Includes bibliographical references (p. 141) and index.

What are the colorful secrets of the enigmatic Aurora Borealis or the ethereal shimmer of a floating soap bubble? The Color of Nature - from San Francisco's acclaimed hands-on science museum, the Exploratorium - tackles the conundrum of color. An engaging text by Pat Murphy and extraordinary photographs by William Neill and other acclaimed nature photographers clearly illustrate how colors gracefully illuminate our world. We may be accustomed to thinking of color as nature's home-decorating technique, but the colors we see - in the yellow petals of a daffodil and the blue flicker of a flame - exist as essential tools of nature and are the result of fascinating physical phenomena. Occasionally, after a storm when the corner of our eye captures the elusive rainbow and the leaves of a tree take on a glowing green hue, we stop and wonder at these pure, visual pleasures.