I used to come home from kindergarten crying because my teacher insisted I was holding my pencil wrong. Yep, I’m a lefty and no matter how much coaxing, cajoling or coercing involved, I was not going to be right-handed or even ambidextrous. Luckily, my right-handed mother championed my difference and I was allowed to proudly hold my pencil without interference. On August 13, my lefty brethren and I celebrate International Left-Handers Day. Left-handers only make up 10 percent of the population so it’s a pretty exclusive club. (There really is a Left-Handers Club.) Check out the biographies of these famous lefties.
Six of the past 12 U.S. presidents are lefties, including our current commander in chief. Dreams From My Father, President Obama’s thoughtful and poignant memoir, gives readers an intimate look at the president’s early life and what shaped him into the leader he is today.
Steve Jobs changed technology in radical ways. Walter Isaacson’s definitive biography candidly tells the tech giant’s personal and professional story. Isaacson brilliantly recounts the vision, drive and demanding personality well-known to Jobs’ friends, family and rivals. Interestingly, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Jobs’ greatest rival Bill Gates are also lefties.
Napoleon Bonaparte ordered his troops to march to the right to leave his left, dominant side at the ready. The little corporal was indeed a lefty. Historian Alan Schom deftly paints a portrait of the legend as a young man, general, emperor and exile. A compelling read. If you’re curious, his wife Josephine was also left-handed.
Even the world's proudest underachiever is lefty!
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