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The Puzzle of Left-handedness
Rik Smits
Recovery Resources Press
October 2011
On Sale: October 15, 2011
384 pages
ISBN: 1861898738
EAN: 9781861898739
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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,
homosexuality, 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.
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