In their 2009 Design and Use of Healthy Seating, Pynt and Higgs examined the impact of sitting postures, movement, and seat design on the sitter's spinal health. Here they blend issues of health and history with seat design and use, focusing on various forms of functional seating used in everyday life. They begin with ancient Egypt and Greece, and key dynasties of China, through the social and industrial revolution period in England, to today's demanding workplaces. Throughout the history, they find, aesthetic concerns have repeatedly trumped postural health and task performance. They discuss the seats of the pharaohs and lesser mortals; the enduring artistic legacy of the ancient Greek klismos chair; the chair of China and the influence of Eastern design on Western seating; the impact of technology, travel, and trade on Western 18th-century seating; seating too comfortable to be proper in the Victorian era; and the science, legacy, context, and vision of functional seating today. Annotation 2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
