An interesting book about the cultural history of the spider. It focuses mainly on the Western tradition but with some cross-cultural references.

Chapters include the spider's place in European intellectual tradition, the femme fatale, myth, folklore and urban legend and in literature and film.

I dropped a star on my rating because the opening section on spider zoology is too anthropomorphic for a supposedly scientific description and the authors keep referring to spiders as insects, rather than arachnids. There are other errors of language and awkwardness of phrase in other chapters, but not too many to spoil the read.

Overall, an engaging, if flawed, book. ( )