The Puzzle of Left-Handedness

Rik Smits is a linguist, a science journalist, and author of books on a wide range of subjects.

Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama have both signed bills into law with their left hands. And being left-handed certainly did not hold back the artistic achievements of Michelangelo or Raphael. And the dexterous guitar playing of Jimmi Hendrix may only have been aided by his southpaw tendencies. Left-handedness, in fact, would appear to be no big deal. Yet throughout history, it has been associated with clumsiness and generally dubious personality traits like untrustworthiness and insincerity. Even the Latin word for left, sinister, has ominous connotations. In The Puzzle of Left-handedness, Rik Smits uncovers why history has been so unkind to our lefthanded forebears. He carefully puts together the pieces of the puzzle, presenting an array of historical anecdotes, strange superstitions, and weird wives' tales. Smits explains how left-handedness continues to be associated with maladies of all kinds, including mental retardation, alcoholism, asthma, hay fever, cancer, diabetes, insomnia, depression, and criminality. Even in the enlightened twenty-first century, left-handedness still meets with opposition--including from one prominent psychologist who equates it with infantile negativism, similar to a toddler's refusal to eat what's on his plate, and another who claims that left-handed people have average lifespans that are nine years shorter than those who favor the right hand. As Smits reminds us, such speculation is backed by little factual evidence, and the arguments presented by proponents of right-handedness tend to be humorously absurd. The Puzzle of Left-handedness is an enlightening, engaging, and entertaining odyssey through the puzzles and paradoxes, theories and myths, of left-handed lore. Chock full of facts and fiction, it's a book to be read with both hands.

1 Malice and Misunderstanding 7 2 The Left-handed Picador 12 3 Opposites and Contradictions 17 4 Taboos, Sex and Handicrafts 23 5 Lovers of the Left 29 6 Magic and Superstition 36 7 The True Nature of Left and Right 47 8 Strange Creatures in the Uncanny Valley 52 9 Witchcraft and Pogroms 60 10 Factionalism 71 11 The Ideal Warrior 77 12 The Polymorphism of One-sidedness 82 13 The Heart of the Matter 89 14 The Power of Small Differences 94 15 How Freud Found his Right Side and Pooh Didn't 98 16 Why a Running Rabbit Doesn't Tear Itself Apart 104 17 Tintin's Law 115 18 Dead Men and Voluptuous Women 125 19 Mary's Little Troublemaker and Other Portraits 135 20 Little Johnny Cries to the Left, Little Johnny Smiles to the Left 143 Contents 21 The Circle Dance of the Alphabet 148 22 The Weight of the Liver 158 23 The Morbid Views of Abram Blau 162 24 Thwacking and Hurling 166 25 Thinking About Brains 175 26 Animal Crackers 199 27 Other Asymmetries and Preferences 203 28 Tallying Up 210 29 Genetic Left-handedness 218 30 Hormonal Left-handedness 226 31 How Even Detrimental Characteristics Can Survive 234 32 Left-handers as Undercover Twins 243 33 The Consequences: Contrary, Perverse and Sick 250 34 Two Left Hands: The Ford Scale 255 35 The Things That Things Make Us Do 261 36 Writing and Other Useful Handiwork 267 37 The Myth of High Left-handed Mortality 277 38 Creative, Musical, Brilliant and Famous! 283 Bibliography 286 Photo Acknowledgements 297 Index 298