Customer Reviews

Spiders of North America: An Identification Manual

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very cool book, but it is not a field guide. It is a very well organized and illustrated scientific key. It has one purpose and one purpose only. Determine the genus (the level of identification above species) of the spider you have captured, and provide references to publications that discuss the species in that genus. To utilize this book you should have or be prepared to purchase a dissecting microscope. In many cases to complete a rigorous identification you will need to count setae (hairs), examine fangs or dissect and examine the gonads of the specimen. It is also important to realize that some identifications require killing the spider. One may attempt to skip steps in the key requiring dissection, but that of course introduces complexity and reduces the certainty of your identifications. In some cases dissection may simply be required. Another thing to note is that this manual is for use in the laboratory, or other environment whe you can manipulate the specimen. It is basically useless for field identification.

If you are disappointed by the above description and were hoping to identify live spiders kindly left in your back yard, the unfortunate reality is that spiders are complex little critters and identification beyond the family level is painstaking. The authors cannot be faulted for that, as it is simply a fact of life.

This is clearly a good book for the scientist or graduate student. It is also a good book for someone like me who has a biology degree, is not working in the field, but has been continually vexed by the lack of specificity in field guides. It may even be a good book to give to an aspiring high-schooler who has a genuine interest in biology, particularly spiders or insects, but ONLY if you also give them a stereo dissecting microscope too. This book is not for children below high school, and not for children or adults who have only a casual interest in spiders.

This book allows one to identify most spiders of North America to genus level. The book comes with excellent depictions of taxonomic characters so identification is aided by visual cues. An added bonus is that even though species-level identifications are not always found in the book, it gives you references as to where to find the species-level taxonomic guides. This is a great help when one is trying to ID a specimen to the species level. Another great feature of this book is the organization. The beginning of the book holds a key to families and the rest of the book are those families and the taxonomic guides to the genera within them. Excellent book. I could not do my research without it.

This is a superb key, the best I have ever come across to any invertebrate group. What makes it unique is the good quality line drawings illustrating every step in the key. It can therefore be followed easily without having to backtrack to a glossary of terms and is invaluable for beginners to the group. The up to date and revised taxonomy will also suit professional arachnologists.

The description of this book said it had thousands of illustrations (oh, yes, it does; they're just illustrations of the mandibles, the thoraxes, and the eyes of spiders~~they're most, if not all, black and white drawings, and you'd be hard put to figure out which spider these various parts came from); Amazon's function where you can take a look inside showed nothing much of the actual content of the book. Pay close attention to the title: It is a MANUAL, not an identification GUIDE. It is VERY technical, and unless you have a degree in something relating to the invertebrates, you'll find this book anything but user-friendly. It looks more like the schematic for repairing your home computer than an identification guide for spiders. I bought this as a Christmas gift for a spider maniac, but I (and he) was terribly disappointed. I doubt the recipient will ever use it.

If you are really serious about spider ID, this book is a must have. Very thorough keys, very easy to use.

And on that day, I and my family hope to be long dead, because usually, we humans are not nice to our eight legged friends. Spiders are evolutionary beasts, capable, like many arthropods, of amazing physical feats of strength, speed, and agility. And this wonderful book explains on every single page exactly why they are so awesome. Their anatomy is functional, everything about them is straight to the point. If a spider were man sized, who would win, man or spider? If you said the man, you truly need to study this book. And yet, as if to offset that statement, this book, I warn you all, is not some pansies field guide. This is an industrial strength, hardcore dose of fanged reality. If you do not like chelicerae, coxa, mandibles, simple eyes, or the finer points of Latin words that your tongue will stumble on, this is not your book, look for audubon's field guides, and let the nerd herd swarm over this book like blow flies over rotting meat. This book is for professional Arachnologists who want to reminisce about what it was like to be a freshman in college, studying creepy crawlies 101, this is for dedicated people who want to take apart a spider from the outside to the inside, and know what they are viewing under a microscope down to the last syllable. If you don't want to do any of that, and just looked at the black white picture and thought, "That looks cool", then please, do not buy this book and burn it once you realize its precious content is not to your liking. I am an aspiring biology fan, and am drawn to the fabulous secrets hidden by spiders. I will do the most disgusting dissections on Earth if I can get my hands on cold, hard knowledge, which is saying something about my drive for knowledge. I hate killing and dissecting anything. But I will if that is what it takes, and it is. The question is, can you handle the awesomeness and mysteriousness of arachnids, can you appreciate their beauty, and do what is necessary to become an arachnologist and preserve them/exterminate them? If you cannot, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. You will find naught but disappointment in its pages if you are not prepared for truth about spiders and the study of their intricacies. One last time, I warn you all, do not waste your money if you have nothing but a fleeting interest in Arachnidae. This is a brilliant science book in pure black and white, a comprehensive manual to identifying and knowing spiders like you know the back of your hand. For the unprepared, the uninterested, I warn you, read not this book. For the few, but faithful arachnid lovers who are willing to manipulate the genitalia of a dead spider with tweezers to get an ID, for those of you who are willing to attach themselves to the eyepiece of a microscope and go surgeon general on every spider you catch, this book might just be perfect for you. I say this not to be stern or mean, but to simply stress the fact that it will save thousands of dollars in wasted money and unhappy people if I get my point across now. For passionate spider dissect-ers only.

This key is great for research, or class use. The well written introductory chapters give enough background information to allow anyone to key to the family level.

This book is great for an introductory spider course at the college level. I plan to use it with the classic Kaston, how to know the spiders.

This book is a excellent guide to all people that want to identify North American spiders as well as to all arachnologysts and non arachnologisty people of the world.

Amazing book for those involved in the scientific study of spiders, or highly advanced hobbiests. This is not for casual people by any means.