Hands

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Hands, written and read by Darian Leader.

The history of civilization is a history of what humans do with their hands. Inventing tools, writing records, operating machinery, learning to type, to text, to swipe: mankind's progress to modern society has been a steady evolution of how we use our hands.

Why do we play with our fingers when nervous? What causes us to doodle while concentrating? Why are the motions of cooking soothing and the motions of online gaming addictive? And what happens when we are prevented from using our hands altogether?

Drawing examples from popular culture, art history, technology and clinical research, Darian Leader explores how the things we do with our hands reflect our psychological state - and can also change that state profoundly.