Full Spectrum

How the Science of Color Made Us Modern

Adam Rogers

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2021
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Print ISBN:
  9780358695240
• Subtopic: Art Theory & Criticism
• eBook ISBN:
  9781328519146
• Index: Technology & Engineering

"Informative and entertaining...Rogers is a seasoned raconteur, unreeling an eons-spanning tale with skill." — Wall Street Journal
A lively account of our age-old quest for brighter colors, which changed the way we see the world, from the best-selling author of Proof: The Science of Booze
From kelly green to millennial pink, our world is graced with a richness of colors. But our human-made colors haven't always matched nature's kaleidoscopic array. To reach those brightest heights required millennia of remarkable innovation and a fascinating exchange of ideas between science and craft that's allowed for the most luminous manifestations of our built and adorned world.
 
In Full Spectrum, Rogers takes us on that globe-trotting journey, tracing an arc from the earliest humans to our digitized, synthesized present and future. We meet our ancestors mashing charcoal in caves, Silk Road merchants competing for the best ceramics, and textile artists cracking the centuries-old mystery of how colors mix, before shooting to the modern era for high-stakes corporate espionage and the digital revolution that's rewriting the rules of color forever. 
 
In prose as vibrant as its subject, Rogers opens the door to Oz, sharing the liveliest events of an expansive human quest—to make a brighter, more beautiful world—and along the way, proving why he's "one of the best science writers around."*
* National Geographic

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Abbasid empire

ceramics, 28–33

color palette, 21, 28–33

Tang dynasty trade, 27–33

Adams, Reg, 110

Adler, Dankmar, 90

al-Adzi (poet), 32

Alberti, Leon Battista, 47, 68

alchemy, 54, 67

Alexander of Aphrodisias, 40

al-Farisi, xviii, 43–44

Alhacen. See al-Haytham

al-Hakim, 40–41

al-Haytham, 40–42

Alhazen. See al-Haytham

alizarin, 21, 68, 176, 182

Allen, Grant, 142–43, 144, 147, 148, 223

Allen, Thomas, 59

Alma-Tadema, Lawrence, 98–99

al Rashid (Abbasid caliph), 28

American colonies, 59, 61, 62–64, 66, 130

anatase, 135

ancient Egypt

al-Haytham, 40–42

color palette, 21

kohl, 192

tin-based glazes, 29

ancient Greece

color in architecture and sculpture, 97–99

color words, 141–44

lead use, 65–66

understanding of light and color, 37–40, 41, 57

ancient Rome

color in architecture and sculpture, 97–98

color palette, 20–21

lead use, 65–66

Anfam, David, 195

Angelico, Fra, 48

aniline yellow, 68

animals, color vision in, xv, 14

An Lushan, 26

anthraquinone dyes, 68

Arab world

ceramics, 28–33

color palette, 21, 28–33

craft expertise with color, 44

Greek influence on, 37–38

influence on Renaissance, 37

physics of light and color, 37, 41–42

Tang dynasty trade, 27–33

Archaea (domain), 11–14

architecture

color theory, xix, 86

polychromy, 86–87, 90

World’s Columbian Exposition, 84–90, 96–97

Aristotl...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Earth Tones
• Chapter 2: Ceramics
• Chapter 3: Rainbows
• Chapter 4: The Lead White of Commerce
• Chapter 5: World’s Fair
• Chapter 6: Titanium White
• Chapter 7: Color Words
• Chapter 8: The Dress
• Chapter 9: Fake Colors and Color Fakes
• Chapter 10: Screens
• Conclusion
• Afterword: Starlight
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Index
• Photo Section
• About the Author
• Praise for Full Spectrum and Adam Rogers
• Copyright
• About the Publisher