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Right Hand, Left Hand

The multiple award-winning true life scientific detective story

By: Chris McManus

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Paperback | 13 November 2003 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
480 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
3.1 x 12.9 x 19.9

Paperback

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Winner of the Aventis Science Book Prize. 'A scientific detective story, a brilliant cross between Edgar Allan Poe and Gray's anatomy' J G Ballard, New Stateman Books of the Year

Chris McManus's dazzlingly written debut takes familiar, almost childish, questions and for the first time for a popular audience answers them: - Why are most people right-handed? Do left-handers behave differently to right-handers? - Why is the heart on the left-hand side of the body? - Why is each side of the human brain so different? - Why do the British drive on the left? Why do European languages go from left to right, while Arabic ones read the other way? - Why do clocks go clockwise? - 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 sculpture of Michelangelo, the behaviour of Canadian cichlid fish and the story of early cartography. Modern cognitive science, the history of the Wimbledon tennis championship and the biographies of great musicians are also used to explain the vast repertoire of 'left-right' symbolism that permeates our everyday lives.

Industry Reviews

A fascinating and immensely readable exploration of the whole topic * NEW SCIENTIST *
A scientific detective story, a brilliant cross between Edgar Allan Poe and Gray's anatomy * NEW STATESMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR *
Limpidly written, dryly witty and extraordinarily wide-reaching, this is surely the most inclusive and erudite popular account of asymmetry yet produced * SPECTATOR *
A fascinating study of the origins of asymmetry in life, culture and myth * TLS *
Spanning disciplines from genetics to folklore, McManus's account of 'handedness' must be one of the most intellectually capricious science books this year * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *
Wonderful book...He has done a marvellous job of summarising and integrating a wide range of findings from various disciplines addressing questions on the nature of right and left * NATURE *

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Psychology Physiological & Neuro-Psychology, Biopsychology Science Biology, Life Sciences Life Sciences in General Neurosciences Science in General Popular Science

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Dr Watson's problem
Death and the right hand
On the left bank
Kleiz, drept, luft, zeso, lijevi, prawy
The heart of the dragon
The toad, ugly and venomous
The dextrous and the gauche
The left brain, the right brain and the whole brain
Ehud, son of Gera
Three men went to mow
Keggie-hander
Vulgar errors
The handedness of Muppets
Man is all symmetrie
The world, the small, the great Notes
Picture and Text Credits
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Right Hand, Left Hand

The multiple award-winning true life scientific detective story

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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