The Secret Lives of Color — Honest Book Review
Does it live up to the hype? Let’s break it down.
Ever wonder how color shaped empires, revolutions, and fashion? This book actually delivers.
📘 Book Info
-
Title: The Secret Lives of Color
-
Author: Kassia St. Clair
-
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2017
-
Length: 320 pages
-
Format: Illustrated hardcover or paperback
-
ISBN: 0143131141
-
Amazon Rating: 4.7 ★ (4,000+ reviews)
What the Book Actually Is
This isn’t a color theory manual or an art class textbook.
It’s a collection of 75 short stories, each about a specific color—like Prussian Blue, Mummy Brown, Tyrian Purple, and Bastard-Amber. Each chapter dives into how that color showed up in history, warfare, medicine, fashion, culture, or scandal.
It’s not chronological. It’s not academic. And that’s exactly what makes it great.
Each entry is short—2 to 3 pages max—and packed with personality, strange trivia, and surprising connections. You’ll read about how Napoleon’s wallpaper may have killed him. Or how yellow became both a rebel color and a plague deterrent. It’s the kind of book where you say, “Wait, I didn’t know that,” on every other page.
What Makes It Work
✓ You can read it in any order.
Start with Blue, jump to Black, skip to Green—it doesn’t matter. It’s perfect for browsers, night readers, and curious minds who don’t want to commit to 30-page chapters.
✓ It's beautifully made.
The physical book is color-coded, cleanly designed, and printed with care. It actually looks and feels like something worth keeping on a coffee table or gifting to a creative friend.
✓ It's full of unexpected value.
Writers, designers, decorators, and branding people will find stories they can use in real-world conversations or creative work. It's not just for trivia nerds—there’s creative ammo in here.
✓ The tone is casual but smart.
Kassia St. Clair clearly did her homework, but she never shows off. It’s written like a clever friend explaining wild color history at a bar—not like a professor lecturing from a podium.
What Might Not Work For You
✕ It’s not a linear book.
There’s no long narrative or unfolding argument. It’s modular by design, like a color encyclopedia with attitude.
✕ It won’t teach you how to use color in design.
This is color as culture and history, not color as visual theory. If you're looking for practical color palette guides, this isn’t it.
Why I Recommend It
I originally picked this up thinking it would be just a pretty book about pigments. I was wrong.
It’s one of those rare books that makes you feel smarter after just five minutes, and still fun to dip back into months later.
The story about Mummy Brown—a real pigment made from ground Egyptian mummies—actually made me stop and Google it. That's the kind of thing this book does. It hooks you, teaches you, then sticks in your head. I’ve quoted it more times than I’d admit.
If you're a designer, writer, teacher, historian, or just someone who likes your books with a bit of personality, this one’s worth keeping. Or gifting.
Final Verdict: 4.8 / 5
Gorgeous, smart, and addictive.
You’ll walk away with new ideas, better stories, and way more respect for what color can mean.
A standout gift for any creative or curious person.
Related
Must-Read Color Psychology Books for Understanding Emotions and Design