Rarest Blue: The Remarkable Story Of An Ancient Color Lost To History And Rediscovered Hardcover – Import, 20 November 2012

This is a very informative book on the discovery of the shell fish that the beautiful blue dye comes from and how it was discovered and rediscovered.

A first class history of the search and an amazing report of the eventual discovery

I had been fascinated by the wonderful book 'A Perfect Red' and hoped that this would be a similar read, blending aspects of science, history, fashion, and dyeing. While there is a truly interesting story here, it is unfortunate that the prose is wandering and quixotic. The first several chapters are hard to get through (my wife gave up after reading about 20% of the book), bouncing around in time period and describing historical events in wild tangents. The author obviously is in love with the subject; I think it is for this reason he cannot resist mentioning random bits of historical information or sometimes connecting minor historical events that don't keep to the main story. Some of these points may be interesting, but the net effect is that we often lose the main thread. I also cannot help wondering if the story wasn't told in the best order. For example, a chapter on the science of the color blue almost surely should have appeared early in the book; instead, it is tagged on almost like an afterthought, appearing after what seemed like the end of the story. The writing style also jumps around a bit, sometimes more academic, while at other times it reads like a popular magazine. The fact that the author is personally invested in a related business also knocks down his trustworthiness as a narrator a bit. So, if you are particularly interested in the history of Tekhelet, it is probably a must-read. And it's not like the writing is horrible, it's just not as good as it could be. But if you are generally looking for a book on history, or even the history of colors specifically, there are better options out there.

I'm not sure if this book was more about the story of Tekhelet, the sky blue strings attached to the corners of the Jewish prayer shawl, or the Murex trunculus, the marine snail that allows us to dye this beautiful, colorfast blue. Both are interesting topics, however, and I enjoyed reading through the book.By reading this book, you'll learn a lot about the dyeing process itself and the use of it throughout history, the physics of light and color, the Bible's requirement of a single thread of tekhelet tied to the fringes or corners of the Jewish tzitzit or prayer shawl, and the author's very thorough explanation of the shawl and the meaning of these colorful blue strings.It was not what I was expecting, but the book came through in a lot of good ways. You have to like reading to finish this book, but I recommend sticking with it because you'll come away with a lot of new information and understanding about blue and about this apparently small but very important factor of Jewish tradition.

Fascinating study of color hitherto unknown to me. The book is very readable and not at all pedantic or boring. It's a kind of adventure for those of us who cannot go adventuring! I came to this book almost accidentally and have been enchanted by this story ever since. I do recommend this for the reader who can no longer stand the run of the mill books taking over the marketplace these days. The reader who wants the pleasure of learning, along with the joys of reading.