The Puzzle of Left-handedness

by Rik Smits

 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Psychology

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, what a massive disappointment. This is a collection of rambling, anecdotal essays where the author mentions the term "left-handed" and then goes off on some tirade about something entirely unrelated. Example: George W. Bush's terrorism policy (because he was left handed, so that's, you know, SCIENCE! CORRELATION!)

There's no reason for this book to be titled as it is; there's no investigation into any "puzzle" of left-handedness, there's just an introduction into some guy's disjointed opinions that have some (VERY) loose relation to handedness. Why the hell this was categorized under "popular science" is unclear to me.

Ooooo I'm cranky, I'll stop.

[Barb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of interesting threads, but no cohesive theory. Andecdote is intriguing but I would have liked more neurological research.

[Loons Gerringer]

Bewerten kann ich hier nicht. Vor allem die erste Hälfte kam mir ein bisschen vor wie ein Sammelsurium kurioser und anderer Fakten über (Links-)Händigkeit, aber eben nicht nur dazu. Der rote Faden ging mir da doch mehrfach verloren. In der zweiten Hälfte wurde es für mich deutlich interessanter. Da fehlt mir dann aber das Fachwissen, um die Theorie einschätzen zu können. Insgesamt hätte ich mir eine stärkere Gliederung des Buches gewünscht. Umfassend und interessant fand ich die Bibliographie zum Thema. Nicht ganz ohne Sarkasmus liest man nach mehr als vierhundert Seiten das Fazit: "Linkshänder sind einfach nur linkshändig." Immerhin faszinierend, dass sich ein so offensichtliches Phänomen wie Linkshändigkeit so beharrlich einer eindeutigen wissenschaftlichen Erklärung entzieht.

[Novalynda Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nou, wat dit boek ons vooral laat zien is dat er eigenlijk geen verschillen zijn tussen linkshandigen en rechtshandigen, dat er veel mythes over linkshandigen zijn, en dat de meeste onderzoeken naar linkshandigheid gedaan worden door rechtshandigen met vooroordelen. Dit is geen nieuwe informatue, waarom moest er hier een boek over worden geschreven?

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting look at left-handedness, the research done about left-handedness (with special and proper bile reserved for Stanley Coren who perpetuated some terrible untruths about left-handedness.

The book doesn't offer solutions to left-handedness, just points out that despite opression, there continues to be left-handed people in the world and that diversity should be embraced rather than treated as a issue or problem. He notes that teachers aren't taught how to teach children to write left-handed, although in every class there would be at least 2, if not more. Maybe as well as encouraging left-handed people to "try" their right, teachers should encourage right-handers to "try" their left. By forcing people to use their right people have been stressed, bedwetting, stammers and other nervous disorders have resulted, by trying to make people conform. The only real accomodation teachers should make to left-handed students is to ensure they aren't elbowing their right-handed friend.
The world is really made for the majority, but left-handers exist and despite many attempts aren't going anywhere. We're here to stay and the world needs to just give me the room to be me, and quit using the left-handed desks and complaining!

It's an interesting look at perception and history, not a general read about left-handedness but I found it an interesting read.

[Mike Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at being left-handed. Smits covers the water front in terms of addressing input from the fields of physiology, psychology, sociology, musicology, sports, statistics, and a slew of other fields on the meaning of left-handedness and how it arises. Ultimately, of course, there are not sure answers, but the back-ground given here is incredible. Now that I am no longer in school, the implications of being left-handed are less in-you-face, as are the questions of how I came to be this way. After reading the book, though, I realize that there may be more to it even now than I imagine. My mom is left-handed and my dad was until his parents forced him to switch. My brother is, and two of my three sons are; my wife is not. Lots to ponder and analyze here, if one allows oneself to be influenced by Smits' writing. Reading an English translation of a book originally in Dutch was fine; only a couple of distracting turns of phrase. I cannot emphasize enough how fascinating it was to read how right- and left-handedness is woven into the fields of art, medicine, pregnancy and birth, genetic research and on and one. Well worth the read for anyone who is left-handed, or the parent of a left-handed child.

[Karen Fiandaca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am left handed as is the author. Translated from the Dutch. Lots of interesting material but have to wade through a lot of scientific data which turns out in the end to pretty much say there is not that much to say about left handedness - it's just one of those things!! Also very politically biased which is unexpected! will definitely give to my left handed son to read - right handers may not find it so interesting unless they have left handed children. also lot in there about twin studies - I wonder if author is a twin?

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Niet zo entertainend als ik had verwacht, ben uiteindelijk gewoon beginnen bladeren naar leuke weetjes (want die staan er wel in grote aantallen in).

[Shamus Mcgillicuddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book needed more time in the oven. It is mostly a loose collection of tenuously interconnected essays on otherness, cultural attitudes toward left-handedness, and the history of good and bad science on hand preference. The kernel of a good book is in these pages, but the execution isn't there. First, there is no introductory chapter where the author lays out his argument. He jumps right into the weeds, and I feel lost because I don't know where he is going with the early chapters on otherness and inversion. He's exploring interesting ideas, but he doesn't do the work to connect everything together.

The author also fails to take the reader anywhere new. Ultimately, this book reviews all the failed theories and research on why 10% of humanity has been left-handed throughout history. It's fine for a book to review all the bad science, but offer the reader something new. Not new research, but perhaps a philosophical meditation on why the answers don't matter. The author is a lefty. I want to hear from him about what it means to be a lefty in a world where so much is geared toward righties. How does this shape his experience? I want to connect with something bigger, because i'm a lefty, too. And I do feel like an outsider sometimes. That opportunity was lost here. The book ends very abruptly after Smits reviews and debunks one last scientific theory.

