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Product: Type & Write Desk
Product Number: 114
How much: £30 RRP
Where can I buy one: Thinking Gifts.com

‘Stop Slouching!’ ‘Sit up Straight!’ ‘Tuck your shirt in!’ So were the cries of school children’s parents, teachers and relatives. Naturally we responded with our own cries of “I can’t be bothered’ and such was the natural battle for control that many of us saw throughout our childhood. How much simpler life would have been if someone had invented something to do all of those things for us?


Whilst it won’t tuck in your shirt for you the Type and Write stand will perform two out of those three tasks by giving you a writing stand that should (if used properly) allow you to write in a way that has the best effect on your back. You can also position a laptop on the stand to give yourself an elevated position for typing out emails, drawing pie charts etc.

Sadly the stand itself isn’t actually very wide so you’ll only be able to fit on one piece of paper at once. Similarly if you’ve got a wide laptop the edges will protrude slightly from the stand and if you fancy putting a keyboard on it for a traditional computer it too will stick out. Thankfully this issue becomes somewhat mute as the stand is well made and even when you place a full length keyboard on it, it won’t wobble no matter how much you hit the keys.


When using the device for writing I also found that my posture was greatly improved and I was heading somewhat in the right direction. However it won’t do all the work for you and you’ll still need to make a conscious effort to sit up straight and not slouch down if you really want to feel the benefit of the desk.

One other neat feature with the device is that it’s easy to set up and use. You simply slide down a base and it’s ready. When not in use you tuck the base back in again and it’ll fit nicely in to a large computer bag. Ideally of course this sort of thing should be installed in offices and schools up and down the country but until that happens make sure you get your kids a large school bag so you can sneak this in there.

Product: Book Chair
Product Number: 115
How much: £17 RRP (Also Available in other sizes £12-£33
Where can I buy one: Thinking Gifts.com


The thinking gifts company were also kind enough to send over the product which pretty much launched their company: The Book Chair. Unlike the Type and Write desk the focus this time is simply on giving you the best angle to read whatever book takes you fancy. In my case I chose Forever Odd by Dean Koontz in paperback and Derren Brown's ;’Trick of the Mind’ in hardback.

To help hold your book in place there’s two little clips at the front which you can slide in to place when you need them. When you want to change your page simply slide them down, switch and slide them up again. Whilst these work well for older smaller books I did find they struggled when I tried using a brand new book that was over 500 pages. To get the book to stay in place took some fiddling and I had to fold the book on the spine in order to get it to stop trying to escape every time I turned the page. For most people this won’t be a big deal but for those who like their book spines to look pristine this will come as a shock!


For hardback books the stand fared much better and I had no instances of the book trying to get away so that’s definitely a bonus. One use of the book chair which I know University students will get a kick out of is using the chair to hold pages in place when they’re trying to jot down a reference. Normally this requires wedging a book open with two heavy objects but now it feels like an absolute breeze.

There’s no denying that the Book Chair definitely has its uses. I have no doubt it would fare equally well in the kitchen for holding recipe pages and it even doubles up as a laptop stand in larger variants. If you always find yourself struggling to hold down the right page then this could very well be the answer.