This is an utterly delightful book about an unlikely topic: the quest to define different colors in dictionaries, especially before color plates were included. It is easy enough to describe a chair, but how do you explain azure? The book’s main character is I. H. Godlove, a scientist hired by Merriam-Webster in 1930 to modernize their classic work, and that is when the fun—and arguments—begin. How a color specialist defines “khaki” (moderate-medium-yellowish-yellow-orange) is not necessarily the same as a layperson might (tan). The way it all gets resolved, and the personalities involved in this pursuit, makes True Color as magical as a rainbow.
Yes, we all know that dogs are man’s best friend, but they are also artists’ best friend, and Thomas W. Laqueur offers an enthralling study of how and why the animal is the most illustrated in the history of painting. Sometimes they are tucked away in the background, other times they are the main focus, but the breed of dog and the relationship to the humans depicted offer fertile ground for speculation, whether the artist be Titian or Lucian Freud. Laqueur is a stylish writer who wears his considerable scholarship lightly, and the book itself is a visual stunner.
