The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture

by Frank R. Wilson

"A startling argument . . . provocative . . . absorbing." -- The Boston Globe

"Ambitious . . . arresting . . . celebrates the importance of hands to our lives today as well as to the history of our species."
-- The New York Times Book Review

The human hand is a miracle of biomechanics, one of the most remarkable adaptations in the history of evolution. The hands of a concert pianist can elicit glorious sound and stir emotion; those of a surgeon can perform the most delicate operations; those of a rock climber allow him to scale a vertical mountain wall. Neurologist Frank R. Wilson makes the striking claim that it is because of the unique structure of the hand and its evolution in cooperation with the brain that Homo sapiens became the most intelligent, preeminent animal on the earth.
        In this fascinating book, Wilson moves from a discussion of the hand's evolution--and how its intimate communication with the brain affects such areas as neurology, psychology, and  linguistics--to provocative new ideas about human creativity and how best to nurture it. Like Oliver Sacks and Stephen Jay Gould, Wilson handles a daunting range of scientific knowledge with a surprising deftness and a profound curiosity about human possibility. Provocative, illuminating, and delightful to read, The Hand encourages us to think in new ways about one of our most taken-for-granted assets.

"A mark of the book's excellence [is that] it makes the reader aware of the wonder in trivial, everyday acts, and reveals the complexity behind the simplest manipulation." -- The Washington Post

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Psychology, Design, Neuroscience, History, Health

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointment. The book promised to talk about the connection between the hand and the brain, and to reveal the hand' role in making us the brainy creatures we are today. But there is very little of neurology in here, and lots of "gee, isn't the hand an amazing bit of bioengineering!" As well as stories of people who can do remarkable things with their hands, like play the piano and juggle. OK, that's cool -- though it would be even cooler if we were talking both at once -- but not cool enough to justify a 400-page book.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars. This was very promising at the beginning: the story of how the evolution of the human hand led the development of the human brain. The first 4 chapters or so deliver on this promise, and are utterly fascinating. But then the book degrades into a collection of musings on human nature. I think the blame lies with the editor... this should have been a shorter and tighter book. I recommend the first half.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the beginning chapters on the whole and their focus on anthropology, evolution of primate anatomy, and linguistics – particularly sign language (p.200) and apraxia (p. 205). I enjoyed Anat’s story about practicing Feldenkrais therapy (p. 247-57), but felt disappoint that Wilson’s point to telling her story was to demonstrate, “how the hands can bring an individual not into a distinctive kind of work but into transforming relationships with people and ideas” (256) –uninspired.

There was much less neurology than I expected for a book about how the hand shapes the brain. Wilson unpacks assertions with lengthy, sentimental anecdotes about the impressive ways humans use their hands - like juggling, marionette manipulation, and cooking (why the excessive recognition and praise for that San Francisco chef?) – and rarely connects the theory to the thesis. The book eventually degenerates to Wilson’s ramblings on human creativity and learning, and his ideas for how to best nurture it. Again, not really sticking to the thesis.

[Zechy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subject is fascinating, the author is a bit of a twit.

[Gary McCallister · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring, opinionated, dry, and one-sided. Like a lot of science.

[Michael MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for the faint hearted.

This is an excellent and in-depth examination of how human hands have shaped our intellect, our society, and our culture.

It can be methodical in the analysis but this is necessary to make several of the connections that the author asserts.

I recommend the book for anyone who works in the medical field, the arts, or in manual labour. As a health educator in the field of aviation, it is invaluable as a resource and as a way to understand my clients.

[Clove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn that book was dense. If all the scientific or theoretical books written for a general audience were lined up in order of accessibility, this would be somewhere on the far end. This despite the fact that it is, as Tom Myers called it, "charming", and that it dances nimbly over some pretty broad & diverse terrain. I like books too that have a perspective to push - here, the necessity of rethinking our concepts regarding intelligence and learning. Amen to that. Wish it had been slightly less of a slog. 3.5

[Ralphz · Rating 2 out of 5]

They lost me during the story of a rock climber who had a rough life while his mom and dad divorced.

