Left-handers have been described as "a people without a history." This special issue provides scholarly analyses of aspects of asymmetry in history, from the Renaissance to the 20th Century.

• Lauren Harris presents three studies describing:
• • An 1811 American child-care manual for parents fearing, "lest their children should be left-handed";
  • Manuals on swordsmanship from the Renaissance onwards describing the "accepted minority" of left-handed swordsmen, a minority that still dominates the Olympics;
  • The enigmatic bias whereby parents use their left arm to carry babies;
• Janet Snowman and Stephen Christman present two papers on left-handed musical geniuses:
• • William Crotch, the self-taught, 18th Century, musical prodigy, whose unconventional left-handed playing styles stimulate many questions about the asymmetries of stringed instruments;
  • Jimi Hendrix, the 20th Century, left-handed, guitarist of whom Robert Krieger said, " he was just so different. He just came from such a left-field place."
• Chris McManus, Richard Rawles, James Moore and Matthew Freegard describe an early BBC TV programme presented in 1953 by Jacob Bronowski on right and left-handedness. In an early example of viewer participation, 6000 people sent postcards describing their handedness and also their perceptions of a "mystery picture," that was the duck-rabbit figure from Wittgenstein s recently published Philosophical Investigations.
• Chris McManus and Janet Snowman describe A left-handed compliment, a newly discovered lithograph by John Lewis Marks (ca. 1795-6 - ca. 1857-61). Given Marks,"seeming love of vulgarity for its own sake," there is probably an obscene sub-text reminiscent of a Donald McGill postcard.

This third edition of the much acclaimed Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine offers a fully up-to-date, comprehensive, accessible, one-stop resource for doctors, health care professionals, mental health care professionals (such as psychologists, counsellors, specialist nurses), academics, researchers, and students specializing in health across all these fields. The new streamlined structure of the book features brief section overviews summarising the state of the art of knowledge on the topic to make the information easier to find. The encyclopaedic aspects of the Handbook have been retained; all the entries, as well as the extensive references, have been updated. Retaining all the virtues of the original, this edition is expanded with a range of new topics, such as the effects of conflict and war on health and wellbeing, advancements in assisted reproduction technology, e-health interventions, patient-reported outcome measures, health behaviour change interventions, and implementing changes into health care practice.

This third edition of the much acclaimed Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine offers a fully up-to-date, comprehensive, accessible, one-stop resource for doctors, health care professionals, mental health care professionals (such as psychologists, counsellors, specialist nurses), academics, researchers, and students specializing in health across all these fields. The new streamlined structure of the book features brief section overviews summarising the state of the art of knowledge on the topic to make the information easier to find. The encyclopaedic aspects of the Handbook have been retained; all the entries, as well as the extensive references, have been updated. Retaining all the virtues of the original, this edition is expanded with a range of new topics, such as the effects of conflict and war on health and wellbeing, advancements in assisted reproduction technology, e-health interventions, patient-reported outcome measures, health behaviour change interventions, and implementing changes into health care practice.

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.

Winner of the Aventis Science Book Prize. 'A scientific detective story, a brilliant cross between Edgar Allan Poe and Gray's anatomy' J G Ballard, New Stateman Books of the Year 'Fascinating' New Scientist 'Wonderful' Nature - What is the connection between Paul McCartney, Leonardo Da Vinci and Babe Ruth? - Why are parrots and peacocks left-footed? - Do left-handers behave differently from right-handers? - Why are most people right-handed? - Why are all muppets left-handed? - Why is the heart on the left-hand side of the body? - Why is each side of the human brain so different? RIGHT HAND, LEFT HAND uses sources as diverse as the paintings of Rembrandt and the sculpture of Michelangelo, the behaviour of Canadian cichlid fish and the story of early cartography. Modern cognitive science, the history of the Wimbledon tennis championship and the biographies of great musicians are also used to explain the vast repertoire of 'left-right' symbolism that permeates our everyday lives.