Spider (Animal)

There are some errors in the natural history of spiders, but the social psychology aspects are very, very interesting.

I just reread this book and found no review had been written. As is often the case, a rereading can be rewarding. This is one of the earlier books in this series, and a phrase the authors use typifies many of the books, "cultural symbolics." That means more culture and not as much natural history. The writing is good, although a bit Eurocentric. The illustrations are extremely good and extremely varied. Note for parents: this may not be a suitable book for children interested in spiders, because there are several mildly erotic, used to illustrate text about exactly that.The later chapters will probably interest readers more than the earlier ones, except for the first on natural history. Chapter 4 is on the femme fatale, which often used spiders as symbols; this is the chapter that considers spiders as symbols of the dangerous femme. Chapter 5 considers dreams and psychoanalytic readings of spiders in dreams. Chapter 6 is the best in the book in my opinion, spiders in art and caricature--in this chapter the spider is used as a nasty symbol for Napoleon, Hitler, Russia, Jews (prints by Russians), Nazis and tsar Nicholas, among others. This is an excellent exploration of a sort of artistic trope.Chapter 7 discusses the spider in myth and folklore, and chapter 8 looks at urban legends regarding the spider. There's also a chapter on the Hollywood spider.