing between several different chemicals to invent new colours.

I think the author is a bit indecisive, whether to discuss the social aspects of colour or its scientific aspects. It would make more sense to focus on one, as opposed to explaining both at the same time which creates confusion on my part about what is the discussion about. Maybe it will be enjoyable for those who have already been exposed to prior knowledge about colour, but in all fairness, this is too difficult for a lay reader to digest.

See my forthcoming review of Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern by Adam Rogers in Booklist magazine (an American Library Association publication).

I first became interested in this topic via Victoria Findlay’s excellent Colors; unfortunately since I read that book first, this work suffers by comparison. It’s ostensibly similar - both authors attempt to explain what we know about colors by exploring history and science, and group the book by color groups. Naturally it’s expected that there would be some overlap between the categories. However, in this book, the author is truly all over the place to the extent that I wondered if something was wrong with my digital copy. For example, discussion of mauvine, or mauve pigment, was included in the section on whites. I could see mentions of colors in different areas, but there are extensive discussions and explanations, not just mentions. The author appears to skip topics paragraph to paragraph, almost as if he got distracted repeatedly while writing. There is really good and interesting information here, but it’s presented in such a way that made the book difficult to finish for me.

Full Spectrum by Adam Rogers (Wired, MIT, Proof: The Science of Booze, etc) is a chummy equation-free walk through the science of color: pigment & light. The timespan covered? From the continents shifting, to cavemen daubing their walls with rust, to Renaissance prisms, to 21C sci-fi brainwave manipulation (those weasels at Pixar are up to something!). At turns it's personal travelogue and careful scientific description. An entertaining one-book review of an enormous scientific field.

A Rainbow Of Possibilities. This isn't the book about vision I thought it was when I originally picked it up (admittedly without even reading the description, the title alone was intriguing enough). This is instead a book about the history and current science of dye manufacturing and how it is both one of the most ancient of technologies humans have known and one of the most groundbreaking. As it turns out, my own area - Jacksonville, FL - plays a role in the narrative, being a large source of the most technologically advanced white dye currently known. Yes, at times the book gets a bit... winding... and it can seem like we have diverged into other topics altogether, but the author always winds up coming back to the central thesis after these jaunts through various bits of history. Truly a fascinating read about a history many don't know and a topic many might find a bit mundane - which is exactly what makes the work so awesome, particularly combined with the author's great timing with comedic levity. Very much recommended.

I just reviewed Full Spectrum by Adam Rogers. #FullSpectrum #NetGalley

The category of "non fiction about mundane stuff" is certainly one of my favorites. Adam Rogers is an author with comedic tendencies, so his writing about color is mostly informative but also funny at times. Some chapters seem a little drawn out, so reading feels like driving on a highway, wondering when the next exit comes. But outside of that, quite enjoyable.