Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

I'm having trouble finishing this book, specifically, achieving a sense of completion and preparedness to return it to the stacks.

Let's start with the bibliographic information, of course:

Finlay, Victoria. Color: A Natural History of the Palette. New York: Random House, 2002.

The subject headings assigned:
Finlay, Victoria -- Travel.
Colors -- History.
Colors -- Social aspects.

The author as a subject heading makes sense. The following two headings on color are representative of the immense richness of subject headings. History and Social Aspects of color--those few words are incredibly powerful. Finlay's chapters are organized by color, beginning with ochre and continuing through indigo and violet. Her chapter on ochre--even as I page through the chapter now looking for a choice quote to offer you, reader, I find I can't stop reading, can't even make myself skim. Her investigation into the earliest form of paint explores the role of painting in indigenous Australian culture. I can't do justice to this chapter with a summary. You will have to read it.

White? Lead based paint in Europe? Lime? No, not the fruit, calcium oxide. Zinc? You must also read her chapter on the chemical forms of white paint and the potentially deadly forms.

Her adventures in tracking down the elements of yellow and blue are also satisfying and well written. Having read this book, I look at paintings with a new eye.

I promise, I'll return the copy soon so you can read it too.