Traveling from the halls of history to the halls of science, Wolman explores a Scottish castle designed for left-handed swordfights, visits a Paris museum to inspect nineteenth-century brains that hold clues to this biological puzzle, and observes chimps with a primatologist in Atlanta who may help unravel the evolutionary mystery of left-handedness. Along the way, Wolman meets fellow left-handers who share his sense of kinship and reveal the essence of Southpaw. There is sinister Diabolos Rex, follower of the Left Hand Path; and John Evans, an amputee whose left hand was reattached to his right arm. In Japan, Wolman tees off with the National Association of Left-Handed Golfers and seeks wisdom from a left-handed baseball legend. A seamless blend of science, travel, culture, and humor, this inquisitive exploration of all things Southpaw is sure to be the perfect book for lefties and for all the righties who love them.
David Wolman is a contributing editor at Wired and the author of four books. He has written for publications including Outside, Mother Jones, Newsweek, Discover, Forbes, and Salon, and his work appeared in "Best American Science Writing 2009." A former Fulbright journalism fellow in Japan and a graduate of Stanford University's journalism program, he now lives in Portland, Oregon, where he received a 2011 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship.
Wolman's 2008 story about activists in Egypt using Facebook to mobilize against the regime was one of the earliest pieces of long-form journalism about what would come to be known as the Arab Spring. He followed that up with an e-book, "The Instigators," published by The Atavist in May, 2011.
His first book, "A Left-Hand Turn Around the World," was published by Da Capo Press (hardcover 2005, paperback 2006). "Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email," was published by HarperCollins (hardcover 2008, paperback 2009). His latest book, "The End of Money," will be published by Da Capo Press in February, 2012. In it, he takes a critical look at cash, considering its liabilities and what our world would be like without those trillions of little numbered bits of paper and tiny metal disks.
Visit his website at www.david-wolman.com and follow him on Twitter at @davidwolman.
