Hands: What We Do with Them – and Why - Brossura

Leader, Darian

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0241256542 ISBN 13: 9780241256541

Casa editrice: Hamish Hamilton, 2016

Riassunto

A fresh, thought-provoking and wide-ranging study of how mankind uses its hands

Why do zombies walk with their arms outstretched? How can newborn babies grip an adult finger tightly enough to dangle unsupported from it? And why is everyone constantly texting, tapping and scrolling?

For anyone curious about how human beings work, the answers are hidden in plain sight: in our hands.

The history of civilization is a history of what humans do with their hands. From early tools to machinery, from fists to knives to guns, from papyrus to QWERTY to a swipeable screen, the hands have always been kept occupied.

Why this incessant activity? Why can't we keep our hands still? And what might this reveal about our innermost selves? Mankind's story is marked out by profound changes in how we use our hands but also by underlying patterns that never change. And as much as the things we do with our hands reflect our psychological state, they can also change that state profondly...

Drawing examples from popular culture, art history, psychoanalysis, modern technology and clinical research, Darian Leader presents a unique and fascinating odyssey through the history of what human beings do with their hands - and why.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Publisher's description. Why do we play with our fingers when nervous? Why do zombies walk with their hands out? What connects prayer beads with iPhones? Journey down the psychoanalytic rabbit hole to discover the strange and fascinating secrets of what our hands really say about us... (Penguin)

A breezy cultural history of fidgeting (Times Literary Supplement)

Leader is a psychoanalyst with a sideline in smart, elegant books that explain ourselves to ourselves without using the jargon of clinical literature (Guardian)

An intriguing meditation on how vital our hands are to our understanding of ourselves and our world (The Times)

L'autore:

Darian Leader is a British psychoanalyst and the author of Introducing Lacan, Why do Women Write More Letters Than They Post?, Promises Lovers Make When It Gets Late, Freud's Footnotes, Stealing the Mona Lisa, Why do People Get Ill, co-written with David Corfield, The New Black, What Is Madness, Strictly Bipolar and Hands. He practises psychoanalysis in London, and he is a member of the College of Psychoanalysts and a founding member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Hamish Hamilton
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0241256542
• ISBN 13: 9780241256541
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 128