{"product_id":"true-color-the-strange-and-spectacular-quest-to-define-color-from-azure-to-zinc-pink-9781524733032","title":"True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color--from Azure to Zinc Pink","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"An irresistibly wry, culturally rich exploration of color and how it shapes our world-from the leading lexicographer of our time\"-- Provided by publisher.\u003c\/p\u003eA kaleidoscopic journey through the secret history of hues-and the story of the obsessive genius behind the definitions of colors we use today, from the beloved author of Word by Word  A kaleidoscopic journey through the secret history of hues-and the story of the obsessive genius behind the definitions of colors we use today, from the beloved author of Word by Word  \"Wildly entertaining and bountifully informative; I couldn't have enjoyed myself more.\" -Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English   begonia (n.)- 3 -s - a deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral (see coral 3b), bluer than fiesta, and bluer and stronger than sweet william - called also gaiety  What could \"bluer than fiesta\" possibly mean? While editing dictionaries for Merriam-Webster, Kory Stamper found herself drawn again and again to the whimsical color definitions in Webster's Third New International Dictionary-especially when compared to the dry and impersonal entries that filled the rest of the volume. Stamper couldn't help but wonder- Who was the voice behind these peculiar definitions?  Meet I. H. Godlove, an erratic but brilliant up-and-coming scientist who was one of the experts Merriam-Webster hired in 1930 to help revise the dictionary to reflect a rapidly modernizing world. His fascinating life mirrors the wild and winding journey that color science, color psychology, and color production took through the twentieth century. Stamper tracks these industries as they move into the atomic age and intertwine in strange and surprising ways, spanning two world wars and involving chemical explosions, an unexpected suicide, dramatic office politics, and an extraordinary love story.  Filled with captivating facts about color words and colors themselves-did you know that the word \"puke\" used to refer to a fashionable shade of reddish-brown before it was associated with vomit?-and fueled by Stamper's inexhaustible curiosity, True Color will transform the way you see the world, from black-and-white to Technicolor.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781524733032\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 16 Jun 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Alfred A. Knopf\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: New York, United States\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 21(H)x14(L)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eKORY STAMPER is a lexicographer who has written dictionaries for nearly thirty years at Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionaries, and Dictionary.com. She is the author of Word by Word. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, New York magazine, and The Washington Post, and she blogs regularly on language and lexicography at www.korystamper.com.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\"Immensely likable... Stamper is something of a rock star in the 'word-nerd' universe... In the most enthralling sections of the book, Stamper... dig[s] into the archives of Merriam-Webster to tell the stories of the men and women searching for a way to define color... Lively... Stamper's book is about color, but it's a sneakily insightful philosophical treatise on what it means to define anything at all.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eDeirdre Mask, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A dictionary may seem objective, but Stamper proves that it is deeply human as she highlights the personalities, disputes, drama, and enthusiasm... behind the work of creating one.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Imagine \u003ci\u003eThe Pitt\u003c\/i\u003e set in a 1950s office, with paperclips instead of heart monitors... In writing about the making of dictionaries, Stamper offers the kind of elemental story people crave: a privileged look inside a subculture whose multitudinous gears and levers have been hitherto hidden to outsiders. Whether depicting the world of a free soloist or that of an F1 driver, the inside dope on the specific languages and equipment and agendas that comprise any number of esoteric human pursuits are manna to readers... Stamper’s improbably entertaining chronicle of the struggle to authoritatively name the inherently unnameable is a nerd classic... In restoring color to the people and events of a past time, her book embodies the essence of its subject: life, like the making of a dictionary, is nothing if not colorful.”\u003ci\u003e \u003cbr\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eMelissa Holbrook Pierson\u003ci\u003e, Brooklyn Rail\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Deeply researched and entertaining… [True Color] reads like a labor of love, and what ultimately makes it work is Stamper’s voice, her humor, the precision of her prose, and her determination—palpable on every page—to give words and those who live their lives in service of them their due.”\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Science\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"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 way it all gets resolved, and the personalities involved in this pursuit, makes True Color as magical as a rainbow.\"\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Air Mail\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Color... proves surprisingly difficult to pin down in words... In \u003ci\u003eTrue Color\u003c\/i\u003e Kory Stamper investigates the curious entries tucked into Webster’s Third New International Dictionary—and the brilliant, obsessive scientist who wrote them... \u003ci\u003eTrue Color\u003c\/i\u003e is also a vivid account of the nearly Sisyphean task of compiling a dictionary for a living language... Ms. Stamper is an engaging guide, and her curiosity about language, science and odd characters animates the book... Exuberant.\"\u003cbr\u003e—Belinda Lanks,\u003ci\u003e Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In a narrative voice I can best describe as simultaneously cozy, chatty, raucous, and intensely authoritative, the great Kory Stamper guides us through a modern history of the tortuous attempts, as they played out at the Merriam-Webster dictionary company, to quantify and define, in words, something that seems to resist both quantification and definition (in words): color. And it's an enthralling journey, including, amid a prickly dramatis personae, its centerpiece portrait of Isaac Hahn Godlove, a brilliant scientist drafted into the lexicography business, one of the most fascinating people you've surely never heard of before. \u003ci\u003eTrue Color\u003c\/i\u003e is wildly entertaining and bountifully informative; I couldn't have enjoyed myself more.\" \u003cbr\u003e—Benjamin Dreyer, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDreyer's English \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Color is a secret, maddening, and hilarious language, and Kory Stamper defines it brilliantly.”\u003cbr\u003e—Simon Garfield, author of \u003ci\u003eMauve\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An interesting and witty book about how black-and-white dictionaries cope with the complexity of color, \u003ci\u003eTrue Color\u003c\/i\u003e shows that the history of the visual spectrum is inextricable from the history of lexicography.”\u003cbr\u003e—Adam Aleksic, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAlgospeak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A delightful romp through the irrepressible, slippery, and often confounding world of color and lexicography, supported by an appropriately colorful cast of characters.”\u003cbr\u003e—Kassia St. Clair, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Lives of Color\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Funny, illuminating, and meticulously researched. I've been waiting for this book for twelve years and I was still blown away by what's inside.”\u003cbr\u003e—Gretchen McCulloch, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBecause Internet\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Lively… Filled with opinionated, insistent, stubborn characters who devoted their lives to accuracy… A fresh, irreverent history of words.”\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Kirkus\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Stamper takes readers on an uproarious journey into Merriam-Webster’s somber early-20th-century office and the decades-long, behind-the-scenes kerfuffle over the seemingly simple task of defining colors... Stamper depicts the esoteric editorial wrangling and nitpicking with verve, bringing a self-serious, cloistered world to vivid life. She also poignantly profiles the devoted relationship between Godlove and his equally brilliant wife Margaret, who finished his work after his death... Stamper writes with grace and a delightful sense of humor, particularly when making fun of her own camp... A scintillating journey into the prismatic heart of a subject that 'touch[es] everything.'\u003ci\u003e”\u003cbr\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Kory Stamper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48880256516313,"sku":"9781524733032","price":59.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781524733032.jpg?v=1783000220","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/true-color-the-strange-and-spectacular-quest-to-define-color-from-azure-to-zinc-pink-9781524733032","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}