Annotation Color surrounds us: the lush green hues of trees and grasses, the variant blues of water and the sky, the bright pops of yellow and red from flowers. But at the same time, color lies at the limits of language and understanding. In this absorbing sequel toChromophobiawhich addresses the extremes of love and loathing provoked by color since antiquityDavid Batchelor charts colors more ambiguous terrain.The Luminous and the Greyexplores the places where color comes into being and where it fades away, probing when it begins and when it ends both in the imagination and in the material world. Batchelor draws on neuroscience, philosophy, novels, films, and artists writingsas well as his own experience as an artist working with colorto understand how we see and use colors. He considers the role of color in creation myths, industrial chemistry, and optics, and examines the particular forms of luminosity that saturate the modern city. Following this inquiry into the hues that we face every day, he turns to one that is both color and noncolor: grey itself, which he reveals is as much a mood, feeling, and existential condition as a shade that we experience with our eyes.Deftly argued, always thought-provoking, and ever entertaining,The Luminous and the Greyis a beautiful study of how we see and feel our multicolored world.