This guide provides an insight into the complex, often mysterious and always fascinating world of spiders. The reader is introduced to the subject by informative features on the origin of these arachnids, on their bewildering variety, their classification into families and genera, and on their invertebrate relatives. The five chapters that follow cover the physical and behavioural characteristics of spiders, the main groups (hunters, trappers, ambushers, weavers, and so on) and dangerous species. A chapter on finding and studying spiders follows this and, finally, a selection of species accounts entitled "What Spider is That?"