Review “In phobia terms, Reaktion’s terrific animal series has reached the king of beasts. Arachnophobia, the Miss Muffet syndrome, is ‘now counted among the most interesting human neuroses’. . . Not everyone has this antipathy to the 400 different types of spider . . . In this enjoyable (at least for some of us) monograph, the reader learns something new about this extraordinary creature.” (Independent) “Spider weaves biological facts and global traditions into a satisfying analysis of how arachnids capture the imagination.” (BBC Wildlife Magazine) Read more About the Author Katarzyna Michalski is a cultural historian at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and coauthor of the Eyewitness Guide to Munich and the Bavarian Alps. Sergiusz Michalski is professor of art history at the University of Tübingen. His previous books include The New Objectivityand Public Monuments: Art in Political Bondage 1870–1997, also published by Reaktion Books. Read more
D**S
Five Stars
There are some errors in the natural history of spiders, but the social psychology aspects are very, very interesting.
L**T
Little Miss Muffet was a real person who really hated spiders. Read about human culture and spiders.
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.
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