Until recently, even explaining the difference between "right" and "left" to a conditional alien would be problematic - these familiar concepts seemed so "earthly." But even without such abstract problems, there are enough questions. Why are most people right-handed? Do left-handers really behave differently from right-handers? How are dominant hands related to some speech disorders, such as stuttering? Why is the heart almost always on the left side of the body, and the human body consists of amino acids with left chirality? Why are the two hemispheres of the brain so different? Why do tornadoes spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere? Why does one third of the world drive a car on the left and two thirds on the right? Why does European writing go from left to right, and Arabic and Hebrew from right to left? Science has already found answers to some questions, but it still struggles with some paradoxes of asymmetry in nature, body and culture. Looking at examples from particle physics to the human body and from culture and sport to everyday life, this book will dispel your misconceptions about left and right and reveal the mysteries of asymmetry. Royal Society of London Prize for Non-Fiction Book of the Year.