The Invisible Hand

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</div> <div class="book-wrapper__top-section--details"> <div class="book-wrapper__info"> <h1>The Invisible Hand <span><img decoding="async" src="https://mitpress.mit.edu/wp-content/themes/mit-press/img/lock.svg"></span> </h1> <h2>Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Human Hand Function</h2><p class='sp__the-author'>by <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/author/matthew-r-longo-11122" class="sp__author-link">Matthew R. Longo</a></p> <div id="formats-accordion" class="formats-accordion"> <h3>Paperback</h3> <div class="etextbook-content"> <div class="etextbook-content__left"> <h5>$105.00</h5> </div> <div class="etextbook-content__right"> <p>Paperback</p> <p>ISBN: 9780262551878</p> <p>Pub date: April 15, 2025</p> <p>Publisher: The MIT Press</p> <p class='sp__details'><span class="sp__the-pages">520 pp.</span>, <span class="sp__the-trim-size">7 x 9 in</span>, 71 b&w illus.</p> </div> <div class="etextbook-content__full"> <div class="retailer-btn-container"> <a href="https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780262551878" class="retailer-btn">MIT Press Bookstore</a><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/search/site/?q=9780262551878" class="retailer-btn">Penguin Random House</a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/026255187X/" class="retailer-btn">Amazon</a><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9780262551878/" class="retailer-btn">Barnes and Noble</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/2238/9780262551878" 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title="Bookshop.org" href="https://bookshop.org/a/2238/9780262551878" target="_blank">Bookshop.org</a> </li> <li><a class="retail-link site-cta-button" title="Indiebound" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780262551878" target="_blank">Indiebound</a> </li> <li><a class="retail-link site-cta-button" title="Indigo" href="https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search?keywords=9780262551878&pageSize=10" target="_blank">Indigo</a> </li> <li><a class="retail-link site-cta-button" title="Books a Million" href="http://www.booksamillion.com/search?query=9780262551878&where=All" target="_blank">Books a Million</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="book-wrapper__btn-tabs site-container"> <div class="book-wrapper__information site-container js-responsive-tabs"> <ul class="tabs"> <li class="tabs__item tabs__item--description"> <a class="tabs__link" href="#tab-1"> Description </a> </li> <li class="tabs__item tabs__item--authors"> <a class="tabs__link" href="#tab-3">Author(s)</a> </li> <li class="tabs__item tabs__item--reviews"> <a class="tabs__link" href="#tab-4">Praise</a> </li> <li class="tabs__item tabs__item--oa"> <a class="tabs__link" href="#tab-9">Open Access</a> </li> </ul> <div id="tab-1" class="tabs__panel tabs__panel--description" style="display: none"> <div class="tabs__content"> <p class="book-summary">How the “invisible hand” of the nervous system makes the human hand such an evolutionary success.</p><p>The hand has a central role in both human evolution and cultural development—in our descent and in our ascent. It is, Immanuel Kant said, “the visible part of the brain.” It is the invisible that concerns Matthew Longo in <em>The Invisible Hand</em>, a wide-ranging, deftly written account of the neural and cognitive mechanisms that have made a seemingly ordinary physical appendage an extraordinary tool in the evolution of humanity.<br><br>The hand has been the focus of an enormous amount of research from a dizzying range of disciplines, from anatomy, psychology, and neuroscience to evolutionary biology and archaeology. With the concept of the invisible hand, Longo integrates and contextualizes the findings from these disparate fields to show how the neurocognitive mechanisms that comprise the invisible hand are central to understanding a wide array of phenomena, including basic sensory and motor function, space perception, gesture, and even the self. More generally, he contends that the extraordinary abilities of the hand arise precisely from the complementary nature and tight integration of the visible and invisible hands—a proposition that leads deep into topics as diverse as haptics, tool use, handedness, phantom limbs, and evolution. His work elucidates and significantly expands a key chapter of the story of human evolution and culture as manifested in the human hand.</p> </div> </div> <div id="tab-3" class="tabs__panel tabs__panel--authors" style="display: none"> <div class="tabs__content"> <p>Matthew R. Longo is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London, where he directs the Body Representation Laboratory.</p> </div> </div> <div id="tab-4" class="tabs__panel tabs__panel--reviews" style="display: none"> <div class="tabs__content"> <blockquote> “This book will give a depth and breadth of scientific overview that goes well beyond any single disciplinary training and explains the beautiful sensory and motor mechanisms that make our hands capable of such extraordinary things.” <cite> ~Patrick Haggard, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London </cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> “Unique in its approach and depth, <em>The Invisible Hand</em> stands as a landmark in the field, establishing a vital framework for future research.” <cite> ~Frederique de Vignemont, Deputy Director, Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris </cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> “I have to hand it to Matthew Longo: he’s given us an amazingly detailed but highly readable compilation of information about the human hand from its basic design to its intimate role in communication... Bravo.” <cite> ~Melvyn A. Goodale, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, The University of Western Ontario </cite> </blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="tab-wrapper"> <div id="tab-9" class="tabs__panel tabs__panel--oa" style="display: none"> <div class="tabs__content"> <h5>General info</h5> <span class="funder-info">The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding and support from MIT Press Direct to Open</span> <p class="support-link"> <a href="https://giving.mit.edu/explore/campus-student-life/mit-press" title="Donate to support open access publishing at the MIT Press" target="_blank">Donate to support open access publishing at the MIT Press</a> </p> <div class="license-info-container"> <h5>License info</h5> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" target="_blank" class="license-info-link">CC BY-NC-ND</a> </div> <h5 class="oa-link-heading">OA links and downloads</h5> <p class="oa__link"> <a href="https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15233.001.0001" title="MIT Press Direct Open Access edition" target="_blank" class="open-access-link-container" alt="MIT Press Direct Open Access edition"> MIT Press Direct Open Access edition <svg version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="18px" height="18px" class="open-new-page-icon" viewBox="0 0 657.000000 611.000000" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" alt="Open New Window" title="Open New Window"> <g transform="translate(0.000000,611.000000) scale(0.100000,-0.100000)" fill="#000000" stroke="none"> <path d="M3077 6023 c-4 -3 -7 -900 -7 -1992 l0 -1986 -308 308 -307 307 -150 -150 -150 -150 568 -568 567 -567 565 565 c311 311 565 567 565 570 0 3 -65 73 -144 155 l-144 150 -316 -315 -316 -315 0 1998 0 1997 -208 0 c-115 0 -212 -3 -215 -7z"/> <path d="M80 2260 l0 -2190 3205 0 3205 0 0 2190 0 2190 -1055 0 -1055 0 0 -215 0 -215 845 0 845 0 0 -1760 0 -1760 -2785 0 -2785 0 0 1760 0 1760 850 0 850 0 0 215 0 215 -1060 0 -1060 0 0 -2190z"/> </g> </svg> </a> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div 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