A must have for all those working with colors. The presentation is very educational, the visual illusions are fascinating, it is both a pleasure to read and an excellent reference to consult on the subject.

It introduces human vision and the perception of colors, the field of psychophysics and its methods, colorimetry (the objective study of physical colors), and the rest of the book is dedicated to color appearance itself. Important terminologies are discussed (e.g. the crucial difference between luminosity, brightness and lightness), then color systems (Munsel, etc.), then the various effects which affect the appearance of colors, viewing conditions, chromatic adaptation, perceptually uniform color spaces, and analytical color appearance models. Different models are reviewed and compared (Hunt, Nayatani, RLAB, preversion of CIECAM). Finally applications and device-independent imaging are described.

Note that this book is not a book on colorimetry (see Wyszecki and Stiles) nor a book on color reproduction (see Hunt), but a book on the subjective appearance of colors.

At least part of the answer may be found in Mark Evanier's __Comic Books and Other Necessities of Life__, a collection of funny, informative and opinionated essays on the world of comics and the people who read, collect, write and/or draw them. Since Evanier is that rare person who has, at one time or another, done all of those things, the book also serves as a de facto memoir of the author's storied life as a collector, creator and curator of inexpensive four color fantasies.

But, while the details of the author's own surprisingly swift ascent in the comics profession--he parlayed his chairmanship of a Los Angeles comic book fan club into a youthful career as a comic book writer quicker than you can say "Shazam!"--provide a breezy narrative flow to this series of loosely connected essays, Evanier makes it clear that his love of comics and respect for the people who make them are the book's real subjects. In a string of affectionate and knowing profiles of comic art luminaries like Jack Kirby, William M. Gaines and Carl Barks, Evanier makes a pretty convincing argument that these flesh and blood artists, and others like them, are the real comic book heroes, not the four color figments these guys brought to life.

And Evanier, in turn, brings these comics creators to life in prose that's greatly enlivened by the author's seemingly endless inventory of firsthand anecdotes. Indeed, the author seems to have known, interviewed or otherwise collaborated with practically every single person who ever set foot in a comics or animation studio over the past three or four decades. Perhaps for that reason, Evanier does not feel compelled to limit his personal pantheon to a few name brand geniuses like Kirby and Barks; the author's spotlight casts a wide enough beam to illuminate such equally solid, if less celebrated, masters of the comic book form as __Creepy__ magazine mainstay Archie Goodwin, Chase Craig, the longtime editor of the Dell comics line, as well as a bullpen full of unsung artists like __Supergirl__ artist and the late Owen Fitzgerald, an obscure cartoonist and animator who, Evanier insists, was the hands down fastest artist ever to work in comics.

Evanier rounds out his volume of essays--many, if not most, of which first appeared in slightly different form in The Comics Buyers Guide--with well-researched explorations of such little-understood pockets of comic book subculture as the history and creation of the Comics Code Authority; the true impact of the internet and computers on the creation and distribution of comics; the difficulty of arriving at a consensus on exactly what time period defines the golden age of comics; and a number of other topics you'd probably never guess you were interested in until you came across them while browsing this endlessly engaging little volume. __Comic Books and Other Necessities of Life__ may not entirely explain my continuing fascination with funny books twenty-five years after I stopped buying them, but discovering that a guy as intelligent, articulate and funny as Mark Evanier shares my obsession sure helps.

A good buy for any comms professional

Unfortunately, I don't own a copy of this myself (being a poor college student), but if it's anything like his lectures, it is well-researched, well-written and full of gorgeous pictures and illustrations. Please, support a wonderful teacher and buy this book!!