Synopsis
In The Chair, Galen Cranz takes a fascinating
look at one of our most common cultural artifacts--the
chair--tracing its varied history and explaining the history,
physiology, and politics of how and why we sit the way we do.
85 illustrations.
A provocative look at one of our most common cultural
artifacts, this book reveals the history, physiology, and
politics of how and why we sit the way we do - and others
don't. Perhaps no other object of our daily environment has
had the enduring cultural significance of the ever-present
chair, unconsciously yet forcefully shaping the social and
physical dimensions of our lives. With over ninety
illustrations, Galen Cranz's The Chair traces the varied
history of the chair as we know it from its crudest
beginnings in the Neolithic Age up through the modern
ergonomic office. Drawing on anecdotes, literary references,
and famous designs, she documents our ongoing love affair
with the chair - despite its potentially harmful effects on
our bodies. Part social commentary, part design history, and
part manifesto for a new way of living, this book brings a
critical and delightfully astute eye to the place where we
spend most of our waking lives.