LEFT-HANDED

Birmingham reaches out to lefties and righties alike in this overview of the science and superstition behind our choices of dominant hands—not to mention eyes, feet, and even teeth.

The author opens with a tour through the “history and mystery of left-handedness”—but much of what follows also reports on the often surprising results of recent scientific studies and research. While about 10% of today’s people worldwide are lefties, twins and prehistoric cave painters double that figure. Moreover, whales and gorillas are mainly righties, but orangutans are just the opposite. Left-handers tend to develop bulkier right brain structures, but Birmingham refutes myths that they are smarter or more creative or that they die younger. Concluding that how we become one or the other is still a mystery that probably comes down to a complex mixture of chance, cultural pressures, and genetics, she ends by laying down a stimulating suggestion that since so many of us use both hands for different things anyway, it would be more sensible (and less polarizing) to replace the either-or dichotomy with “strong-handed” or, for the truly ambidextrous, “mixed-handed.” Humorous asides, hands-on activities, and frequent questions enliven her clearly articulated text. The variety of human hands and more complete figures—even the prehistoric ones—in Chan’s illustrations display a broad range of light and dark skin hues.

An open-handed array of easily grasped facts and lore.