Right Hand Left Hand
Chris McManus
Chapter 5: the Heart of the Dragon
why the heart is always on the left side: extremely elegant biological experiments illustrating how this happens during embryonic development: the clockwise rotating monocillia sweep any signaling molecule secreted by the node almost entirely to the left-hand side, whether it could trigger the cascades of signaling molecules such as Sonic hedgehog.
Chapter 6: the Toad, Ugly and Venomous
the asymmetry of life's building blocks: L- amino acids and D-sugars. the origin of L- amino acids.
As you like it (Act 2, Scene 1) by Shakespeare:
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in tress, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stone, and good in everything.
Physicist Abdus Salam's explanation of the discovery of Yang and Li:
I asked him if any classical writer had ever considered giants with only the left eye. He confessed that one-eyed giants have been described, and he supplied me with a full list of them; but they always [like the Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey] sport their solitary eye in the middle of the forehead. In my view, what we have found is that space is a weak left-eyed giant.
Chapter 7: The Dextrous and The Gauche
Finally, the author's attention focused on the handedness. Talked about "preference" determining the usage of one hand.
His own theory of handedness: two gene loci: D and C. Not sure how well this holds. needs more information from other sources.
A surprise for myself: I only scored 1/10 for preferential use of the left hand!
Chapter 8: The Left Brain, the Right Brain and the Whole Brain
asymmetry of the two half-brains; fascinating consequences of all sorts of brain damage.
the author proposed the same two gene loci determine the differentiation of the left and right brains.
Chapter 9: Ehud, Son of Gera
percentage of left-handed is different among different ethnic groups. the author made a fairly convincing argument that the basis is biological, not cultural.
evolution of the human hand: the instrument of instruments.
Steve Jones on evolution: Evolution is to allegory as statues are to birdshit. It is a convenient platform upon which to deposit badly digested ideas.
Chapter 10: Three men went to mow
cultural conventions concerning left and right
writing: left to right, right to left, left to right and then right to left.
driving, sports, music, politics.
main point: many are determined by factors other than biology.
Chapter 11: Keggie-Hander
how lefties survive in a society of right-handers. in English, large number of words describing left-handednes, mostly negative; only one describing the right-handed. social pressure from extreme negative to nonexistent.
Chapter 12: Vulgar Errors
poked holes to all myths about left-handed:
identical twins don't usually be mirror-image of each other. Left-handers don't die younger, nor suffer from immune disorders, nor more creative or intelligent. Neanderthals were not left-handed. mirrors don't reverse left and right....
Chapter 13: The Handedness of Muppets
trivia: left-handers rarely shown in movies, even less as heros. Titanic was built as a half boat for the movie. mirror writing. most famous left hander: Leonardo da Vinci. 6 left-handers been president of US. Thomas Jefferson wrote with his left hand. Benjamin Franklin wrote a cute letter for the left-hand.
Chapter 14: Man is All Symmetrie
talked about all sorts of symmetric stuff.
Chapter 15: The World, the Small, the Great
summarizes all his thoughts with a grand hypothesis.
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