THE THROWING MADONNA: Essays on the Brain...

THE THROWING MADONNA: Essays on the Brain by William Calvin (Bantam: $13). In a series of interrelated essays, the noted neurobiologist speculates that the predominance of right-handedness in humans may be linked to the fact that infants prefer to be held on the left side (where they can hear the maternal heartbeat more clearly), freeing the right hand to throw stones or other weapons at game animals. He also postulates that as one side of the hominid brain enlarged with the development of more sophisticated motor skills, the “free space” in the opposite hemisphere developed into the language center. In other essays, Calvin discusses topics that range from the minimal sums spent on researching the phenomenon of pain (and how to alleviate it) to Woodrow Wilson’s debilitating strokes. Intriguing and educational.