Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms, and Cultures [Anglais] [Relié]

Is failure of parity conservation in physics the reason conservatives are called right-wingers and liberals are called left-wingers? If the very concept eludes you, you need to read Chris McManus's grand unified theory of asymmetry. Professor of psychology and medical education at University College London and editor of the journal Laterality, McManus brings a lively erudition to "the world (cosmos), the small (micros) and the great (megas) -- each with its own handedness." Under his tutelage, you will learn that one and a half million years ago, Homo habilis invented the toothpick and held it with the right hand, that the name of the Aztec war god, Huitzilopochtli, means "left-handed hummingbird," and that left-handedness was at one time illegal in Albania. You will encounter Immanuel Kant ruminating over absolute versus relational space, Dr. Thomas Watson describing situs inversus, Louis Pasteur discovering dextro- and levo-enantiomers, Paul Broca examining an aphasic patient who could say only the word "tan," Ernst Mach declaring that a symmetric brain cannot distinguish asymmetric stimuli or make asymmetric responses, and Wolfgang Pauli pondering whether "the Lord is a weak-left-hander." You will gaze on Paolo Uccello's 15th-century fresco of a clock that goes counterclockwise, Johann Tischbein's portrait of Goethe showing the Great Man with two left feet, and Federico Fellini's witty doodles after a stroke that resulted in hemispatial neglect. Gustave Coriolis will explain to you why tornadoes in the northern hemisphere spin counterclockwise whereas tornadoes in the southern hemisphere spin clockwise, and Richard Feynman will explain to you why mirrors do not reverse right and left but rather front and back. You will also be introduced to Professor McManus's own genetic model of right- and left-handedness and to his belief that the persistence of a gene allowing a small minority of the population to be left-handed might be adaptive for the population as a whole. After this intellectual smorgasbord, will you be persuaded that perturbations of the weak force are the reason that Edward Kennedy sits on one side of the aisle and Trent Lott on the other? I was not; rather, I was reminded of Murray Gell-Mann's remark (referring to Roger Penrose's attempt to explain consciousness in terms of quantum gravity) that we do not deal with earthquakes in terms of quarks. Persuaded or not, however, you will greatly enjoy the time you spend in Professor McManus's company. John C.M. Brust, M.D.
Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

An engaging, erudite read on handedness ... full of astonishing facts and anecdotes that readers will want to shake his hand.

"A labor of love and enthusiasm as well as deep scientific knowledge, Right Hand, Left Hand takes the reader on a trip through history, around the world, and into the cosmos, to explore the place of handedness in nature and culture. Chris McManus considers evidence from anthropology, particle physics, the history of medicine, and the notebooks of Leonardo to answer questions like: Why are most people right-handed? Are left-handed people cognitively different from right-handers? Why is the heart almost always on the left side of the body? Why does European writing go from left to right, while Arabic and Hebrew go from right to left? Why do tornadoes spin counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere? And how do we know that Jack the Ripper was left-handed?

McManus reminds readers that distinctions between right and left have been profoundly meaningful--imbued with moral and religious meaning--in societies throughout history, and suggests that our preoccupation with laterality may originate in our asymmetric bodies, which emerged from 550 million years of asymmetric vertebrate evolution, and may even be linked to the asymmetric structure of matter. With speculations embedded in science, Right Hand, Left Hand offers entertainment and new insight to scientists and general readers alike." --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Broché .