The Left Stuff: How the Left-Handed Have Survived and Thrived in a Right-Handed World
by:
Melissa Roth (author)
Weaving cultural history and scientific exploration together, The Left Stuff takes you on an adventure to discover the truth about why humans choose one hand over the other. From high-tech neuroscience labs to the rain forests of Africa to the bullpens of Major League Baseball, journalist Melissa...
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Weaving cultural history and scientific exploration together, The Left Stuff takes you on an adventure to discover the truth about why humans choose one hand over the other. From high-tech neuroscience labs to the rain forests of Africa to the bullpens of Major League Baseball, journalist Melissa Roth investigates how societies and genetics encourage us to choose sides. The Left Stuff gets to the heart of why humans are predominantly right-handed-and why a stubborn minority has persevered against the weight of history and the forces of evolution. Fascinating, provocative, and insightful, this book is a well-crafted and engaging narrative of how modern science has put the power of understanding in the palms of our hands.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781590771464 (159077146X)
Publish date: September 15th 2009
Publisher: M. Evans & Company
Pages no: 240
Edition language: English
I found the chapters "Who Are the Left-Handed?" and "Nature or Nurture?" the most interesting. Roth lost me with all the left/right hemisphere talk and all the speculation at the end. The first half is a quick read and I probably should have stopped there. Oh well.
Maybe I've just read too many books on left-handedness, but this one didn't do it for me. There was some new information, but way too much speculation presented as fact, and I got completely bogged down in the section on brain hemispheres.
Interesting cultural and scientific insights.
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