The Left Hand of the Electron is a collection of seventeen nonfiction science essays written by Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

, first published by Doubleday & Company in 1972. It was the ninth of a series of books collecting essays from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. They concern the effect of electron-spin direction on molecular structure e.g. the "Inverse Sugar" (similar to Inverted sugar syrup

Inverted sugar syrup

Inverted or invert sugar syrup is a mixture of glucose and fructose; it is obtained by splitting sucrose into these two components. Compared with its precursor, sucrose, inverted sugar is sweeter and its products tend to remain more moist and are less prone to crystallisation...

) in honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 with philosophical reflections on the minority of left handedness in general.

Contents

• A — The Problem of Left and Right
  • 1 — Odds and Evens
  • 2 — The Left Hand of the Electron
  • 3 — Seeing Double
  • 4 — The 3-D Molecule
  • 5 — The Asymmetry of Life
• B — The Problem of Oceans
  • 6 — The Thalassogens
  • 7 — Hot Water
  • 8 — Cold Water
• C — The Problem of Numbers and Lines
  • 9 — Prime Quality
  • 10 — Euclid's Fifth
  • 11 — The Plane Truth
• D — The Problem of the Platypus
  • 12 — Holes in the Head
• E — The Problem of History
  • 13 — The Eureka Phenomenon
  • 14 — Pompey and Circumstance
  • 15 — Bill and I
• F — The Problem of Population
  • 16 — Stop!
  • 17 — ...But How?