The Colours of History How Colours Shaped the World
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley April 16, 2018
Author Clive Gifford, illustrated by Marc-Etienne Peintre
Distributor: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781784939670
Publisher: Quarto UK
Release Date: April 2018
Website: http://www.allenandunwin.com
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Can you imagine if the world was only one shade of grey? It would be e very difficult to do so many things that we take for granted. Such as knowing when fruit is ripe to eat, vegetables are ready to be picked, when traffic should stop and go and even which plants animals are dangerous and which are not!
Colours have been part of our world forever and all have a wonderful significance, not just in the world of humans but also in the environment. They indicate what is safe and what is not, with every little bit of colour adding something special to the world.
Along with colour comes a different perspective such as uses in culture, colour significance as well as the manner in which humans have chosen to create and enjoy the colours of our world.
The Colours of History and How Colours Shaped the World opens up an amazing aspect of colour that is not often considered and when put into book form, suitable for a wide range of young readers, it a great learning tool and resource.
Each of the main colours on the colour spectrum has been given its own section and then broken down into sub-colours for easier identification. Gold has always been considered as highly prized by many ancient and modern civilisations, with religious significance to the Inca’s as they considered it was connected to their sun God, Inti. It was also responsible for the demise of the Inca Empire.
Purples were considered rare and so only to be used by Royalty, people of power and privilege, whereas green is associated with nature, conservation and interestingly enough, jealousy with the term ‘green eyed monster’ still in use today.
Black, although some say not technically a colour, had and still has it uses as charcoal was used to draw with, and Kohl, created from graphite, used to highlight the eyes by the Egyptians, was an early form of sun protection for the eyes and it’s considered magic qualities.
Colour has also had crazes down through history throughout the fashion industry with some colours becoming considered as valuable as gold! Discover why the Dutch adopted the colour Orange and why a Chicago River flows bright green once a year.
All this and so much more is packed into this wonderful, easy to read, slightly zany look at colour and the real importance and history of something we all take very much for granted in our daily lives.