I learned a lot of interesting facts and ideas, but ultimately this book was a disappointment.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start from the beginning right away, but not as infrequently as only [a majority of] Thursday mornings.

Thirty-seven essay-ish chapters about various aspects, whether sociological, psychological, biological, cultural, .... Explained quite a bit for me and helped set my early years as a left-hander in more context. He does a good job showing how widely variable being left-handed is, and, of course, as is right-handedness. There is a very wide spectrum in which to be either or both. In fact, I write with my left hand but as a mixture of how left- and right-handed technique.

Highly recommended to pretty much everyone but especially to anyone whether left-handed or who has/had a left-handed loved one.

And especially to parents of young left-handed children. Please help spare them the multi-faceted harm that comes from the treatment of left-handers in a conformist education system, in which the majority of (right-handed teachers) are confronted by their own inadequacy to instruct a left-hander in things such as writing and letter formation, etc. We quickly figure this stuff out if left on our own, as the book repeatedly shows, but conformity is a powerful ideal.

[Susan E. Kraterfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a leftie I'm always curious about how it comes to be. I wanted information on new research and this seemed like the best mass market book I could find.

In the end, I was disappointed. He's ok on the actual science, but the chapters on the social stuff are fanciful silly speculations without serious credentials. Lots of his "conclusions" seem more like biased personal observations than actual research results.

The science was okay, but unsatisfying. The last time I looked into this, there were no studies on left/right brain divisions of labor and handedness' effect on it. That has now been studied, albeit without any "Eureka"s. The last best hope in the research for a root cause he summarized was that non-pathological lefties are surviving twins. Alas, my google research on this found that this too has been refuted as well. But that's not the author's fault.

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eine interessante Sozialgeschichte, die sich mit Anthropologie, Biologie und Genetik, aber auch mit den Vorurteilen und dem Aberglauben gegenüber Linkshändern befasst. Die Sammlung von Daten und Fakten ist wirklich bemerkenswert, ebenso wie die Verbindungen zwischen den verschiedenen Disziplinen und die Schlussfolgerungen, die der Autor aus dieser Masse an Material zieht. Zwei Elemente stechen dabei besonders hervor: der konstante Prozentsatz von Linkshändern in der Bevölkerung und eine mehr als glaubwürdige (auch weil einfache) biologische Erklärung sowohl für das Phänomen als auch für die Häufigkeit. Was ja nichts schadet, denn obwohl es sich um einen Essay handelt, ist er sehr klar geschrieben und an einigen Stellen sogar amüsant.

[Pauline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting stuff, but a great deal of the book is variations along the lines of "people have speculated that ..." in relation to left-handedness, but it turned out to have little if any basis in fact. Kind of interesting, but I was looking for what we do know about it, not what people have guessed or thought that turned out to be wrong. Occasionally the author also seems to express as apparent fact something that I doubt is backed up by evidence.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would I say that has not already been mentioned in previous comments, 'rubbing chin'.
Chapter 7, I think was interesting regarding Handwriting and it's evolution around the globe although I did find some glitches with the scientific speculation concerning this topic in particular. Some well researched information throughout.

[Kathleen Garber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book but hard to read. You will need complete concentration as its a dry read but I learned so much about left-handedness and what the left hand means in real life. I cannot put into words what I think of the book but if you are interested in psychology, sociology, good/evil or left handedness you will love this.

[Terra · Rating 5 out of 5]

interessante, divertente. la sezione sull'arte è davvero illuminante (oggi ho visto due madonne con bambino. i bambini erano brutti e le madonne li tenevano con la mano destra), e ho imparato che, se al crescere dell'età la percentuale di mancini sembra diminuire, non è perché i mancini muoiono prima degli altri.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This seemed to be a well thought out book on why some people are left-handed & what effect it has on their lives. I found it very interesting.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nearly a four. The first 80 odd pages is about superstitions and witches. If you’re not interested in that don’t be put off. The book moves into more scientific stuff.

[Imaan Iddir · Rating 2 out of 5]

He seems quite offended at the world for discriminating against the left-handed, and he states as fact his inaccurate views about Islam and Arab culture (you can't eat with your left hand, but writing with whichever hand is fine, and Umar bin Al Khattab was left-handed, for God's sake. Look it up.) He makes other patronising comments about religion in general, too.
When he gets to the science, he's less emotional.
His analysis of the different explanations of left-handedness so far, and his own theory, are actually pretty interesting.

[Cat Noe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but fragmented. Having personally encountered a disproportionate number of psychotic individuals who later turned out to be left-handed, I have often wondered if there was a connection. This book addressed that question with a definitive: Yes! Probably. Maybe. No, not really. Ok, nobody actually has a clue. We done here?

But hey, if you like useless trivia, it's worth a look.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book talks about cultural reasons behind right and left handedness, and also goes into the current state of research on why certain aspects of handedness seem to be innate in individuals. I never realized that rates of left handedness in families are positively correlated with the likelihood of twin births in the family, or the reasons behind why that might be the case, until I read this book. Pretty cool.

[einen Kuhnäljußd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meiner Erinnerung nach (ist schon etwas her) recht langweiliges, nicht sonderlich interessantes und ebensowenig gut strukturiertes Werk über die Geschichte und die Natur von Linkshändern.
Trotzdem ganz nett, wenn man wenig erwartet.

Gibt aber sicher Besseres.

Weiß nur nicht, was.


:'(

[May Khaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's full of little ideas, with no unifying narrative or anything else, much less a unifying idea.

This review says it all.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it 3.5 stars.

[Matthew Vandrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

While dealing with interesting subject, the book often goes off on a tangent. And then it ends abruptly. Honestly, I'm not wiser after reading it.