The Chair
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.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
3mentions
3people
2013–2018years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Anyone interested in sitting posture and chair design should read "The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design" by Galen Cranz.
It's a fascinating analysis of how chairs impact posture and the related biomechanics. It shows why oft-touted "lumbar support" does more harm than good, how attitudes to chairs and posture are affected by cultural expectations, and why there is no perfect chair, but with recommendations for how different chairs manage different tradeoffs -- she ultimately most highly recommends high stools which allow the body to maintain a 135° angle with full foot support -- which the saddle chair accomplishes.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Chair-Rethinking-Culture-Body-Design/...
- A definitive work on this subject that started the trend:
http://www.amazon.com/Chair-Rethinking-Culture-Body-Design/d...
It is also worth noting that Humans were not meant to stand for 8-12 hours a day non-stop either.
- I wonder if it has to do with too much sitting in chairs? Prof. Galen Cranz discusses some of the effects on posture of western sitting styles in her book, "The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design". Though not scientific, she compares the common slump shouldered, curved spine posture of many westerners to the (better) posture of those who grew up without frequent chair sitting. It may be there is also a connection to lifting posture.
Related
Seven Days in the Art World
2 recommend · 2
The Timeless Way of Building
67 recommend · 134
Make a chair from a tree
2 recommend · 2
The nature of order
25 recommend · 75
Notes on the synthesis of form
34 recommend · 94
The Fold
3 recommend · 3
