The Left Hand of the Electron

{{short description|1972 collection of nonfiction essays by Isaac Asimov}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Left Hand of the Electron

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = File:The Left Hand of the Electron.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Isaac Asimov

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series = Fantasy & Science Fiction essays

| subject = Science

| genre =

| publisher = Doubleday

| pub_date = 1972

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| media_type = Print (Hardback and Paperback)

| pages = 225

| isbn = 0-385-04345-7

| oclc =

| preceded_by = The Stars in their Courses

| followed_by = The Tragedy of the Moon

}}

The Left Hand of the Electron is a collection of seventeen nonfiction science essays by American writer and scientist Isaac Asimov, 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. The title comes from the topic of the first section which deals with chirality of electroweak interactions and chirality of organic compounds and the possible connection between the two. Other essays in this book concern the effect of electron-spin direction on molecular structure e.g. the "Inverse Sugar" (similar to Inverted sugar syrup) in honey with philosophical reflections on the minority of left handedness in general.