Hand Work

Hand Work

I just had occasion to revisit my 2014 book Prehension: The Hand and the Emergence of Humanity (it is the topic of episode 8 of the long-form interview I am recording with my Turkish collaborators). I found myself rather impressed by it. It is really a science book with some philosophy thrown in. Anatomy is central to it. But I couldn’t help reflecting that the book was the source of my tribulations of a decade ago. There is a sense of excitement and intellectual adventure, as if breaking down barriers. Freedom, you might say. There is the focus on the human body and its actions. The hand is explored in its many manifestations, good and bad; a fascination with grips and hand interactions, their power and meaning; their social significance; their strange intimacy. There is even the invitation to form a cult of the hand in order to record and celebrate it, its evolutionary history and contemporary importance. The book is almost religious in tone—poetic, prophetic. Also, humorous. And it upended my life (with a little help from my “friends”). It contains the untold story. My life would have been different without it.

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