Dr. Eleanor's Book of Common Spiders

by Christopher M. Buddle, Christopher M. Buddle

Spiders have a problem, and it's us. Despite their magnificent talents for crafting webs, capturing mosquitoes, and camouflage, for millennia arachnophobia has hampered our ability to appreciate these eight-legged and -eyed marvels.
No longer! In this witty, accessible, and beautifully illustrated guide, Eleanor Spicer Rice and Christopher M. Buddle metamorphose creepy-crawly revulsion into spider wonder. Emerging from ambitious citizen science project Your Wild Life (an initiative based at North Carolina State University), Dr. Eleanor's Book of Spiders with Chris Buddle provides an eye-opening arachnological overview of the natural history of species most noted by project participants, showcasing some of the fascinating spiders found in our attics and tents, front lawns and forests and even introducing us to spiders that fish. Exploring species from the tiny (but gymnastic) zebra jumping spider to the naturally shy and woefully misunderstood black widow, this guide will be a tremendous resource for teachers, students, and scientists alike. But more than this, it will transform the way we perceive the environment around us by deepening our understanding of its littlest inhabitants, inspiring all of us to find our inner naturalist, get outside, and crawl across the dirt magnifying glass in hand."

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

80 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2018

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ordered this book from a University of Chicago Press catalog, and its two authors obviously LOVE arachnids!

Although it's a very short work with beautiful photography, it explains a lot about our most common spiders you'll find in your house, and even dispels the most common myths surrounding our two scariest species: the black widow, and the brown recluse.

It also discusses the maternal instincts of the wolf spider, one I see every summer carrying their babies on their backs across the roads in East Tennessee.

[SueSue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for more spider biology, but otherwise a good read.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a book on spiders that isn't terribly technical and employs a bit of humor, and this fit the bill. It's quite short, but it covers some of the more common and/or notorious families of spiders throughout North America. I still got the creepy crawlies while reading it (I was pre-reading it for a gift, rather than out of a personal desire to learn more about spiders myself). But even for me, as someone who prefers to allow spiders a generous quantity of personal space, it was interesting. Goodness knows I've nearly walked into enough orb weaver webs in late summer, so knowing a bit more about their habits hardly hurts.

We've been enjoying Ze Frank's "True Facts" animal documentary shorts on YouTube, and while this book wasn't quite as ridiculously funny as most of those videos, it still reminded me of them at times.

[Cricket · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, engaging look at a handful of spiders that most people in the US (particularly the eastern US) may encounter in day to day life, plus a rare one that is very interesting but just as elusive. The only thing keeping me from giving this a five star rating is a bit of misinformation in the FAQ section at the end. The author states that all spiders are venomous, which is not true - the vast majority of spiders are venomous, yes, but not all of them, since members of the family Uloboridae, commonly called cribellate orbweavers, are truly nonvenomous and do not have venom glands. This family is present in the US, so I'm just assuming that the author was unaware of their existence, but given that Dr. Christopher Buddle is an arachnologist, I find that unlikely. Yes, this is a very specific gripe, but misinformation is misinformation. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed this read.

[Nefertari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like “The Big Year” opened up the secret lives of birds around us to my eyes, this book does the same for the spiders in our lives. Including the ones who watched me type this. I feel a great deal more kindly to them and their tiny spider struggles. (Also, rather sympathetic to female spiders, who must endure mates and mating rituals that make you wonder why more of the males aren’t eaten.)

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good primmer fir a spider novice. Now I need more info on my local bugs!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful introduction to 14 delightful members of the spider family

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to identify all the new spiders that came with my house. This book is fun and informative.

[Grecia Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

La lección es no sacar a las arañas de la casa btw

[Justin Hickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and important read for the naturalist in everyone! My review is at https://openlettersreview.com/open-le...