A lighthearted look at the inside-out world of left-handedness, seeking to prove what left-handers have always suspected - they are not only different from everybody else, they are better. Drawing on NASA statistics and neurological surgical research, the book makes its points with sly good humour.

A hilarious look at the inside-out world of left-handers.

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? Why does European writing go from left to right, while Arabic and Hebrew go from right to left? And how do we know that Jack the Ripper was left-handed?

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.

Genes and kangaroos -- Criminals or victims? Cesare Lombroso vs. Robert Hertz -- By the numbers : measuring handedness -- Ambiguous attitudes -- Changing hands, tying tongues -- From genes to populations : the search for a cause -- The geschwind hypothesis -- Genetic models and selective advantage -- Uniquely human? -- A gay hand? -- Disability, ability, and the left hand -- Conclusion : does left-handedness matter?

For all the lefties out there who are fed up with using notebooks made for right-handed folks, here's a journal designed especially for southpaws! This beautiful parchment notebook is bound on the right side for the convenience of left-handed writers, and it's filled with fascinating, little-known facts about lefties, myths and misconceptions.

The objectives of Book 1 are to establish good basic habits of paper positioning and pencil hold, and to develop the fine motor skills needed for accurate, consistent writing. It presents techniques and practice for left-handers, along with guidelines for parents and teachers.

Being a left-handed child in a world geared to the right-handed majority can be challenging, and it can be very difficult for a right-handed parent to give early guidance in even the simplest everyday activities when approached from the wrong position. In Your Left-handed Child, leading expert in left-handedness Lauren Milsom describes simple but effective strategies to help the very young through to teenagers overcome the many hurdles they might encounter at school and home. Learn how to help your left-handed child with: - Handwriting - Getting dressed - Using cutlery - Using woodworking tools - Playing guitar and many other useful skills. Thanks to the invaluable advice in this book, your left-handed child will be confident and capable, and left-handedness need never become an issue.

100 Different Ways to play the same song. Piano students learn 100 fun left hand patterns to take any music and change it up 100 different ways. Also included in the book is the FUN FAKEBOOK which includes 100 piano pieces in facebook format where the melody (Right Hand - treble clef) and the given chords for each measure are shown. The students can then fake or make up a left hand pattern to go along with the melody.

Nine out of every ten human beings are naturally right-handed. Those who were not right-handed were feared, shunned, or forcibly retrained in many periods and cultures. Indeed, some members of fundamentalist sects still regard left-handers as in league with the devil, and prejudices against left-handers are reflected in the multiple associations of right with good and left with bad that have become enshrined in everyday language and folklore. A “left-handed compliment” is actually an insult, and the dictionary definition of left-handed includes the terms “awkward,” “clumsy,” “ill-omened,” and “Illegitimate.” In his summary of scientific research into sidedness, Stanley Coren rapidly dismisses the notion of the southpaw as somehow tainted. Increasingly we are coming to understand, however, that left-handedness does have social, educational, medical, and psychological implications. Coren uses entertaining examples to illuminate the paths of research he has followed, and answers vitally important questions such as: What are the neuropsychological and behavioral implications of differences for left-handers themselves, as well as for their parents, teachers, spouses, children, counselors, and physicians? How can we determine our own patterns of sidedness? Are they encoded in our genes? And, very importantly, how can we make the world more comfortable and safer for left-handers? Coren persuasively argues that left-handers are an invisible minority who must define themselves and organize for self-protections in the same way that more visible minorities have done. Much (though not all) of the risk to which left-handers are exposed derives from the fact that the tools they use and the machines they operate are designed for right-handers, a flaw that given heightened public awareness would be easy to correct. Coren advocates a change in the way the right-handed majority treats its left-handed minority to eliminate the risks left-handers face.