The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design

by Galen Cranz

"Engaged in fascinating and useful multidisciplinary research, Cranz is an avatar for body-friendly design. . . . Read [ The Chair ] and cheer."--Elizabeth Zimmer, Village Voice 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 90 illustrations

Genres: Design, Architecture, Nonfiction, History, Health, Art Design, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book were more interesting than others. It explains why there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a comfortable chair. Confirmed my prejudices; against soft squishy chairs, and for sitting the wrong way on everything. Leaves much to consider in reworking my home office over the next few years.

One gripe; I wish people would stop using the fit and healthy young adults of another culture to "prove" that said culture's habits are healthier than those of the West. Okay, in cultures that don't use chairs, the twentysomethings have fantastic posture. How does the average 80-year-old look? Can they stand up from the floor without assistance? How much back pain do they experience? A compelling argument for furniture reform ought to include mention of different postures' impact on the strength, comfort, and flexibility of the elderly, not just the young and middle-aged.

[Hannah Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A major surprise favorite from my work-related reads. Right off the bat, I was impressed with the awareness of colonist attitudes and cultural differences. This is a book about Western attitudes around posture and design and how dumb they are (definitely a fair bit of opinions in here, but I didn't mind it). We can learn a lot from cultures that have either not fully adopted Western postures for work/home and those that have advanced ergonomics to be more body-conscious (Swedish/Danish to some extent). Super interesting! Learned quite a bit to apply to design and teaching movement classes. This book is definitely dated but I will reference it. High rating in my world because I needed some validation that I wasn't the only one who wants to work on the floor or move around a lot and radically change what workplaces look like. It's an accessibility issue!

[Jer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't say enough about this book, other than we sit in chairs most of our lives and it is because of this fact, we never question it's significance. She briefly covers the history (thank god this part is short), then she goes into our anatomy and kinematics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who spends a lot of time on their ass...

... that means you. You'll never think of chairs in the same way, and hopefully it'll make you rethink the way you use chairs in your daily life.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mm, okay. Sounds odd to claim it with regard to a book about chairs, but I thought this book - originally published in 2000 - was dated. E.g., Cranz devotes whole chapters to ergonomics and why sitting is bad for one's health, but she's hesitant to make the outright suggestion of using a stand-up desk. It's also kind of crackpot academics: not necessarily the study of ergonomics and interior design, but some of her conclusions and dubious "theories" made me pause. Something or someone led me to get a copy of this and I cannot now recall who/what. Interesting nonetheless.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More classroom-oriented reading, to be used to get students to pay attention to what their bodies are actually doing, and to reflect critically on the relationship between embodiment, bodily practice, and the built environment. Long on description and lots of pictures make this not too heavy, fun while while still substantive; looks at mind-body interaction, ergonomics, social history.

[Niloy Mitra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts really strong with many interesting comments, observations, and suggestions. The last 1/3rd gets a bit boring with quite some repetitions. Overall I learned quite some useful information from the book.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

0/5 stars - this was a time of suffering

[Tom M (London) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Galen Cranz is a fifty-something Berkeley professor of the messianic Californian tree-hugging variety. Her didactic literary style ("Charles Baudelaire, the French poet"; "the modernist architect Corbusier" [sic] ) is devoid of any trace of erudition or connoisseurship, contrary to what one might hope to find in a discourse about furniture. She also has a bad back, and Cranz's bad back is really what this book is all about. If by any mischance you read it on a lurching train, as did this reviewer, you too may not only get a backache but a headache as well, and possibly a foul temper; because "The Chair" - an imaginative title certainly - consists of nothing more interesting than Cranz's very personal testimony to her own fanatical and simplistic belief in something called the Alexander Technique (apparently a form of sitting on the floor, or lying down spread-eagled) as a total Weltanschauung on the basis of which - as she makes no bones about asserting - all chairs are deeply evil whatever their conception or historical period, and have wrecked our civilisation; a mistake wrought by foolish mankind on itself age after age which she now proposes to correct by means of this tract. Not the most promising place from which to begin a discussion about chairs and the role they play in human society, still less for any disquisition on their cultural or aesthetic values; nor a useful starting point for any examination of, say the work of great cabinet-makers or the domestic visions of modernist designers like Breuer or the Eameses; to say nothing of masters of the uncomfortable like Pugin or Thomas Hope, or Frank Lloyd Wright, all of whom Cranz mercifully spares from her stern condemnations - possibly, one cannot avoid uncharitably suspecting, only because she has never heard of them. Adherents of the Alexander Technique (and one understands there are many) may rush out in droves to buy this new pamphlet advancing their cause; but for those whose (considerable) interest in chairs tends to take in aspects other than anatomical comfort as the be-all and end-all, it might be as well to give it a wide berth, obsessed as it is with the achievement of this thing called "comfort" as Man's definitive purpose on earth: something that may make many a reader feel deeply impatient, annoyed and indeed the opposite of comfortable, regardless of where s/he may be sitting when reading about it.
Cranz does have useful things to say - if only en passant - about the difference between womens' bodies and mens' bodies and particularly, about the influx of Third-World habits into Western culture. In the Third World many people squat, or work sitting on the ground, or meditate for hours with their legs intertwined and as a result - apparently - are more healthy and "comfortable" than us. It seems to escape Cranz that it is also in such societies that, for instance, children are exploited as cheap labour, women are circumcised or trapped in forced marriages, and mortality is high. It also seems to escape her attention that if the only criterion for a chair is its ability to provide that elusive something she calls "comfort" - over and above any consideration of the more subtle values of sitting - then the physical well-being of a human being may be determined not by the characteristics of a chair but a priori, by one's state of mind before sitting down. Can an unhappy person be made happy by sitting on a comfortable chair? If only. The role chairs play in making us "comfortable" - if that is the purpose of living - is limited, and is bound to be relative to the circumstances at a given time or, as Cranz herself might put it, the holistic situation. After her slash-and-burn campaign through the entire edifice of Western culture in which all chairs are derided and condemned, the second half of the book consists of a long exposition assisted by numerous skeletal and ergonomical diagrams, to illustrate Cranz's wacky proposal: construction workers shall lie down and put their feet in the air; office workers shall sit on the floor in front of their computers. Now there's radical thinking for you!

