Right Hand, Left Hand

Right Hand, Left Hand by McManus, Chris. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780297645979.

Chris McManus’s dazzlingly written debut provides the answers to an array of familiar, almost childish, questions: Why are most people right-handed? Why do the British drive on the left? Why are human bodies symmetrical on the outside, but not on the inside? What is the relationship between handedness and speech disorders, such as stuttering? RIGHT HAND, LEFT HAND uses sources as diverse as the paintings of Rembrandt and the drawings of Leonardo, the origins of medieval iconography, the history of medicine, cognitive science, molecular biology, particle physics and the history of sport to explain the vast repertoire of ‘left–right’ symbolism that permeates our everyday lives. The book answers wonderfully deep and simple questions about why the universe, the human body and our minds and cultures are so full of distinctions between left and right.