Gardner M. The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings

N.Y.: W.H. Freeman & Co, 1990. – 392 p.The Ambidextrous Universe is a popular science book by Martin Gardner covering aspects of symmetry and asymmetry in human culture, science and the wider universe.
Originally published in 1964, it underwent revisions in 1969, 1979, 1990 and 2005 (the last two are known as the "Third, revised edition"). Originally titled The Ambidextrous Universe: Mirror Asymmetry and Time-Reversed Worlds, subsequent editions are known as The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings.
The book begins with the subject of mirrors, and from there passes through symmetry in poetry, shapes, art, music, galaxies, suns, planets and wildlife. It then moves into molecular scale physics and how symmetry and asymmetry have evolved from the beginning of life on Earth. There is a chapter on carbon and its versatility, and the last eight chapters concern a problem called the Ozma Problem.