Neil Parkinson

The History of Color by Neil Parkinson looks at the history of color primarily through the documents in the Royal College of Art's Colour Reference Library. We look mostly at the intersection of human response to and understanding of color, so with a few exceptions this is not, nor does it claim to be, a technical look at the technical aspects of color theory.

The title may be misleading to some, especially if they just skimmed the book's introduction. Parkinson doesn't make any claim that this is a complete history, in fact, he states explicitly this is "a book about books about color," so to criticize it for not being what it neither claimed nor tried to be is disingenuous. As a look at the holdings in the library and a beautiful book that does serve as 'a' history of color, this works very well. For most people, the interest in color is in how we perceive it not simply in appearance but in meaning, and this volume looks at those aspects quite well.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy learning some history while perusing an attractive addition to your library. I really don't think anyone realistically comes to this book expecting a textbook level look at color through to the most recent innovations in digital display and generation, but if you are one of those, I would suggest looking for a book that claims to do that. That said, the impact of color is still the interplay between human and color perceived, so to know how to use the color generated, this book can still be a valuable reference.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (plus d'informations)