Customer Reviews

Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book definitely makes one pay more attention to asymmetry and what it means. The book is full of very interesting research, characters,and anedoctes, and it definitely tickle one's curiosity about the whole topic. I am left-handed, but I think that right-handed people would be just as interested, also because handedness is by no means the only asymmetry explored here.
I had only two (small) problems with this book: the author proposes his genetic model for handedness stating that it is a hypothetical model. Later in the book, however, he seems to take the model a bit too much as if it were real. And the final few chapters seem a bit rushed, compared to the initial ones. All in all, a good and interesting read.

As a left-hand thrower in baseball and right-footed kicker in American football in my youth, I was fascinated by the enormous amount of information on left-right asymmetries presented by the erudite Professor McManus. However my confidence in the validity of the flood of information from his extraordinarily broad set of sources was marred by finding the Professor dead wrong on contributions from the two small areas that I know better than he does -- baseball and parity in physics.
The main advantage of batting left-handed is not due to that batter being closer to first base but to the easier job the left-swinger has in hitting a right-hand pitcher's curve ball. And switch-hitters do not have an "advantage because of the unpredictability of their shot making" but because, batting left-handed against right-handed pitchers and right-handed against left-handed pitchers, they hit curve balls better.
Also, the "asymmetry" in the force on a compass needle near a current that McManus considers that Oersted ignored in early failures to detect that force in the infancy of physics, vanishes if the experimenter uses a current to makes his own magnetized needle. Indeed, it was just that left-right symmetry of electromagnetic forces that led physicists to believe that it was likely that the other fundamental forces would be similarly
symmetric. Hence, the violation of that left-right "parity" symmetry which Yang and Lee postulated and that Wu, Ambler, and others demonstrated, was very important. I agree with McManus that the "mistake" that he describes is "incredible", but it is his mistake and not that of physicists.

I'm a 'lefty', 'southpaw', 'cack-handed' etc. My daughter bought me this for my birthday. It was a very interesting read.

The only downside was that some of the chapters seemed too long, at over 30 pages? There were points when the topic of the chapter seemed exhausted, and was strung out, and on more than one occasion my interest waned, only to perk up on the next page when some new issue was introduced, and off we went again?

What I liked best was the little anecdotes, like how it took years for Canada to decide whether to drive on the Left or the Right, with British Columbia & the Maritime Provinces not changing over until after the First World War, and then still over a number years between 1920 and 1924. Similarly how Western & Eastern Austria drove on different sides of the road until 1938.

A fascinating read.

More than any other author I can recall, Chris McManus brings the joy and the fun of scientific discovery to whomever will devote a little study and attention. Like any worthwhile scientific pursuit, some discipline is required to reap rewards, but the tour Dr. McManus leads you on is DAZZLING! I received "Right Hand Left Hand" as a Christmas gift from my brother, a physics professor, and felt some duty to read this odd looking volume. Starting at the beginning was slow, so I skipped ahead to Chapter 9, "Ehud, son of Gera"... From there it was an engaging, exciting, very informative read through the entire book!

Dr. McManus weaves a tapestry of self discovery from an amazing variety of scientific (and non-scientific too!) sources. The common theme that I sensed wasn't so much human left or right handedness , though this topic receives comprehensive coverage, but the process of scientific inquiry and discovery. Frequently, Dr. McManus relates the observation and recording of an oddity or unusual event where the discoverer did not have the least understanding of its significance. Only after other minds have absorbed and shared the knowledge, does it begin to be synthesized into an elegant structure of self discovery and often of great usefulness.

Dr. McManus moves easily through many deep fields of knowledge, and offers footnoted pathways for curious readers to pursue. His website, www.righthandlefthand.com expands on the footnotes and offers extra exploration opportunities. Biology and evolution, astrophysics, art history, archeology, geology, molecular chemistry, and even literature and poetry are all part of the journey!

I'll give one example from Chapter 6 "The toad, ugly and venomous", which starts out quoting from Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking-Glass... I remember Carroll's book as a pleasant diversion, not as information to be mined for its scientific value! Dr. McManus deftly relates Carroll's ideas to the arcane but vital concept of "chirality" in molecular chemistsry...

Right Hand Left Hand is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it!

excellent read for anyone who loves learning fascinating things about the world, things they never even fathomed. more than just a book for, or about, left-handedness, this book is accessible, smart, funny, and gripping.

This book is easy to read and penetrates to great depth on large numbers of subject. A well written and interesting argument, the author manages to link a wide range of arguments. I really enjoyed this book.