Drop Dead Healthy

The Hands

The Quest for Magic Fingers

I JUST FINISHED READING a 1980 book called Hands by British physician John Napier. It’s a lovely work. A mix of anatomy, history, and lyrical odes to our fingers, it’s a classic of hand literature (a genre that’s bigger than you might think). And it has made me a convert. Consider this sentence alone: “Visitors at the zoo indulge in transports of delight at the way an elephant reaches for an apple with its trunk . . . but give not a moment’s thought to the ineffable capabilities of their own hands.”

He’s right. We take our hands for granted, unless you happen to be a stoned college sophomore staring slack-jawed as your palm opens and closes. Most of us give all the glory and attention to the brain and the heart. We view them as our body’s CEO and president. The hands? We dismiss them as mere interns.