Hands

Intended for all readers--including magicians, detectives, musicians, orthopedic surgeons, and anthropologists--this book offers a thorough account of that most intriguing and most human of appendages: the hand. In this illustrated work, John Napier explores a wide range of absorbing subjects such as fingerprints, handedness, gestures, fossil remains, and the making and using of tools.

"Maybe Newton was right about the thumb [that it was evidence of God's existence], but there is far more to arouse wonder in the hand than he knew, and Dr. Napier indicates its scope with authority and imagination."--The New York Times Book Review "Each fascinating chapter in this book is a conjured mixture of anecdote, entertainment, and instruction."--Annals of Human Biology "[John Napier's] book is deliberately 'not too technical,' light and full of wit... Fingerprints, gestures, nerves, bone, hand hair--all are given attention ... in this interesting survey."--Scientific American "Each fascinating chapter in this book is a conjured mixture of anecdote, entertainment, and instruction."--Annals of Human Biology

The late John Napier was a physician specializing in hands, and was also a professor and writer on primates and evolution. Russell H. Tuttle is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.