Yeah.

In a book about the hand, by one third of the way through it hadn't actually really gotten into the subject. But it talked about monkeys and puppets and jugglers. Oh my.

When it actually ventures into science, it's highly technical and not very readable - this guy is no Siddhartha Mukherjee ("The Emperor of All Maladies") or Sam Kean ("The Disappearing Spoon").

Unfortunately, this was a DNF.

[Soren Kerk · Rating 5 out of 5]

You could not ask for more if you want to learn about the hand - and the brain.

My favorite lesson was about polypod and polylith creations. Proud to be a homo sapiens.

[Clayton Grames · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting premise with a fascinating main thesis but the book strays into tangents that can be hard to connect to anything meaningful. The first half was the most worth the time.

[Karla Kitalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw some negative reviews, but I liked the book. The centrality of the hand/brain connection was enlightening.

[Dylan Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this were written by Charles Dawkin, I may call it one of the best books of the century, but it’s not. It’s way too convoluted, and I can’t give it enough credit because the author is unknown. The book is also juggles between topics and I wanted to read a book about the Hand.

[Jonathan Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

While _The Hand_ is far from being a perfect book, it never ceases to fascinate. Perhaps one third of the chapters are given over to an impressively compelling argument that the development of the human hand was the proximate stimulus for the development of the human brain. We could climb and throw and catch and manipulate before we could think or reason (in the most technical sense). Another third of the chapters discuss some the quite astonishingly varied feats of which the hand is capable--rock climbing, juggling, and puppetry, just to name a few. And the final third of the book's chapters recount aspects of Wilson's intellectual journey in developing his ideas on the hand.

In this reviewer's opinion, the evolutionary biological argument constituted the meat of the book. I could have done altogether without the intellectual biography (though it was interesting in its way) and without the weaker chapters that eulogize the hand. Still, very few books have provided such a stimulus to my thinking about--well--almost everything. The implications of Wilson's argument ramify throughout all of human culture, and his manner of presentation is personable, his expertise in his subject unsurpassed, and his scope of inquiry thrillingly vast. This is a flawed book, certainly, but nevertheless one of the most exciting reads I've undertaken. Highly recommended.

[Jim Omlid · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author builds a strong case for the value of incorporating hands in the learning process. He documents how the human hand evolved uniquely (the ulnar opposition) to give us special tool-making and tool-using skills; these skills gave us the ability to kill prey that added protein to our diet fueling our brain growth at a rate far beyond the brain growth of our chimpanzee cousins. We became human because of our new capacity to grasp, shape and point tools and weapons; no other creature has this capability.

Dr. Wilson's impeccably researched work lays the foundation for improved understanding of how people learn; we learn better in a 3D environment, with 3D objects and tools, than we do in 2D. After all, we live in a very rich 3D world, and can feed our brains a better learning experience by going outside of the 2D world of books, worksheets, and computer screens. Every educator, policy maker and parent should read this book, before they line up to vote for cutting funding for shop class, or any career technical education program.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so interesting. I didn't actually read much of it, only a few chapters and then it was due back at the library. I would like to pick it up again sometime. It was a little more techincal than I thought it would be and I wasn't completely sure I was understanding things correctly all the time, but it was interesting read.

[Jillymom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have actually read this book all the way through! (Without understanding quite all of it.) Fascinating and worth while, in so many different directions. Just finished my paper on the hand, thank goodness.

[Lilly Irani]

I'm expecting this book to give me lots of scientific and athropological fodder for phenomenological theories of cognition like the kinds that Dourish and Winograd / Flores summarize.

[Lynette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating study of influences on the brain by actions of the hand. Good especially for pianists!

[Lindsay Evermore]

milford orange stratford

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the relationship between the hand, the brain, language, and human beings, including specific implications for learning and education.