Blue
In Search of Nature's Rarest Color

The color blue stands at an odd crossroad. Art, physics, philosophy, geology, botany and physiology all converge here. Art was the road I took to get to this book. In People of the Book, the artist uses a pigment made from precious lapis lazuli. The best stones were mined in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush......more

Blue is rare. A look at the sky contradicts this, but if you take a closer look around, we quickly see that we rarely come across blue in the animal and plant world. Since time immemorial, people have been looking for unique blue stones and dyes that transform textiles, porcelain or paintings. Becau......more

Outstanding science writing Kai Kupferschmidt created a wonderful, well-written book. I loved it. I would not have thought that a book on a single color could be so interesting and fun to read. He puts his journey into the story, which I love. He explains science clearly and thoroughly, but the book......more

Blue: In Search of Nature's Rarest Color by Kai Kupferschmidt is a very highly recommended well-balanced historical, societal, and scientific examination of the color blue. The color blue is special. It is the favorite color of many people. We see it in the sky and the ocean. Blue is unique in nature......more

I loved this collection of well integrated popular science essays that truly will appeal to so many types of people. In just 190 easy to read pages, Kai taught me a lot about the history, physics and chemistry of color. For the first time I truly understand why my father’s eyes looked so blue. Very f......more