Perhaps no other object of our daily environment has had the enduring
cultural significance of the ever-present chair, unconsciously yet
forcefully shaping the physical and social dimensions of our lives. With
over ninety illustrations, this book traces the history of the chair as
we know it from its crudest beginnings up through the modern office
variety. Drawing on anecdotes, literary references, and famous designs,
Galen Cranz documents our ongoing love affair with the chair and how its
evolution has been governed not by a quest for comfort or practicality,
but by the designation of status.Relating much of the modern era's
rampant back pain to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle spent in
traditional seating, Cranz goes beyond traditional ergonomic theory to
formulate new design principles that challenge the way we think and
live. A farsighted and innovative approach to our most intimate habitat,
this book offers guidelines that will assist readers in choosing a
chair-and designing a lifestyle-that truly suits our bodies. Praise for
The Chair: [A] concise, multidisciplinary gem.--Publishers Weekly
Cranz is no sedentary historian. The Chair is a call to
action.--Jonathan Levi, Los Angeles Times Galen Cranz has written a
provocative book. Pull up a comfortable chair-if you can find one-and
read it.--Witold Rybczynski
