Decoding the Hand

“Full of delightful historical twists and insights, Bashford argues that the practice of reading signs in the hand has been part of medical diagnostics from chiromancy in late medieval times to modern genetics. She shows how the lines and ridges on our hands have served as a language to those who can read it—a language that tells a story about the inner secrets of the body. Ingenious and fascinating, this is history at its best.” – Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, Harvard University, and author of “Charles Darwin: A Biography” and editor of “The Quotable Darwin”“In this compelling and wide-ranging book, Bashford journeys through centuries of interpreters’ fascinations with the hand, the lessons about personality and about fate that its shape and size, its marks and forms, might carry. Questioning and often subverting received distinctions between scientific reason and allegedly occult skill and knowledge, these stories show how histories of palm-reading and fingerprinting, of fortune-telling and of genetics, were often entangled. The book will be an indispensable guide for anyone interested in how the sciences and practices of self-knowledge emerged in modernity, and the many intriguing lives and careers on which they have depended.” – Simon Schaffer, professor of history of science, University of Cambridge, and coauthor of “Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life”“An unexpected joy. Decoding the Hand is a fabulous book that charts a history of the hand from ancient sources to twentieth-century genetics, with both learning and lightness. It offers a broad history, lavishly illustrated, and is built around a series of individually interesting case studies that will appeal to readers interested in the history of the occult and magic as well as those interested in the history of science and medicine. And it is all framed within a broader historiographical argument about the development of medical knowledge and the contested process of disenchantment. As Bashford herself puts it toward the end of the book: ‘This isn’t (just) a history of fun and quirky medicine, it is the history of medicine.’ Excellent.” – David Stack, University of Reading, and author of “Queen Victoria’s Skull: George Combe and the Mid-Victorian Mind”“A daring and joyously intelligent book.” * The Wall Street Journal, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *“A masterpiece.” * The New Statesman, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *“Wonderfully ambitious.” * The Observer, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *“A crowning achievement… . Magnificent.” * Australian Book Review, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *“A tour de force of popular science writing.” * The Sydney Morning Herald, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *Best Books of 2022 * The New Yorker, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *Best Books of 2022 * The Economist, on “The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution” *

Alison Bashford is Scientia Professor of History and Director of the Laureate Centre for History and Population at the University of New South Wales in Australia. She is a fellow of the British Academy and an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. Bashford is the author, most recently, of The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution.