A Left-Hand Turn Around the World: Chasing the Mystery and Meaning of All Things Southpaw

Why are so many humans right-handed when most animal species show random preferences for one side or another? Is a preference for the left hand an indicator of brain difference? How do developing embryos figure out which side is left, anyway, and why is that information so critical to their development? Wolman's breezy, informative account of "what makes left-handers special" tackles these and other fascinating questions on its journey to finding out what exactly handedness means and why it happens. The author, a proud member of "the fraternity of Southpaw" and a journalist whose work has appeared in New Scientist , Discover and Wired , travels all over the world to find his answers, and his lively tales of visits to the field's top researchers double as solid introductions to the science of handedness. Though his visits to a palmist in Quebec and a graphologist in Virginia are less than entertaining—he finds them illogical, they find him irritating—his attempts at left-handed golf in Japan and lefthanded sword fighting in Scotland are funny and instructive. Amusing and thorough, this little tome makes a good gift for the left-handers on the Christmas list. (Nov.)