[Anne-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to be afraid of aging, now I'm afraid of colonialism.

The Chair spends its 288 pages exploring the history, design, and cultural implications of a seemingly mundane object: the chair. Parts of the book feel dense and I definitely took my time layering this book with lighter reads, but the message was worth it.

Themes: furniture, body-conscious design, status
✨Vibes: academic, inquisitive

Colonizing brings in so many ideas that are harmful to our bodies, one being chairs. There’s a cultural narrative around seating in the West that Cranz invites you to question. Subconscious messaging guides our decisions around seating- using chairs is a sign of wealth and power. Chairs throughout history have played the role of status-signaling, sacrificing our health and comfort in the process.

Cranz explores the idea that chairs haven't evolved for our comfort, but for status.So many aches and pains that are associated with aging with the idea that it's just what happens as you age and there’s nothing you can do about it is actually the result of chairs and a generally sedentary lifestyle that Western furniture promotes. If we designed our homes and workplaces around movement and our bodies- giving options to squat, sit, stand, and lie down etc. we could avoid so many of the “aging” pains.

I’ve struggled with my fear of aging since I was young oddly enough and this book helped me find some relief. I now feel empowered to make choices that support my body. This was a 5-star read for me because it changed my thinking and my life (also, l kind of love that it’s actually about chairs, not as a metaphor or a symbol, it’s just literally about chairs 😂). I’ve added in floor couches, stools, and cozy floor spots to provide more options for myself and inspire movement in my daily life.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very interesting non-fiction book; not quite what I was expecting, but now I know enough about chairs to be conscious of them when I sit down.

The author is a professor of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, and she is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, a kinesthetic educational system. In this book she studies the history of the chair (which, by and large, is a Western concept), and very exhaustively explains why the typical chair is not good for one's health. (I do know that there are chairs that, when I go to get out of them, my lower back spasms a bit on me.) The author also notes that one's body was not meant to be in just one or two positions; the ideal chair would let one adjust one's posture periodically, always maintaining proper spinal posture.

The main effect of this book on me is that I am more conscious of chairs. My wingback chair in the front room is quite comfortable, but my lower back does not like it when I get out of it. My desk chair is better. At the dining room table we have the usual assortment of hard-bottom straight-back chairs, and on the back porch I have a glider, Adirondack chairs, and rocking chairs. And as a consequence of this book, I will strive for better posture when seated.

[carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first third of the book was fascinating and I blew through those pages as she traces the history of seating and provides some context around the role of seating in Western Culture.

The second section looking at various chairs, why or why not they work for people was also great. While this book is slightly dated and there have been some new tools - much has remained unchanged.

Then you get into the details about her back and the last chapter was just not as good.

Overall blew through it and was captivated. I did like that it has lots of images so you can reference things easily. Extensive end notes as well.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cranz goes through a lot of chairs and determines that there are none that satisfy the body's needs for stability, structure and comfort and the aesthetic inclinations of the soul. Any chair compromises one or more of the basic tenets of the chair. Perhaps a bespoke chair may satisfy, but the cost is beyond most pockets. Really good read and makes me more conscious of posture, ergonomics and the ridiculousness of trends in artistic design.

[mobot · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important read for anyone interested in human-centered design, anatomical congruency, and general postural health

[Josh]

Libro citado

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book ahead of its time. Still relevant and needed today.

[Moon Captain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not come to this book expecting to learn how right I am to despise sitting in chairs!!! I feel like this author is my best friend. Amazing. Pretty fun to get my mind off of my life. YMMV

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It becomes very difficult not to see chairs as extremely problematic after reading this book. I know that probably doesn't make sense, but one must read the book to really understand how the technology and ubiquitousness of the chair have profoundly--and negatively--affected our bodies. It's a fascinating read, but one that leaves me frustrated, since it's not like I can easily go and remove chairs from my life...

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply amazing work. I wanted to go home and immediately throw away all the chairs in my apartment. Cranz not only discusses the history of sitting and the chair and its relation to culture but is clearly a strong advocate for contemporary body conscious design. And as you'll find out, that's much more than ergonomics.

[Hans Guttmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm often quoting from this book. Everyone has back pain. Everyone in IT or addicted to Facebook has eye-strain. Chair's are un-natural and usually bad for the back. This book changed my habits for the better. Aside from this practicality, it's an interesting story.

[Virginia Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting history of the chair, how and why we use it and how it affects our bodies.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay! I finally have a copy.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. I'm only partly into it, but I'd borrow it, not buy it.

A little too much of the author's opinion in it.

[Wei Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting theory. I've actually applied some of her recommendations in real life.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book from about 20 years before the "sitting is the new smoking" movement. Interestingly, standing desks get about 1/2 a page and the Balans chair gets lot of love (though I've never seen or heard of it in the modern era).

Well researched though perhaps a bit too much on the Alexander Technique, which comes off like a plug.