A wonderfully revealing look at how the artifacts we create in turn help to re-create our bodies and our lives. With wit and authority, Edward Tenner reveals the profound impact on human beings of the most ubiquitous and unassuming innovations. The thong sandal - a gift from the ancient Romans - affects gait and toe shape and, made most often now of plastic, has become an environmental nuisance. Eyeglasses aid the myopic, but why do the more educated seem to need them more? Chairs condition people to be uncomfortable without them, and often with them. Helmets protect, but their invention in classical times pushed the military to adopt more powerful weapons and, effectively, to commence the arms race. Yet Tenner also makes clear that human ingenuity can be used in self-preservation as well, and he sheds light on the ways in which the users of quotidian technology surprise designers and engineers, as when early typists developed the touch method still employed on today's keyboards. And he offers concrete advice for reaping the benefits from the devices that we no longer seem able to live without. Illuminating, ingenious, and a delight to read.
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