Colors

For whatever reason, I've always been fascinated by colors. I find it so interesting that certain colors can make people think and feel different ways. They have so much influence on our lives without us even realizing it. I really enjoyed this recent NPR story about the colors of the rainbow (definitely go for the musical accompaniment- it really adds to the experience!). My favorite fact? Isaac Newton added indigo to Roy G. Biv in order to have the number of colors match the number of tones in the musical scale created by Descartes. 

This article from The Atlantic earlier in the year is another great read which focuses on the way colors affect our everyday lives. I've always thought it was such a strange social construct to have "boy colors" and "girl colors". As it turns out, pink has only been considered a "girl color" for less than a century! So we could stop associating certain colors with masculinity/femininity, right?

Coffee Table Book

The title was made from a shiny silver material, how could I resist?

While browsing the bookstore the other day, the beautiful cover of this book caught my eye. I just had to take a look at "The Secret Language of Color" by Joann and Arielle Eckstut. It's an interesting combination of history, science, culture, and other tidbits relating to color. Often books of this nature are organized by time period, historical event, scientific theory, or region, but instead, this one is separated into sections by color. Of course, I had to flip through the pages of my favorite color: yellow. There was information about everything from the feelings people around the world associate with the color (both positive and negative) to the story of the Yellow Emperor. It was also filled with random facts- did you know that the first taxis in the U.S. were red before they switched to their signature yellow color? This would make a lovely addition to a coffee table, especially since the subject matter means that each page is vibrant and brightly-colored with photos, artwork, and graphs. 

Any recommendations for other good coffee table books?