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,
Christopher M. Buddle and Eleanor Spicer Rice 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 Common Spiders 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.
